How Much Does Therapy Cost in London in 2026?

In London, a 50-minute session with a counsellor or psychotherapist usually costs £60 to £200. A clinical or counselling psychologist costs £100 to £300. A psychiatrist's first assessment costs £290 to £695, with shorter follow-up appointments from £170.

Across the UK as a whole, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy says that more than half of the therapists listed on its directory advertise between £40 and £60 a session. London sits above that. It is one of the more expensive places in the country to see a therapist privately.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

If those figures are out of reach, the section on lower-cost routes below is the more useful part of this page. Therapy in London is also available free through the NHS, and at reduced rates through trainee schemes, income-banded practices and community centres.

Cost by type of practitioner

All figures are for a standard 50-minute individual session in London, unless stated otherwise. Session length is not standardised, so always confirm it when you book.

Practitioner	Typical London fee	What they do
Counsellor	£60–£100	Talking therapy for a defined difficulty, often shorter-term. Usually registered with the BACP.
Psychotherapist	£90–£200	Longer-term work, often at greater depth. Usually registered with the UKCP, BPC or BACP.
Counselling or clinical psychologist	£100–£300	Doctoral training, formal assessment and diagnosis. The upper end reflects seniority rather than location.
Psychiatrist, first assessment	£290–£695	A medical doctor. Can diagnose and prescribe. Assessments usually run 50 to 90 minutes.
Psychiatrist, follow-up	£170–£300 (20–30 minutes)	Shorter review appointments, often for medication. Repeat prescriptions may be charged separately.
Couples or family therapy	£170–£250	Longer sessions are common. Premium practices charge considerably more.
Trainee or supervised therapist	£45–£150	A qualified therapist in advanced training, working under supervision. See below.

A short introductory phone call is free at many London practices, typically 15 minutes. It is worth using. It costs nothing and it tells you whether you want to work with this person before you pay for anything.

Why London fees vary so widely

The spread is real, and it is mostly explained by seniority and role rather than by which part of London you are in. One established London practice publishes its whole ladder: a trainee therapist at £50, a counsellor at £100, a psychotherapist at £135 to £200, a clinical psychologist at £180 to £250, and its directors at £250 to £450. That is a nine-fold spread inside a single organisation, at the same address.

There is one genuine geographic effect. The Harley Street and Wimpole Street cluster is a distinct premium market, where individual sessions run from around £230 to £500 and psychiatric assessment from £695. It is not the London average and should not be read as one.

Beyond that, the things that move a fee are the practitioner's training and experience, whether the work is individual or with a couple, session length, and whether the practice carries the overheads of consulting rooms and administrative staff.

If you cannot afford private fees

Most people in London do not pay private rates, and there is more available than the private market suggests.

The NHS, free at the point of use

You can refer yourself to an NHS talking therapies service without going through your GP. Most people are offered between 8 and 16 sessions, each lasting 50 to 60 minutes. The service is free.

The trade-offs are real and worth knowing before you choose. The BACP's own guidance is candid about them: you may have little choice of therapist or type of therapy, and you may wait a long time for a first appointment. For some people that is entirely workable. For someone in acute distress, or who needs a particular kind of therapy, it may not be.

Trainee and supervised places

Therapists in the final stages of training see clients at reduced fees under qualified supervision. In London this runs from about £45 to £150 depending on how far through training the therapist is, and these places sit inside ordinary established practices, not only in the charity sector. Group therapy is cheaper again, from around £45 a week.

Income-banded fees

Some London practices set the fee against your income rather than discounting on request. One publishes a band of £70 to £100 a session on that basis. Others do not advertise a scale but will discuss it, and several say so plainly on their fees pages. Asking is normal and it is not an imposition.

Low-cost and community services

London has training institutes, university psychology clinics and community organisations offering therapy well below private rates, usually with the fee set after an assessment of your circumstances. Because those fees are assessed individually and change, we do not publish figures for them here. Contact the service directly and ask.

• University training clinics. Several London universities run psychology or psychotherapy clinics open to the public, staffed by trainees under supervision.
• Training institutes. Psychotherapy training organisations often run low-cost clinics as part of their trainees' clinical practice.
• NHS trust non-NHS services. The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust offers services outside NHS provision alongside its NHS work.
• Community and intercultural centres. Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre offers short-term intercultural therapy in over 20 languages to people living in Islington, Enfield, Camden and Haringey. Services of this kind are often restricted to particular boroughs, so check the catchment before you apply.
• Mind and other mental health charities run local services across London, with availability and cost varying by borough.

Private health insurance

Many London practices work with the major insurers, including Aviva, AXA Health, Bupa, Cigna, Vitality and WPA. Cover for talking therapy varies a great deal between policies and usually requires a GP referral first. Two things are worth checking before you commit: whether your policy covers the specific practitioner you want to see, and how many sessions it will fund. Policies frequently cap the number.

Questions worth asking before you book

• How long is a session, and what is the fee for that length?
• Do you offer a free introductory call?
• What is your cancellation policy, and what notice do you need?
• Do you have any reduced-fee or income-banded places?
• Are you registered, and with which body? You can check the register yourself.
• Roughly how many sessions do you expect this to take?

Sources

• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, How to get therapy: the UK-wide £40 to £60 directory figure, and the caveats on the NHS route.
• NHS, Counselling and NHS talking therapies: self-referral, session numbers and session length.

Fees reviewed July 2026 against practices publishing their own rates. We do not publish figures we cannot trace to a source that charges them.