Customer Service VA · Virtual Receptionist

Virtual Receptionist UK: a dedicated receptionist VA from £5 per hour

A virtual receptionist from Ant Assist is one named person, not a call queue. Your receptionist VA answers under your business name, takes messages, books appointments in your own diary and does the follow-ups, working your hours from our managed office in Cairo with a UK team supervising quality. You pay by the hour, from £5 per hour on the entry rate, rather than by the call or the minute. It is the receptionist half of our customer service virtual assistant service, for businesses that want a familiar voice on the phone instead of an answering service.

Call answeringMessage takingDiary bookingsOverflow cover

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✓ From £5/hour ✓ UK-managed ✓ Dedicated VA, not shared ✓ No long-term contract

What They Handle

What a dedicated virtual receptionist does for a UK business

Inbound call handling

Answers every call under your brand during the hours you set, so callers reach a person rather than voicemail. Urgent calls are routed to you straight away; everything else is handled on the call or logged for you.

VoIP

Message taking and call-backs

Takes the caller's name, reason and best time to reach them, sends the message to the right person by email or chat, and schedules the call-back so nothing waits on a sticky note.

GmailOutlook

Diary and appointment booking

Books, moves and confirms appointments in your own calendar or booking system, following the rules you set for lead times, buffers and who can be booked where.

Your calendarBooking system

Live chat and email overflow

When the phone is quiet, the same person covers your live chat and shared inbox, replying within the response times you agree and escalating anything outside their scope.

TidioLiveChatDrift

Caller screening and escalation

Asks the three or four questions you agree, records the answers, and passes qualified enquiries to you the same day. Calls you do not want are handled politely and logged.

After-call CRM updates

Logs every call in your CRM or shared inbox, sends any follow-up promised on the phone, and keeps the record clean so the next conversation starts with context.

ZendeskFreshdeskHelp ScoutIntercom

Different phone system or diary? These are examples. Your receptionist VA is trained on your tools and call-handling rules during onboarding and works inside your accounts, not ours.

Dedicated vs per-call

A dedicated receptionist VA vs a per-call answering service

Most UK answering services work the same way: a pool of agents shares your line, reads from your script, takes a message, and bills you per call or per minute. It is a sensible fit if you get a handful of calls a day and only need overflow or out-of-hours cover.

A dedicated receptionist VA is a different arrangement. One person learns your business, your regulars and your diary rules. They answer, book, chase and follow up, and when the phone is quiet they cover your chat and inbox. You pay for hours, not calls, so a busy morning does not become a surprise invoice, and the same person is there tomorrow.

The honest rule of thumb: if calls, bookings and follow-ups fill part of every working day, a dedicated receptionist costs less per conversation and does more with each one. If they do not, a per-call service may still be the cheaper option, and we will say so on the first call.

Who It's For

Who a virtual receptionist is built for

Trades and field businesses that miss calls on site

Plumbers, electricians, installers and cleaners lose jobs to voicemail. A receptionist VA answers while you are on a ladder, books the survey and texts you the details.

Clinics, salons and practices that live by the diary

When the day is built around appointments, every unanswered call is an empty slot. Your VA books, confirms and reschedules in your system and chases the no-shows.

Professional services that need a human first answer

Accountants, solicitors, consultants and agencies whose clients expect a person, not a menu. Your VA screens, takes a proper message and puts the right people in front of you.

Online stores adding phone and chat cover

When customers want to talk before they buy, or after something goes wrong, the same receptionist VA covers the phone line, the live chat and the order emails.

Cost Comparison

What a virtual receptionist costs in the UK

The entry rate is £5 per hour for the first 6 months on the Entry tier. It covers your dedicated receptionist's time, our office facilities in Cairo, and the supervision and management that keep quality up. After the promotion, a customer service representative on the Entry tier is £5.95 per hour full time (160 hours a month, about £952) or £6.50 per hour part time (80 hours a month, about £520). Mid and Expert tiers, for receptionists with longer experience, are £6.84 and £7.44 per hour full time.

