The point at which the higher-rate band first touches a private practice. Here is the caseload it takes, and the slice of it taxed at 40%.
£40,000 take-home is where the arithmetic changes character. Reaching it at £60 a session takes 20 clients a week, which puts your taxable profit at £51,600 — just past the £50,270 higher-rate threshold. Everything below that line is taxed at 20%; the £1,330 above it is taxed at 40%, plus National Insurance. This is the first of these targets where that happens, and it changes what an extra client is worth.
| Your fee | Clients needed | Gross fees | Actual take-home |
|---|---|---|---|
| £50 a session | 24 a week | £55,200 | £41,239 |
| £60 a session | 20 a week | £55,200 | £41,239 |
| £70 a session | 17 a week | £54,740 | £40,973 |
| £80 a session | 15 a week | £55,200 | £41,239 |
| £90 a session | 13 a week | £53,820 | £40,431 |
Below the £50,270 threshold, a pound of extra profit costs you 20% income tax and 6% Class 4 National Insurance — you keep 74p of it. Above the threshold it costs 40% and 2%, and you keep 58p. At the caseload above you are only £1,330 past the line, so most of your practice is still in the cheaper band, but every further client, every fee rise and every cost you fail to claim now lands in the expensive one.
The practical consequence is that volume stops paying its way first. Two things are worth more above the threshold than below it: reaching the same profit in fewer hours, and anything that legitimately reduces taxable profit — genuine practice costs you have not been claiming, or pension contributions, which attract relief at your marginal rate. That is a conversation to have with an accountant, not a calculator.
20 clients a week at £60, or 15 a week at £80. That is 5 fewer sessions every week for the same take-home — about 230 fewer sessions a year, with no loss of income and no extra room hire. Held the other way round: at 14 clients a week, a caseload many therapists consider full, the fee you would need is £83.
Raising a fee is uncomfortable and adding a client is not, which is why most practices drift towards the caseload answer. The arithmetic points firmly the other way, and it points harder the moment you cross into the 40% band.
Your costs are not £300 a month and your fee may not be on this list. Put your own numbers in and see the answer for your practice.
Calculate my take-home →