Not £60,000 divided by your fee. Here is what you actually have to bill — and how many clients that means each week — once tax, National Insurance and costs come out.
Working back from a take-home figure is harder than it looks, because the answer is not "target divided by fee". Tax, National Insurance and running costs all come out first, so the fees you need to bill are meaningfully higher than the number you want to keep. Here is the arithmetic.
| Your fee | Clients needed | Gross fees | Actual take-home |
|---|---|---|---|
| £50 a session | 39 a week | £89,700 | £61,249 |
| £60 a session | 32 a week | £88,320 | £60,449 |
| £70 a session | 28 a week | £90,160 | £61,516 |
| £80 a session | 24 a week | £88,320 | £60,449 |
| £90 a session | 22 a week | £91,080 | £62,050 |
At £60 a session you need about 32 clients a week; at £80 that falls to 24. That difference — 8 fewer clients every week for the same money — is the strongest argument there is for reviewing your fee before adding hours.
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 →Three things sit between the fees you bill and the money you keep. Running costs come out first and are an allowable expense, so they reduce the profit you are taxed on. Income tax then applies to what is left above the personal allowance. Class 4 National Insurance applies on top. The result is that reaching a £60,000 take-home means billing appreciably more than £60,000 — and the gap widens the more you earn, because a larger share falls into the higher band.
Every pound of genuine practice cost reduces your taxable profit, so it costs you less than a pound in real terms — but it is still money out. Cutting a cost you do not need is worth more than the tax relief on keeping it. Room hire is usually the largest and the most negotiable.