Set that against a UK in-house receptionist or support rep once salary, employer National Insurance, pension, holiday and a desk are counted; the comparison card on this page shows the calculator's model, and the full calculator gives your exact figures for your hours.

UK In-House · Entry level

UK in-house receptionist or support rep (calculator model)

£2,161 a month gross salary, full time (the calculator's customer service benchmark, ONS ASHE 2025)

Monthly salary£2,161

Benefits (5% of salary)£108

Equipment and office£442

Management time (2 hrs a week)£156

~£2,866/mo

~£34,395 / year

Ant Assist VA · Entry

Dedicated Virtual Receptionist

160 hrs a month · £5/hour for the first 6 months (£800/mo), then £5.95/hour on the customer service rate card

VA hours (160h × £5.95/hour standard rate)£952

Management and supervisionIncluded

Recruitment and onboardingIncluded

Office infrastructureIncluded

£952/mo

£11,424 / year at the standard rate

You save ~£22,971 / year at the standard rate (est.)

What the £5/hour entry rate includes

Dedicated VA, never shared
UK-hour aligned support
Management and supervision included
Recruitment and onboarding included
Office infrastructure included
VA replacement available
No NI, pension, or holiday costs
No long-term contract, rolling monthly

These are typical estimates. Get your exact numbers in the full calculator.

Calculate your exact savings →

Process

How to hire a virtual receptionist: from first call to live cover

First call

A 15-minute call about your call volume, your diary, the tools you use and the hours you need covered. If a per-call service would serve you better, we say so here.

Matching

We select a receptionist VA from our in-house team for your industry, your phone and diary tools and your tone, and introduce them to you.

Onboarding

Together we document your greeting, the questions to ask, the booking rules and the escalation route, so your VA knows what to do before they take the first call.

Live cover

Most clients have their VA active within 5 to 7 working days of signing up. Your VA works your hours from our managed office.

Ongoing management

A UK team supervises quality, reviews calls and messages with your VA, and adjusts the coverage windows as your business changes.

Book a free 15-min call

Why Managed

Why a managed receptionist beats a call centre or a marketplace

Managed, not just placed.

Your VA is recruited, trained and supervised from our own in-house office. Not a freelancer platform, not a shared agent pool.

Replaceable without restart cost.

If the fit is wrong, we replace the VA and carry the handover. No re-recruitment, no starting from zero.

No NI, pension, or holiday overhead.

One hourly rate; the employment costs sit with us.

Language and cultural alignment with UK clients.

Trained on your tone of voice and your scenarios before they handle a single call.

Your data stays yours.

Every VA signs an NDA and a data-processing agreement, works through password managers, and you can revoke access at any time.

Rolling monthly.

Scale hours up or down, pause, or cancel with 30 days' notice.

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FAQ

Common questions about hiring a virtual receptionist

That depends on your package. Most clients start with UK business hours (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday). Extended hours and weekend cover are available at additional cost. We agree the coverage windows during onboarding.

Yes, that is a core part of our onboarding. We spend time documenting your greeting, tone of voice, common scenarios and escalation rules before your VA handles a single call. Clients regularly tell us callers cannot tell the difference.

Your VA follows an escalation procedure we build together during onboarding. Anything outside their authority is flagged to you or a nominated team member immediately, with the full context already written up. Nothing falls through the cracks.

Our VAs work across telephony via VoIP platforms, email (Gmail, Outlook), helpdesks (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Intercom) and live chat tools (Tidio, LiveChat, Drift), plus your own diary or booking system. If you use a tool not listed, let us know during onboarding and we will assess it.

No long-term contract is required. We operate on a rolling monthly basis. You can scale hours up or down, pause, or cancel with 30 days' notice. Most clients stay because reliable phone cover becomes business-critical quickly.

Ant Assist can replace the VA. We take responsibility for quality and will match you with a more suitable candidate rather than leaving you stuck with an underperforming arrangement.

Didn't find your answer? Browse more common questions in the Help Center.

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Never miss a call again.

One dedicated receptionist VA, from £5 per hour. Book a free 15-minute call.

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