How much to charge for therapy sessions: UK rates and how to set yours

What UK practitioners charge per session

We only include figures we could trace to a professional body, a survey or a provider's own price list. Where no good data exists, we say so rather than borrow a number from a price-guide website.

Price-guide websites publish town-by-town ranges, but rarely say where the numbers come from, so we have left them out. These are advertised fees, not take-home pay.

What the figures mean for your discipline

Counselling and psychotherapy

BACP's figure is the most useful single number here, because it comes from what thousands of therapists advertise. If more than half sit between £40 and £60, the rest sit either side: lower for newer practitioners and low-cost services, higher for experienced, accredited or specialist therapists and for couples work, which often runs longer. Before you set your fee, look at ten profiles near you on the main directories, most of which show fees (our comparison of therapy directories lists them). Compare yourself with people of similar training and experience, not just the nearest.

Clinical psychology

Practitioner psychologists are HCPC-registered, and clinical psychologists hold a doctorate, so they generally charge more than counsellors. The myTribe survey's £129 average, with Leicester at £164 and Colchester at £85, shows how wide the spread is. Assessments, reports and specialist work such as neuropsychology are usually priced separately from therapy sessions.

How much do private physios charge? UK published prices

We found no profession-wide survey of private physiotherapy fees. Nuffield Health publishes its prices: at most sites a non-member pays £72 for a 45-minute initial assessment and £49 for a 30-minute follow-up, and at some London sites, such as Covent Garden, £79 and £52. Specialist work is often priced higher: Nuffield charges non-members £85 for a 60-minute pelvic health assessment.

How much do private dietitians charge? UK data is scarce

We could not find a survey of private dietitian fees, and the British Dietetic Association doesn't publish one on its public pages. Its Freelance Directory, open to members of its freelance group, is the best place to see what dietitians near you charge. Dietitian is a protected title regulated by the HCPC, and much of the work involves medical conditions, which can support a fee in line with other allied health professions. Nutritionists, nutritional therapists and health coaches charge across a much wider range, so compare yourself with practitioners who hold the same registration as you.

Osteopathy and chiropractic

Osteopaths have the clearest data of any discipline here: around £65 for a first appointment and £55 after that, from the Institute of Osteopathy's 2024 census, as reported by the General Osteopathic Council. Chiropractors have no equivalent published figure, and the British Chiropractic Association's advice to patients is that costs vary by clinic, location and treatment. Look at what chiropractors near you list.

Sports massage and personal training

There is no national data on sports massage prices. Published clinic price lists vary widely; the University of Nottingham's sports injury clinic, for example, charges the public £55 for 60 minutes as a non-member, though as a university clinic it may not be typical. Personal training is its own market, and our guide to getting personal training clients covers UK session prices.

How to set your rate, working back from your income

Start from what you need to earn, not from what the practitioner down the road charges. Then check the answer against the market.

1. Decide your target income before tax for a full year.
2. List every cost: room hire, insurance, registration and membership fees, supervision, CPD, software, directory listings, website, phone, accountant and travel.
3. Count your billable sessions honestly. Allow for holidays, illness, training days, gaps between clients and sessions cancelled without charge.
4. Divide income plus costs by billable sessions. That is the fee you need.
5. Compare it with local rates. If your figure is well above the market, look at your costs or your caseload. If it is well below, you are probably undercharging.

A worked example (hypothetical)

This is an illustration, not a quote or a typical case. Imagine a counsellor who wants to earn £32,000 a year before tax, sees 20 clients a week for 42 weeks, and has about 40 sessions a year cancelled without charge. That leaves 800 billable sessions. Their costs:

• Room hire at £15 a session: £12,000
• Supervision at £70 a month: £840
• BACP registered membership for 2026 to 2027: £196
• A Counselling Directory listing, paid yearly: £245
• A website on our Launch plan, monthly fee only: £468
• Insurance, software, CPD and everything else: £1,360

That comes to £15,109. Add the £32,000 target and divide by 800 sessions, and the fee works out at about £59, so £60 in practice: the top of BACP's typical band. If the same counsellor worked online from home and dropped the room hire, the figure would fall to about £44.

Two things stand out. Room costs move the answer more than anything else, so know your real number. And 20 client hours a week is a heavy load for many counsellors once notes, supervision and admin are added, so the answer is rarely "just see more people".

London versus the regions

Location matters, though less neatly than people expect. In the myTribe survey of private psychologists, London averaged £160 a session, but the most expensive town was Leicester at £164, while Colchester averaged £85. Nuffield Health charges a little more for physiotherapy at some London sites: £79 against £72 for a first assessment.

Your real comparison is with the practitioners your clients weigh you against, which for online work may be anyone in the country. Price against people with similar training in a similar kind of area, and if you work online, against other online practitioners in your specialism. Costs differ by area too, so run the worked example with your own room rate rather than borrowing someone else's fee.

Introductory sessions, packages and concessions

Introductory sessions

A free 15 to 20 minute phone or video call is common in therapy, and BACP notes that many therapists offer a free introductory session. In physio and osteopathy a free call is less usual; a clear description of the first appointment on your website does the same job.

Packages

Packages suit time-limited work, such as a course of physiotherapy, a block of sports massage or a nutrition programme with follow-ups. Be careful with therapy: BACP's client ethics team has warned that pre-paying for blocks of sessions can benefit the therapist more than the client, and has questioned discounts for paying in advance. Whatever you sell, say what happens to unused sessions if the client stops early. The CMA's guidance is that advance payments you keep should reflect what you have lost.

Concessions

BACP notes that many therapists offer reduced rates for people on low incomes, and UKCP encourages members to list fees and any concessionary options on their profile. Decide how many reduced-fee places you can afford each week, who qualifies, and when they are reviewed, then stick to it.

Insurer rates and your self-pay fee

If you are recognised by Bupa, AXA or another private medical insurer, the insurer sets or agrees what it will pay for each session, and those rates are generally not published. You will see them when you apply for recognition, and they may differ from your self-pay price. Check your agreement before charging insured patients any top-up, and tell patients clearly at booking what their policy covers and what they might owe.

Insured work can fill a diary, but it is a different trade-off from self-pay: more admin, invoicing through systems such as Healthcode, and a fee you don't control. Our guide to getting recognised by Bupa and AXA covers the process.

Should you show your prices on your website? Yes

• It saves both sides time. People who can't afford you find out before they enquire, and people who can aren't put off by having to ask.
• A missing fee can read as expensive. A clear one, with what it includes, reads as confident.
• Clients expect it. Directories have fee fields, BACP tells the public to check costs before starting, and UKCP advises members to list fees and concessions.
• It is fairer. Everyone sees the same price.

Show the fee for each type of appointment, how long it lasts, any concessions, how to pay and your cancellation policy. If you advertise a price, it has to include any charges the client can't avoid: the CMA's price transparency guidance sets out the rules that have applied since April 2025. Our guide to reducing no-shows covers how to word the cancellation side.