United Kingdom · Procurement · Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Supplier Relationship Specialist

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

  • Experience bandMid-Level (2-5 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toSenior Supplier Relationship Manager
  • UK framework levelUsually a coordinator, or early in a professional job

Also advertised as Procurement Specialist · Vendor Manager · Category Analyst (Supplier Focus)

Built on an analysis of 43,079 real UK job descriptions · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Start with a free Future Fluency check, tuned to Supplier Relationship Specialist

Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this role rather than a generic one. About five minutes, and no card.

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1What this role really is

This role is all about making sure our suppliers actually deliver what they promised and that we're getting the best value out of those relationships. You'll be the go-to person for a chunk of our operational and leverage suppliers, making sure everything runs smoothly day-to-day. Think of it as being the primary contact for a portfolio of partners, keeping them honest and helping them perform better.

2What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

P2P/SRM Suite (e.g., Coupa, SAP Ariba)Intermediate

Creating purchase orders, updating supplier information, running standard reports on spend, and processing invoices. You'll be in this system every day.

Contract Lifecycle Management (e.g., Icertis, DocuSign CLM)Basic

Locating active contracts, tracking key dates like renewals or expirations, and using standard templates for basic agreements or amendments.

Analytics & Visualisation (e.g., Power BI, Tableau)Intermediate

Connecting to our standard data sources and using pre-built dashboards to track supplier KPIs (OTIF, quality). You'll need to interpret these dashboards and pull specific data points.

Collaboration Tools (e.g., MS Teams, Slack, Supplier Portals)Intermediate

Effectively communicating with suppliers and internal teams on operational issues, sharing documents, and tracking actions.

Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)Advanced

Building supplier performance trackers in Excel, creating QBR presentations, and drafting formal correspondence or reports.

3What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing inWhere you are nowThe step above
Operational Issue Resolution (e.g., late delivery)Escalate to supervisor for guidance and approval on all steps.Independently investigate, propose solutions, and execute within established guidelines. Escalate if solution requires significant cost or contractual change.Lead resolution, involving relevant stakeholders. Empower team to resolve. Only inform director of high-impact issues.
Supplier Performance Improvement PlanGather data and assist senior team in drafting the plan.Draft and agree on improvement plans with suppliers for routine issues, seeking manager's review before final sign-off.Design and lead complex improvement plans for strategic suppliers, with full autonomy to implement within agreed category strategy.
Contract Renewal StrategyPull contract data and flag key dates to supervisor.Analyse performance data and market insights to propose renewal terms to Category Manager. Participate in negotiations.Define and lead the negotiation strategy for significant contract renewals, including commercial and legal terms, in collaboration with Legal.
Supplier Onboarding/OffboardingProcess documentation and data entry following clear instructions.Manage the onboarding/offboarding process for operational suppliers, ensuring all checks are completed and systems updated.Design and optimise the end-to-end onboarding/offboarding process, including risk assessments and system integrations.

4How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, honestly: the hard targets, how often each one is actually looked at, and the quiet human signals that never make it onto a dashboard.

Supplier On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) Delivery
The percentage of orders delivered by your managed suppliers that arrive on time and complete, without defects.
Target · Maintain >95% OTIF for your portfolio

If a supplier delivers 97 out of 100 orders perfectly, that's 97%. Getting this wrong means production delays or unhappy customers.

Supplier Quality/Defect Rate
The percentage of goods or services received from your suppliers that meet our quality standards, measured by reported defects or service failures.
Target · Keep defect rates below 2% across your portfolio

If we receive 1,000 components and 15 are faulty, that's a 1.5% defect rate. You'll work with suppliers to get this number down.

Contract Compliance for Managed Spend
The percentage of spend with your assigned suppliers that adheres to negotiated contract terms and is processed through the correct channels (i.e., not 'maverick spend').
Target · Achieve >90% contract compliance

If we spend £1M with a supplier, and £950K goes through the agreed contract and P2P system, that's 95% compliance. The rest is 'maverick' and needs sorting.

