duke-of-bytes wrote
a freelancer would be best .. i will see if i can get the budget for it . there is little to no action and change on the website
Of course... I gave you generic advice but in your case I would say, if it works and there is little change then this would be the most reasonable course of action.
However... PHP 5 is not developed anymore, everyone is supposed to move to PHP 7, PHP 5 is deemed to be a security risk now!