As of 13 August 2026, AI can create a budget for using freelancers.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a spreadsheet and create columns for role, freelancer, rate, rate unit, planned hours or days, start date, end date, VAT treatment and notes.
   2. Gather current quotes or contracts for each freelancer and enter the agreed rates, expected hours or days, payment terms and whether VAT is included.
   3. Add the project dates, monthly allocation, internal spending limit, planned contingency and any recruitment, agency, software, equipment or travel costs.
   4. Paste the completed input table and the prompt into an AI chat, then ask it to return the budget in spreadsheet-ready tables with formulas.
   5. Copy the line items and formulas into the spreadsheet, and compare every supplied rate, date, hour, day and VAT assumption against the relevant quote or contract.
   6. Recalculate the totals in the spreadsheet and compare the base, lower-use and higher-use scenarios with the internal spending limit.
   7. Send any flagged questions about worker status, IR35, VAT or payroll to your accountant or employment adviser before approving the budget.

   Prompt

   Create a UK business budget for using freelancers on this project.
   
   Project: [project name]
   Budget period: [start date] to [end date]
   Currency: pounds sterling
   
   Freelancers:
   [For each role, provide the role, number of people, hourly or daily rate, expected hours or days, planned start and end dates, and whether the quoted rate includes VAT.]
   
   Other costs linked to freelancers:
   [Recruitment, software, equipment, travel, agency fees, or other costs.]
   
   Business assumptions:
   [VAT registration status, contingency percentage if already chosen, payment terms, and any internal budget limit.]
   
   Produce:
   1. A line-item budget by freelancer and other cost.
   2. Subtotals by role and by month or project period.
   3. VAT shown separately wherever the supplied information allows it. Do not guess VAT treatment or rates.
   4. A base case, a lower-use case and a higher-use case. Change only the hours or days unless I give different scenario assumptions.
   5. The formula for every total and the assumptions used.
   6. A short list of missing inputs and questions that could materially change the result.
   7. A final table that can be copied into Excel or Google Sheets.
   
   Use only the information I provide. Do not invent rates, hours, tax rules, employer costs, worker status or legal conclusions. Flag any issue involving employment status, IR35, VAT or payroll for checking with an accountant or employment adviser. State clearly which figures are supplied inputs and which are calculated outputs. Do not present the budget as a quote, contract or professional advice.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.