Your agency charges monthly for a site they have not touched in 18 months

What the monthly fee actually covers

A typical agency retainer is sold as a bundle: hosting, security, updates, support, and ongoing improvements. The pitch is that someone is looking after your site so you do not have to.

In practice, if nothing has changed in 18 months, the bundle has shrunk to one thing - the site is on a server somewhere and the bill arrives every month. That is hosting. Hosting costs the agency around three to five pounds a month.

The rest of the fee is profit on inactivity. You are paying for a service that is technically still being provided in the same way a gym membership you never use is technically still being provided.

Why the site has not been touched

Agencies do not update sites unless you ask. Most small business clients never ask, because they assume "ongoing maintenance" means the agency is doing something proactive in the background.

It usually does not. The agency is waiting for a ticket. No ticket, no work, full invoice. From their side this is a perfectly reasonable arrangement - you agreed to pay monthly, they agreed to be available, neither party said anything about actually doing work.

The silent retainer is the most profitable client on an agency's books. A site that needs nothing earns the same as a site that needs five hours of work.

How to check what you are really paying for

You can work this out in about ten minutes. Open the site and look at the footer for a copyright year. If it still says 2023, nobody has touched the template.

Then check a few obvious things:

• Have your opening hours, phone number, or address changed since launch? Are they correct on the site?
• Are the prices, services, or staff names still accurate?
• Does the site mention an offer or event that has long since ended?
• Run the URL through Google PageSpeed Insights. If the score is below 50 on mobile, no performance work has been done.

Now look back through your emails. Count the number of times in the last 18 months that the agency has emailed you suggesting an update, a content change, or an improvement. If the answer is zero, the retainer has been a hosting bill the whole time.

What a fair monthly fee looks like

There are two honest ways to charge a small business monthly. Either it is a hosting-only fee, which should be low because hosting is cheap, or it is a maintenance fee that includes a defined amount of actual work each month.

A reasonable hosting-only arrangement is around £40 a month. That covers the server, the security certificate, monitoring, and a few small changes if you need them. A maintenance arrangement that includes regular content updates and same-day response should sit around £65 a month.

If you are paying £150 a month and nothing has happened in 18 months, you have overpaid by something in the region of £2,000. The agency's position is that you could have asked at any time. That is technically true and entirely beside the point.

A retainer that nobody uses is a subscription, not a service. You would not pay £150 a month for a cleaner who has not been to your house since 2023.

How to get out without losing your site

Before you cancel anything, make sure you own the parts of the site that matter. The domain name (the address people type to find you) should be registered in your name, not the agency's. The site files and any logins should be available to you on request.

If the domain is in the agency's name, ask them in writing to transfer it to an account you control. They are legally required to do this. Once that is done, you can move the site itself - or have someone else move it for you - without losing your web address, your email, or your Google ranking.

Then look at what you actually need going forward. If the site is fine as it is and you just want it to stay online, a Hosted plan at £40/month is the floor. If you want someone who will actually keep the site current and respond the same day when you email, SkipTheAgency's Maintained plan is £65/month and includes ten content changes a month - which is more than most small businesses need in a year.

Whether you run a salon in Cardiff or a letting agency in Newcastle, the principle is the same: you should know what you are paying for, and the work should be visible.