Invoice Accuracy & Timeliness
The percentage of invoices from your managed suppliers that are accurate and submitted on time, reducing processing delays and disputes.
Target · Maintain >98% invoice accuracy and 99% on-time submission

If a supplier sends 100 invoices and 2 have errors or are late, that causes headaches for Accounts Payable. You'll help them get it right.

Supplier Relationship Health
How effectively you build and maintain constructive, professional relationships with your suppliers, ensuring open communication and problem-solving.
  • Suppliers proactively share potential issues, not just problems. They respond quickly to queries. Internal stakeholders feel you're effectively managing the relationship. You get positive feedback from supplier account managers.
Issue Resolution Effectiveness
Your ability to independently identify, escalate (when necessary), and resolve operational issues with suppliers, minimising impact on the business.
  • You present solutions, not just problems, to your manager. Recurring issues are reduced over time. Internal teams trust you to handle supplier disputes. You can point to specific examples of problems you've solved.
Data Quality & Reporting
The accuracy and completeness of the supplier performance data you collect and present, making sure it's reliable for decision-making.
  • Your supplier scorecards are consistently accurate and up-to-date. You can easily pull data for QBRs. Your manager rarely finds errors in your reports. You're starting to propose improvements to data collection.
Proactive Problem Identification
Your knack for spotting potential supplier issues before they become major problems, rather than just reacting to them.
  • You flag an upcoming contract renewal that might have issues weeks in advance. You notice a slight dip in a supplier's performance trend and investigate before it becomes a breach. You bring potential risks to your manager's attention early.

5Would you like it

The honest version. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Solving Tangible Problems

You'll get a real kick out of figuring out why a supplier is underperforming and then putting a plan in place to fix it. Seeing an improvement in delivery times or quality because of your direct intervention will be genuinely satisfying.

You successfully negotiate a new delivery schedule with a logistics supplier, which immediately reduces our warehouse bottlenecks. You'll feel that impact directly.

Building Relationships

If you enjoy getting to know people, both internally and externally, and building trust, you'll like this. You'll spend a fair bit of time on calls or in meetings, getting to understand what makes your suppliers tick and how to work with them.

You've built enough trust with a key component supplier that they give you a heads-up on a potential material shortage weeks before it hits the market, allowing us to plan.

Operational Efficiency & Cost Control

You'll be driven by making things run smoother and saving the company money. Spotting an inefficiency in a supplier's process or negotiating a better deal will genuinely motivate you.

You identify a recurring error in a supplier's invoicing that, once fixed, saves us roughly £500 a month in processing time and dispute resolution.

What frustrates people
  • Chasing suppliers for overdue documentation or reports.
  • Dealing with 'maverick spend' where internal teams bypass procurement.
  • Inheriting messy supplier relationships with unclear terms.
  • Getting blamed for a supplier's failure, even if you've flagged the risk.
  • The constant pressure to deliver cost savings, even in a rising market.
What this role does not give you
  • Direct people management responsibilities (that comes later).
  • Full autonomy on strategic sourcing decisions (you'll contribute, not own).
  • A quiet, predictable, 'head-down' work environment (expect regular interruptions).
  • The ability to completely avoid administrative tasks (some are just part of the job).

6Who you work with

You'll directly impact our day-to-day operational efficiency and cost control. By effectively managing supplier performance, you help prevent disruptions, ensure quality, and make sure we're getting the best commercial terms. Essentially, you're a key cog in keeping the business running smoothly and profitably.

Inside the business
  • Category Managers
  • Accounts Payable
  • Operations Teams
  • Legal Counsel (for contract queries)
Outside the business
  • Operational Supplier Account Managers
  • Leverage Supplier Sales & Service Teams
  • Third-party audit firms (occasionally)

7What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • At least 2 years of experience in a procurement, supply chain, or vendor management role, ideally within a commercial environment.
  • Demonstrable experience managing supplier relationships, even if it was for operational or transactional suppliers.
  • A proven track record of using data to track performance and identify issues.
  • Experience working with a P2P or ERP system for procurement activities.
  • A solid grasp of Excel for data analysis and reporting.

8What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced P2P/SRM Configuration & Optimisation

As you get more familiar with our P2P and SRM systems, you'll need to understand how to tweak them to better suit our needs, rather than just using them as they are. This means understanding workflows and reporting structures.

