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"After a week of this I tell me client that if I was charging at my usual rate my bill would be £930.00"

No wonder your client replied sarcastically. Your client relationship skills look like they could do with some work! If you agree a fee, it does you no credit to keep pointing out what you "should" have charged - it just sounds bitter and resentful as someone providing a paid service.

The point about agreeing a fee - in this case for a financial consent order - is that you do the work you feel necessary to deliver the agreed result and you set that out in your agreement with the client. They are paying you to conclude the agreement - not to make as many unecessary calls as they see fit. Why on earth are you allowing the client to demand you waste hours of your time trying to speak to someone who clearly isn't responding? This is where 'half applying' an agreed fee system gets you into trouble. On a time based billing, your client can ask you do to whatever they want and, so long as they'll pay you for your time, you'll do it (within reason). Once you agree a fee for a service, it is down to you to dictate how you provide that service for the fee - not the client. It changes dynamics. If I agree a fee for a builder to build me an extension, i don't also get to stand over them and make them do unecessary/additional tasks along the way - they do it and I assess the final result not how they got there.

As for your views on the CQS scheme, although I don't see the relevance to this debate, on that point I'm inclined to agree!