The short answer
It depends which profession you are seeing. UKCP, the UK Council for Psychotherapy, publishes that private sessions range from £40 to over £100 depending on where you live. BACP, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, publishes that more than half of the therapists on its own directory advertise between £40 and £60 a session.
Those two figures are not in conflict. Psychotherapy training is longer than counselling training, so psychotherapy tends to sit higher in the range. Both bodies say the same thing about what moves the number: location, experience, and the type of therapy.
If you are trying to work out whether a quote is reasonable, those are the honest benchmarks, and they come from the professions themselves rather than from anyone selling you a session.
What you might pay, and why
These are the routes people actually use. Free-route detail comes from UKCP and BACP; the ranges are theirs where stated, and described as typical advertised rates where not.
One distinction is worth making before you read it. Several of the cheaper routes are trainee-led, which is entirely normal: every therapist has to train somewhere. What differs is whether the organisation is a charity or a business, and whether the trainee is paid. A charity running on unpaid trainees is not profiting from them. A company charging you while paying its therapists nothing is a different proposition, and it is fair to ask which one you are dealing with.
| Route | Typical cost | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| NHS talking therapies | Free | Free at the point of use, and in England you can refer yourself. UKCP puts the wait at four to eighteen weeks, or longer. |
| University or workplace scheme | Free | Many colleges and universities run free in-house counselling. Some employers offer an Employee Assistance Programme with a limited number of sessions. |
| Charity and community services | Free to low cost | Often trainee-led, and the trainee is usually unpaid. That is fair enough: a charity is not profiting either. Availability is patchy and sessions are usually capped. |
| Trainee-led private businesses | Around £20 to £60 | A company, not a charity. Frequently counsellors one or two years into training, very often unpaid while the business is paid by you. Some now charge close to full private rates. Always ask whether the therapist is paid. |
| hora | £40 a session | A private business too, and trainee-led: we would rather say so. What differs is who the trainee is and how they are treated. Ours are psychotherapists in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, paid for every session, with no cap, no income test, and a therapist you choose. |
| Most private counselling | £40 to £60 | BACP’s published figure for more than half of its directory. A fully qualified counsellor working for themselves. |
| Private psychotherapy | £40 to over £100 | UKCP’s published range. A longer training than counselling, so it sits higher. |
| Experienced or specialist practice | £60 to £100+ | More years in practice, a specialist modality, or a busy city practice. |
| Central London | Higher across the board | Both bodies name location as a main factor. It moves the price more than almost anything else. |
Why two therapists can charge very differently
BACP and UKCP both name the same three drivers: location, experience and the type of therapy. In practice a handful of things move the number.
- Where they are. London and the South East cost more, and it is the single biggest factor.
- How experienced they are. Someone thirty years into practice with a specialism will charge more than someone recently qualified.
- Which profession they are in. Counsellors, psychotherapists, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists are different jobs with different training lengths, and they price differently.
- Whether they are still training. Trainee-led services are usually cheaper because of it, though not always by much any more. Being seen by someone in training is legitimate; not being told is the problem.
- Whether they work online. Working online removes the cost of a consulting room, which is one honest reason a price can be lower without anything being wrong.
What about CBT, EMDR and couples work?
Prices are broadly similar across most talking therapies, because you are paying for a trained person’s hour rather than for a technique. Two things do shift it.
Specialist trainings, EMDR being the common example, are often priced above general counselling, because the practitioner has completed an additional accredited training after qualifying. Couples and family work is usually more expensive again, partly because sessions frequently run longer than the standard fifty minutes.
CBT is the therapy NHS talking therapies most commonly offer, so it is the one people are most likely to be able to get free. Privately it sits inside the same bands as counselling and psychotherapy, because the price follows the practitioner rather than the method.
Free routes, and the honest trade-off
If money is the obstacle, start with the free routes. NHS talking therapies are free at the point of use, and in England you can self-refer without going through your GP. Universities, some employers and a number of charities also offer free or subsidised counselling, and UKCP notes that some run sliding scales based on income.
Both bodies are candid about what free can cost you in other ways. UKCP puts NHS waits at four to eighteen weeks or longer. BACP notes that free and subsidised services often mean little choice of therapist or type of therapy, and only a limited number of sessions.
None of that makes free routes a bad choice; for many people they are the right one. It does mean that if you have been waiting months, or your sessions ran out while you still needed them, paying something is a reasonable decision rather than an indulgence.
Questions worth asking before you pay anything
Whoever you are considering, and that includes us, these are fair questions, and a good therapist will be glad you asked.
- What is the total cost, including any assessment fee?
- Is the price per session, and is there a minimum commitment?
- Are you fully qualified, or in training? How far into it, and with which body?
- If it is a low-cost service: is the therapist paid?
- Is there a cap on the number of sessions?
- Do I have to prove my income to qualify?
- What happens if I need to cancel?
Where Hora sits, plainly
Hora is a trainee-led low-cost service. That is the same broad category as several of the cheaper routes above, and we would rather name it than let you work it out later.
What differs is who the trainee is, and how they are treated. Our therapists are psychotherapists in advanced UKCP-accredited clinical training, which is the longest route in the profession, and they are paid for every session they work. Sessions are open-ended, there is no income test, and you choose who you see.
Where these figures come from
Everything above is drawn from the professional bodies and the NHS.
- UKCP: how to access therapy in the UK — the £40 to over £100 range, NHS waiting times, and the free and low-cost routes.
- BACP: how to get therapy — the £40 to £60 directory figure, and the trade-offs of free and subsidised services.
- NHS talking therapies — how to self-refer in England.
- Hora’s own prices are published in full on our pricing page. Last reviewed August 2026.