Understanding workflow logic within the P2P system · Building custom reports and dashboards (beyond sta · Identifying opportunities to automate routine task · Troubleshooting common system issues for suppliers

  • This quarter: Spend time exploring all the reporting capabilities of our P2P system. Try to build one custom report.
  • Next 6 months: Shadow a more senior colleague who is involved in system configuration or advanced reporting.
  • Within 12 months: Volunteer for any internal projects related to P2P system upgrades or new module implementations.
  • Ongoing: Actively seek out training resources or user groups for our core procurement systems.

Quick win: Find one small, repetitive task you do in the P2P system and research if there's an existing feature or a simple custom report that could automate or simplify it.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Attending industry webinars or conferences on supplier relationship management or supply chain resilience.
  • Joining professional networking groups for procurement professionals.
  • Reading industry publications and thought leadership pieces to stay current on market trends.
  • Taking online courses on advanced Excel, data visualisation, or specific procurement software modules.

10How the AI economy is changing work like this

Before we ask anything of you, here's what we can already say about AI and work of this kind:

The new skill this role is being asked for: AI-Assisted Problem Solving & Data Validation

With AI tools becoming better at analysing data and suggesting solutions, your role will shift from purely manual analysis to validating AI outputs and applying human judgment. You'll need to know when to trust the AI and when to dig deeper.

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

Your PlanIllustration

Built for Supplier Relationship Specialist

2 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Procure suppliesFDQ Limited · covers 3 of 9 standardsLevel 3
  2. Monitor the Performance of SuppliersGateway Qualifications Limited · covers 3 of 9 standardsLevel 3
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI-Assisted Problem Solving & Data Validation

With AI tools becoming better at analysing data and suggesting solutions, your role will shift from purely manual analysis to validating AI outputs and applying human judgment. You'll need to know when to trust the AI and when to dig deeper.

  • Understanding AI's limitations and potential for '
  • Prompt engineering for specific supplier analysis
  • Validating AI-generated insights against raw data.
  • Using AI to identify patterns you might miss manua

ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Supplier Assessment

Customers, investors, and regulators are increasingly demanding that companies have ethical and sustainable supply chains. You'll need to understand and assess suppliers not just on cost and quality, but also on their environmental impact, labour practices, and governance.

  • Understanding key ESG metrics (e.g., carbon footpr
  • Using ESG rating platforms (like EcoVadis) and int
  • Identifying and mitigating ESG risks in the supply
  • Communicating ESG requirements to suppliers.

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Supplier Performance Management (SPM)
  • Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Modelling
  • Supplier Segmentation & Tiering
  • Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Basics
  • Basic Negotiation Techniques

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Procurement Coordinator / Junior Buyer

    1-3 years

    Skills to master

    • PO processing, basic contract administration, supplier query resolution, internal stakeholder support, understanding P2P systems.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently accurate and timely processing of procurement transactions.
    • Proactive identification and resolution of basic operational issues.
    • Positive feedback from internal teams on support provided.
    • Demonstrated ability to follow established procedures and learn new systems quickly.
  2. 2

    Supply Chain Administrator / Logistics Coordinator

    2-4 years

    Skills to master

    • Order tracking, inventory management, logistics coordination, basic supplier communication, understanding of supply chain flows.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully managing delivery schedules and resolving shipping discrepancies.
    • Strong organisational skills and attention to detail in managing supply chain data.
    • Effective communication with logistics partners and internal operations.
    • A clear understanding of how supply chain issues impact the broader business.
  3. 3

    Customer Service / Account Manager (Supplier Side)

    3-5 years

    Skills to master

    • Client relationship management, understanding client needs, problem-solving, commercial awareness from a sales perspective, negotiation basics.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Proven ability to manage client expectations and resolve issues effectively.
    • Strong communication and interpersonal skills, building rapport quickly.
    • A good grasp of commercial terms and how to deliver value to customers.
    • An interest in understanding the 'other side' of the supplier relationship.

