- UK bookkeepers charge a median £33.36 an hour or £150.50 a month
- VAT returns, payroll and transaction volume push the monthly price up
- An in-house bookkeeper costs £24,000 to £35,000 a year before employer NI
Ask how much does a bookkeeper cost in the UK and a 2025 survey of 131 UK bookkeepers gives a median of £33.36 an hour, or £150.50 a month for routine work. That fee usually covers recording transactions only, so bookkeeping services that add VAT returns and payroll cost more.
This guide covers the three pricing models, costs by business size, what’s included and what DIY really costs.
How much does a bookkeeper cost in the UK?
Most UK bookkeepers charge a fixed monthly fee, an hourly rate or a price based on how many transactions they process. The 6 Figure Bookkeeper Pricing Report, based on 131 UK bookkeepers surveyed in summer 2025, found a median monthly fee of £150.50 and a median bookkeeper hourly rate of £33.36.
Those figures cover routine bookkeeping and leave out add-ons such as payroll and VAT filing. Transaction volume, VAT registration and the number of people you pay are what move your price from there.
What do bookkeeper rates look like by business size?
Xero’s guide to hiring a bookkeeper, published in May 2026, breaks typical monthly retainers down by business size. Use it to sanity-check your monthly bookkeeping cost before you ask for quotes.
| Business type | Typical work | Typical monthly cost | What drives cost up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sole trader | Recording transactions and bank reconciliation | £50 to £150 | Paper receipts and mixed personal and business spending |
| Small limited company | Transactions, VAT returns and payroll | £120 to £400 | VAT registration and each extra employee on payroll |
| Growing SME | Full-service bookkeeping across several accounts | £300 to £700+ | More bank accounts, currencies and reporting |
Bookkeeper rates UK businesses pay also fall into two camps. In the pricing report, 32.8% of bookkeepers charged £101 to £200 a month, while a second group charging £300 to £500 or more pulled the average fee up to £288.94.
What does an in-house bookkeeper cost?
Employing your own bookkeeper costs £24,000 to £35,000 a year in salary, according to the National Careers Service. You’ll also pay employer National Insurance at 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year, under HMRC’s rates and thresholds for employers.
On a £30,000 salary, that’s £3,750 a year in employer National Insurance before pension contributions, software and holiday cover. Unless you’ve got enough daily transactions to fill a full-time role, an outsourced bookkeeping cost of a few hundred pounds a month is easier to justify.
What affects the price of bookkeeping?
What your bookkeeping services cost comes down to workload, which is why two businesses with the same turnover can get very different bookkeeping prices UK firms quote. These are the factors that move the number:
- Transaction volume: every sale, bill and bank line has to be recorded and matched, so more transactions mean more hours.
- VAT: once your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling 12 months, you must register for VAT, which adds quarterly returns to the job.
- Payroll: each employee adds payslips, PAYE submissions and pension records to the monthly workload.
- Bank accounts and currencies: extra current accounts, credit cards and foreign currency accounts each need reconciling.
- Experience and specialism: in the pricing report, bookkeepers with a niche charged 14.6% more per hour than generalists, and those with 5 to 10 years’ experience charged 34% more than newcomers.
Location still plays a part, though cloud software means you can hire a bookkeeper anywhere in the UK. When you compare bookkeeper rates UK firms charge, check the experience and specialism behind each figure.
Hourly, monthly or per transaction: which model is cheaper?
Monthly fees are the most common way UK bookkeepers charge. The pricing report found 52.6% use a monthly fee as their main method, 19.1% charge hourly and 17.6% price by transaction volume.
| Pricing model | How it works | Typical rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fixed fee | One agreed price for an agreed scope | £150.50 median, £288.94 mean | Regular bookkeeping with predictable volume |
| Hourly | You pay for the time spent | £33.36 median, £35.67 mean | Catch-up jobs and one-off work |
| Per transaction | Priced by the number of transactions processed | Set in volume bands by each provider | Seasonal or uneven volume |
When is hourly pricing cheaper?
