[fergie]

Average day rate for a big consultancy is well over £1500 a day (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/comparison-day-rates-between-...). Basically anybody you know who works for a semi-legit consultancy is being billed out at over £1000 a day.

Its super easy to get £1000-1500 as a freelancer who handles your own sales if you have the right credentials (degree, +5 years experience, do not completely suck at programming, specific domain experience, etc).

But yes, there is a whole industry of middlemen who try an convince suckers to work on a contract basis for around £500 a day.