11Where this role leads

The long view:Your career path isn't set in stone. We're here to help you grow, whether that's becoming a leader of people, a deep subject matter expert, or even moving into a different part of the business. The key is continuous learning and a proactive approach to your development.

Pay & demand

Pay and demand for this role will appear here, each figure traced to a named authoritative source (e.g. the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, under the Open Government Licence). We don’t show numbers we can’t attribute.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Supplier Relationship Specialist is actually changing. In about two minutes, the free confidence check asks where you stand on each of the ten. That's the whole check, and it's what makes the plan yours rather than generic.

12The team that's yours

No two people are taught the same way. This is one-to-one, not one-to-many.

Zavmo is a hyper-personalised AI learning platform. Twelve virtual tutors, each with a different way of teaching, and one orchestration agent that picks the right one for the moment. So every single lesson is shaped around you, your role, and the way you learn. Not a course everyone sits through. A conversation built for you, and no one else.

…and nine more, matched to you after your first chat. Meet all twelve

13What it feels like

A conversation, not a course

Because your tutor knows your role, your projects and your last session, learning sounds like this. And it's different for every single person:

Procure suppliesLevel 3

Applied to your work in Supplier Relationship Specialist

By completing this unit, learners will be able to identify supply requirements, evaluate potential suppliers, procure supplies effectively, and monitor supplier performance.

How the thinking builds
  1. Remember
  2. Understand
  3. Apply
  4. Analyse
  5. Evaluate
  6. Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

  1. Your actual work Every lesson is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
  2. What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
  3. The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
  4. How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
  5. Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

DemonstrateIllustration

Evidenced on your work in Supplier Relationship Specialist

You do not finish by watching something. You finish by showing it on the work you already do, against the measures this job is judged on.

  • Supplier On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) DeliveryThe percentage of orders delivered by your managed suppliers that arrive on time and complete, without defects.If a supplier delivers 97 out of 100 orders perfectly, that's 97%. Getting this wrong means production delays or unhappy customers.Maintain >95% OTIF for your portfolio
  • Supplier Quality/Defect RateThe percentage of goods or services received from your suppliers that meet our quality standards, measured by reported defects or service failures.If we receive 1,000 components and 15 are faulty, that's a 1.5% defect rate. You'll work with suppliers to get this number down.Keep defect rates below 2% across your portfolio
  • Contract Compliance for Managed SpendThe percentage of spend with your assigned suppliers that adheres to negotiated contract terms and is processed through the correct channels (i.e., not 'maverick spend').If we spend £1M with a supplier, and £950K goes through the agreed contract and P2P system, that's 95% compliance. The rest is 'maverick' and needs sorting.Achieve >90% contract compliance
  • Invoice Accuracy & TimelinessThe percentage of invoices from your managed suppliers that are accurate and submitted on time, reducing processing delays and disputes.If a supplier sends 100 invoices and 2 have errors or are late, that causes headaches for Accounts Payable. You'll help them get it right.Maintain >98% invoice accuracy and 99% on-time submission
These are this job's own measures, with its own targets. Nothing is marked evidenced, because nobody has started this yet. Yours would fill in from the work you bring.

Your passport

This isn't a certificate you file away. It's a passport to the life you're designing.

Every credit you earn and every fluency you build adds up: evidence where it counts, carried with you. Zavmo keeps the map: where you are, where you're heading, and the next step, at your pace, around your life. From Supplier Relationship Specialist to Senior Supplier Relationship Manager (L3), and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 3 · in progressAI Fluency→ Senior Supplier Relationship Manager (L3)→ your design
Where this takes you

Your career path isn't set in stone. We're here to help you grow, whether that's becoming a leader of people, a deep subject matter expert, or even moving into a different part of the business. The key is continuous learning and a proactive approach to your development.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration
Supplier Relationship Specialist
  • Supplier Performance Management (SPM)
  • Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Modelling
  • Supplier Segmentation & Tiering
  • Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Basics
  • Basic Negotiation Techniques
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

14The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Supplier Relationship Specialist is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. You'll move from managing operational suppliers to leading relationships with our more strategic partners, often within a specific category. You'll take on more complex negotiations and mentor junior team members.

