Virtual secretary vs virtual assistant
Hire for the work, not the title: a virtual secretary covers email, diary, calls and letters, while a virtual assistant also takes research, data entry, bookings and supplier chasing.
Tools our VAs use for this
Which one you need
Choose between a virtual secretary and a virtual assistant by the scope of the work, not the job title. If you need your emails answered, your diary kept, calls returned and letters typed, a virtual secretary is enough. If you also want research, data entry, bookings, supplier chasing or light project work, you want a virtual assistant, or a virtual PA if most of the work supports one person. Either way, the decision that matters is whether you get one dedicated person who learns your business.
When a virtual secretary is enough
Your admin is mostly correspondence and scheduling, the volume is steady, and you know what you want done each day.
When a virtual assistant fits better
The work changes week to week, you want someone who can pick up new tasks without a new hire, or you plan to hand over more as trust builds. For smaller firms, see our guide to a virtual assistant for small business.
On this page
The traditional secretary role
Typical secretarial tasks
A secretary keeps an office running for the people in it. The classic list is answering and routing calls, taking messages, managing one or more diaries, typing and formatting letters and reports, filing, taking minutes, ordering supplies and greeting visitors. In some sectors the role is specialist: a legal secretary prepares legal documents and manages case correspondence, a medical secretary handles clinic letters and appointments.
How the role has changed
Email, shared calendars and cloud documents moved most of that work onto a screen. Typing pools have gone and dictation is rarer, while inbox management, online scheduling and document control have grown. Many businesses now hire under the title PA, administrator or assistant for work a secretary once did. If you want one dedicated person for that screen-based work, see admin support from a dedicated VA. The part of the job that needs someone in the building, post, visitors and the physical filing cabinet, is the part a remote secretary cannot cover.
What does a virtual secretary do?
A virtual secretary does the screen-based secretarial work from a remote location, working in your systems with access you grant. Typical tasks:
- Inbox: sorting, filing and answering routine email in your tone, and flagging what needs you.
- Diary: booking, moving and confirming meetings, and protecting time you have blocked out. Our guide to diary management with a virtual assistant covers the method.
- Calls: returning calls, taking messages and logging them, on your phone system or a call-forwarding line.
- Documents: formatting letters, reports and presentations, tidying templates and keeping shared folders in order.
- Minutes and follow-up: writing up notes from video meetings and chasing the actions.
How remote working changes the role
Everything runs on written instructions and shared tools. A remote secretary works best with a short process note for each recurring task, a shared task list, and a set check-in time. The gain is that the work becomes documented, so it survives holidays and handovers. The cost is that anything physical has to stay with someone on site.
Secretary, assistant, PA and receptionist compared
Scope versus job title
The titles describe emphasis. The table shows where each one usually sits.
| Role | Main focus | Who they support | Typical extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual secretary | Correspondence, diary, calls, documents | The office or a small team | Minutes, filing, typing |
| Virtual assistant | General admin across the business | The owner or a team | Research, data entry, bookings, supplier admin |
| Virtual PA | One person's working life | One owner or director | Travel, personal diary, gatekeeping |
| Virtual receptionist | Inbound calls and first contact | Callers and customers | Messages, appointment booking, chat cover |
The comparison between a VA and a PA has its own guide, virtual assistant vs personal assistant, and so does the more senior role in executive assistant vs administrative assistant.
Secretary versus administrative assistant
The two overlap almost completely. "Secretary" tends to mean correspondence, diaries and documents for named people; "administrative assistant" tends to mean process work for the business, such as data, orders and records. Read the task list, not the title.
Receptionist versus secretary
A receptionist is the first point of contact: their day is set by inbound calls and visitors. If your problem is missed calls, look at a virtual receptionist service, which is built around the phone.
Advantages of remote secretarial support
Lower cost than an in-house hire
You pay for the hours you need. There is no desk, equipment or office space to find, and with an agency the employer costs of a staff hire, such as employer National Insurance, pension and holiday pay, sit with the agency.
Cover for busy periods
A remote secretary can start at part-time hours and grow, cover a busy season, or keep things moving while an in-house team member is off. Through an agency, holiday and absence cover is the provider's problem to solve.
What remote secretarial support costs in the UK
In-house secretary pay
There is no official pay figure for a "virtual secretary". The nearest official UK figures are the National Careers Service job profiles for the in-house roles, opened on 19 October 2026:
| In-house role | Starter (a year) | Experienced (a year) | Typical hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal secretary | £24,000 | £40,000 | 36 to 40 a week |
| Executive assistant or PA | £28,000 | £60,000 | 37 to 42 a week |
| Receptionist | £21,000 | £25,000 | 37 to 40 a week |
Sources: National Careers Service job profiles for legal secretary, executive assistant and receptionist. These are salaries before employer costs.
What drives the price
- Hours: part time or full time, and whether you pay for a fixed block or by the hour.
- Experience: a secretary with specialist or senior experience costs more.
- Dedicated or pooled: a pool of people sharing your work is cheaper per task and weaker on knowing your business.
- What is included: supervision, replacement cover, onboarding and security tools, or just the person's time.
Our virtual assistant cost UK guide covers pricing models in more depth, and the calculator compares an in-house hire with a VA on your own hours.
How to choose and hire a remote secretary
Questions to ask a provider
- Will I have one dedicated person, and will it be the same person every day?
- Who recruits, trains and supervises them, and where do they work?
- What happens if the fit is wrong, and does a replacement cost me anything?
- What hours do they work, and are they aligned with UK business hours?
- How do you protect my data and my logins?
- How quickly can they start, and what does onboarding involve?
First tasks to hand over
Start with the work that repeats and has a clear right answer: inbox triage, diary booking, meeting confirmations, document formatting and call-backs. Write a short note for each, review the first fortnight together, then add more. Our list of admin tasks to delegate is a useful starting point. For the whole process, read how to hire a virtual assistant.
Data access and confidentiality
If your virtual secretary handles personal data in your systems, such as client emails or contact records, UK GDPR treats them, or the agency, as a processor acting for you. Article 28 of UK GDPR requires a binding contract that sets out the subject matter, duration, nature and purpose of that processing. Give access through a password manager so it can be revoked in one step. Our guide to a virtual assistant contract covers what the agreement should include. This is general information, not legal advice.
Getting help from a virtual personal assistant
Ant Assist provides dedicated virtual personal assistants who cover secretarial work and wider admin for UK businesses. Each one is a single named person, never shared, working full time from our own managed office in Cairo, where they are recruited, managed and supervised. They are not freelancers and not AI. They work UK business hours, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, from 20 hours a week up to a full 40-hour VA. If the fit is wrong, we replace the VA without restart cost. NDAs and data-processing agreements, password managers and revocable access are standard.
The introductory rate is £5 per hour for the first 6 months on the Entry tier. After that, admin Entry is £6.30 per hour full time (£1,008 a month for 160 hours) or £6.50 per hour part time (£520 a month for 80 hours).
Questions about virtual secretaries
Didn't find your answer? Browse more common questions in the Help Center.
Your inbox and diary, handled.
One dedicated virtual PA, from £5 per hour. Book a free call.