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The short answer
A UK freelancer usually engages a virtual assistant in Nigeria as an independent contractor under a written agreement covering the tasks, hours, rate, currency, payment dates, confidentiality and ownership of work. Because you will share client data with someone outside the UK, UK GDPR rules on international transfers apply, and the assistant handles their own Nigerian tax.
Inbox management, scheduling, research, bookkeeping entries, social media posting: many UK freelancers reach the point where an assistant pays for themselves. Hiring in Nigeria is common among Nigerian freelancers in Britain, because they know the talent pool and share a language and working culture. Doing it properly protects you, the assistant and your own clients. This guide covers the agreement, data, tax and payment.
Contractor, not employee
Most UK freelancers engage a Nigerian assistant as an independent contractor rather than an employee. The distinction matters in both countries. In practice, the more you control how, when and where the work is done, supply the tools and expect exclusive full-time hours, the more the relationship looks like employment. An assistant who sets their own hours within agreed deadlines, works for other clients and invoices you is clearly a contractor. Our contractor agreement guide covers the same points from the other side.
What the agreement should cover
- Scope: a task list, response times and which tools they will use.
- Hours or output: a monthly retainer for up to a set number of hours, or a fee per task.
- Rate and currency: naira, dollars or pounds, and when the rate is reviewed. A naira retainer fixed for a year loses value if the naira weakens; a pound or dollar retainer moves the risk to you.
- Invoicing and payment dates: monthly invoice, payment within a fixed number of days.
- Equipment and connectivity: who pays for data, a backup power source or software licences.
- Confidentiality, including after the engagement ends.
- Ownership of work: anything they create for you or your clients should be assigned to you; see IP assignment with a Nigerian contractor.
- Notice and termination, and return or deletion of data.
Data protection
If your assistant will see personal data, such as your clients' emails or customer lists, you are making what the ICO calls a restricted transfer: UK GDPR applies, you initiate the transfer, and the recipient is a separate person outside the UK. The ICO says you must rely on adequacy regulations, appropriate safeguards (such as the International Data Transfer Agreement) with a transfer risk assessment, or one of the exceptions, and that this applies even to small transfers. Practical steps:
- Give access through shared tools with individual logins, not by sharing your passwords.
- Share only the data each task needs.
- Put the transfer safeguards and confidentiality terms in the agreement.
- Remove access the day the engagement ends.
Tax on both sides
For you, a contractor's fees for work done for your business are a business cost to record with the invoice and proof of payment. For the assistant, income from independent work carried out in Nigeria is taxable in Nigeria under Article 14 of the UK–Nigeria tax treaty, where the person lives, unless they have a fixed base in the UK. They are responsible for registering and paying their own Nigerian tax; you do not run payroll for them. If the relationship looks like employment, different rules may apply in either country, so take advice before converting a contractor into a de facto employee.
A worked example
Example only. A freelance consultant agrees a retainer of ₦250,000 a month for up to 60 hours, with extra hours at ₦5,000 each. In a month with 66 hours the invoice is ₦250,000 + (6 × ₦5,000) = ₦280,000. Over a year at 60 hours a month the retainer costs ₦3,000,000. If she prefers certainty in pounds, she can instead agree a sterling retainer and let the assistant convert, which shifts the exchange risk to her side of the bargain.
Finding and vetting an assistant
- Run a short paid trial task before agreeing a retainer.
- Ask for references from other overseas clients and check them.
- Agree working hours that overlap with yours; Nigeria and the UK are on the same clock for part of the year and an hour apart for the rest.
- Ask how they handle power cuts and connectivity, and whether they have a backup.
- Check the name on their bank account matches the name on their agreement before the first payment.
Paying on time
Late payment is the fastest way to lose a good assistant. Pay on a fixed date each month, in the currency agreed, to an account in the assistant's own name, and keep the receipt. If you are paying in dollars, the Nigerian rules that apply to receiving foreign currency are explained in paying Nigerian contractors in dollars.
Where Pryme fits
With a Pryme Business Account opened from the UK you can hold pounds and naira, convert with Swap when you choose, with the rate and fee shown before you approve, and pay your assistant in naira as a local transfer. Each payment can produce a verifiable receipt through VerifyDoc.ai for your records. Outside Nigeria, Pryme's services are provided through regulated partners.
Questions people ask
Do I need to put my Nigerian virtual assistant on payroll?
Not if they are a genuine independent contractor working from Nigeria. They pay their own Nigerian tax; you keep their invoices and payment records.
Can I share client data with a VA in Nigeria?
Yes, but it is a restricted transfer under UK GDPR. The ICO says you need adequacy, appropriate safeguards with a risk assessment, or an exception.
Should I pay my Nigerian VA in naira or dollars?
Either can work. Naira keeps the exchange risk with the assistant; pounds or dollars move it to you. Agree it in writing.
What should a VA contract include?
Scope, hours or output, rate and currency, payment dates, equipment, confidentiality, ownership of work, data handling and notice.
Sources
- ICO: A brief guide to international transfers (15 Jan 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- UK–Nigeria Double Taxation Convention 1987 (GOV.UK PDF) · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.