    • Joint Business Planning (JBP) with strategic suppliers.
    • Advanced contract theory and drafting non-standard clauses.
    • Should-Cost Modelling for complex products/services.
    • Leading QBRs with executive-level supplier contacts.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be honest, a good chunk of procurement work can be repetitive. Imagine having an intelligent assistant that handles the grunt work, freeing you up to focus on what actually matters: building relationships, solving complex problems, and finding real value. That's exactly what AI can do for you in this role.

We're investing heavily in AI to make your job more engaging and less about manual tasks. You won't be replaced by AI; you'll be empowered by it. Think of these tools as supercharging your ability to manage suppliers, spot risks, and drive efficiency.

Contract Analysis Automation

Use an AI tool to automatically read through supplier contracts, pulling out key dates, terms, and clauses. No more manually sifting through PDFs to find that one renewal date or liability cap. It's like having a legal paralegal on demand.

Predictive Risk Monitoring

Imagine an AI platform constantly scanning the news, financial reports, and even social media for potential red flags about your suppliers. You'll get proactive alerts about financial distress, geopolitical risks, or ESG issues, letting you act before a problem escalates.

Spend Anomaly Detection

This AI-powered tool automatically categorises all our spend data and flags anything unusual. Think maverick spend, price variances for the same item, or even potential duplicate payments. It's like having a detective constantly searching for hidden savings and inefficiencies.

QBR Preparation Assistant

Use a generative AI assistant to create the first draft of your Quarterly Business Review presentations. It'll pull performance data, summarise recent issues from emails, and even suggest discussion points. This dramatically cuts down on prep time for those crucial meetings.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Supplier Relationship Specialist?

Common routes in include Procurement Coordinator / Junior Buyer (1-3 years), Supply Chain Administrator / Logistics Coordinator (2-4 years) and Customer Service / Account Manager (Supplier Side) (3-5 years). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Supplier Relationship Specialist progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior Supplier Relationship Manager (L3) (3-5 years in this role), depending on the skills you build.

What level is a Supplier Relationship Specialist in the UK?

This role aligns to RQF Level 3 on the UK framework, a guide to the depth of qualification it maps to, not a hard entry bar.

What new skills matter most for a Supplier Relationship Specialist?

Increasingly, AI-Assisted Problem Solving & Data Validation and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Supplier Assessment. These are the areas where the higher-paid, future-proof work is heading.

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most of them were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

What it costs

Less than one coaching session. Every month.

A single career-coaching hour costs more than a month of this, and it ends when the hour does. Zavmo doesn't. It's £70 a month, about £2.30 a day, for a companion that knows a Supplier Relationship Specialist, works on the job you actually do, and keeps going at your pace rather than a timetable's.

  • Searching and planning stay free. You only pay when you start learning.
  • Your credits are yours. Regulated, and they don't vanish when a subscription ends.
  • Cancel any time and billing stops. No notice period, no minimum term.

Your path, personalised

You have the map. Walking it is the part we do together.

This route runs to 9 national skill standards. That is a real journey.

Zavmo shapes a learning experience as unique as you are. It fits how you learn, your pace and the work you already do. Every step stays benchmarked to recognised national standards. That’s the plan for becoming a Supplier Relationship Specialist: personal to you, and it still counts. The first steps are free.

Independent research finds well-designed intelligent tutoring performs nearly as well as one-to-one human tutoring: VanLehn (2011), Educational Psychologist.

A private tutor in the UK averages £35–40 an hour . Zavmo is £70/month.

A real plan on learn.zavmo.ai: Ofqual-regulated units, credits, and a three-month run at your own pace.
Start free No commitment. See your first steps free.

15Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 3

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

Other roles in Procurement

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The skills you'll build here are highly transferable. Strong supplier relationship management is crucial in almost every industry, from manufacturing and retail to financial services and technology. You could easily move into similar roles in different sectors or even transition into supply chain consulting.

Not sure this is the right direction?

Work out what you actually want from work first, then come back and see which roles fit it. Takes about ten minutes.

This role profile is © 2026Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Build my plan, free Here's the first ten minutes: a 2-minute confidence check → your personalised roadmap → meet the tutors matched to you. No card, cancel any time. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.