Hourly pricing suits low, irregular volume. If your books take two hours a month, a bookkeeper hourly rate of £33.36 works out at about £67, well under the median monthly fee.
The catch is that hours creep up at quarter end, and you only see the bill afterwards.
When is a monthly fee cheaper?
A fixed fee wins once the work is steady, because you know your monthly bookkeeping cost before the month starts. Read the scope closely, though. The report’s monthly figures exclude payroll and VAT filing, and plenty of firms charge for both separately.
When does per-transaction pricing make sense?
Per-transaction pricing tracks your activity, so a quiet month costs less. Ask where the band limits sit, since crossing one in a busy month can lift the bill without warning.
What’s included in bookkeeping and what costs extra?
Core bookkeeping is the routine recording and checking of your company’s money. A basic monthly fee usually covers:
- recording sales and purchase invoices
- bank reconciliation, matching every bank line to a record
- capturing receipts and expense claims, which our guide to receipt and expense management covers in detail
- keeping the ledgers tidy and ready for your accountant
Headline bookkeeping prices UK firms advertise often stop at that list. These are the services most likely to be charged on top:
- VAT returns, usually every quarter once you’re registered
- payroll, priced per employee or per payslip
- management accounts and monthly performance reports
- year-end accounts and your Company Tax Return, which an accountant prepares
Before you compare outsourced bookkeeping cost between providers, write down everything you need over a full year. Then ask each provider to price that whole list, so you’re comparing like for like.
Freelance bookkeeper, online service or accountant: which should you choose?
Bookkeeping services cost different amounts depending on who does the work and what else sits in the fee. Here’s how the three main routes compare.
Freelance bookkeeper
A freelancer suits you if you already have an accountant you’re happy with and just need the day-to-day books kept. You’ll usually pay the hourly or monthly rates above, and one person gets to know your transactions well.
The trade-off is cover, as the work waits if they’re ill or on holiday. Our round-up of the best bookkeepers in the UK compares the options. If you’re a sole trader with simple books, a freelancer is often the better-value choice.
Online bookkeeping service
Online firms bundle bookkeeping into a fixed monthly or annual plan, often with VAT returns and year-end work included. You swap a single freelancer for a team with set reply times, so ask who your day-to-day contact will be.
Accountant doing both
When one firm keeps your books and prepares your year-end accounts, nothing gets lost in a handover and your accountant spots problems as they happen. A limited company accountant who includes bookkeeping costs more each month than a bookkeeper alone, but that one fee replaces two bills.
Our guide to bookkeeper vs accountant explains where the two roles overlap and where they don’t.
What does DIY bookkeeping really cost?
Doing your own books saves the fee, but it isn’t free once you add software and your own hours. Mistakes can also carry penalties.
Software costs
You’ll need accounting software that can submit VAT returns to HMRC. Xero’s UK pricing plans run from £18 to £70 a month excluding VAT at standard prices, with a discount on the first six months for new customers.
Time costs
Xero suggests that spending more than five hours a week on financial admin is a sign you should hire help. Five hours a week adds up to 260 hours a year that you’re not spending on sales, customers or your product.
Paid at the median bookkeeper hourly rate, those hours would cost about £8,670. A trained bookkeeper may need fewer hours for the same work, which is part of what you’re paying for. AI tools can sort transactions faster, but you’re still the one accountable for what gets filed.
The cost of mistakes
If your company doesn’t keep proper accounting records, HMRC can fine it £3,000 and you can be disqualified as a director, according to GOV.UK guidance on company and accounting records. Missing the VAT threshold is the other common DIY slip, because the £90,000 test runs on any rolling 12 months rather than your financial year.
How Sleek helps with bookkeeping costs
Sleek includes bookkeeping in every accounting plan, alongside year-end accounts, your Company Tax Return, the confirmation statement and at least one Self Assessment return. Your named accountant reviews the books, so the person keeping your records is the one who files them.
Here’s how the four plans compare (prices exclude VAT):
| Plan | Price | Annual revenue | Bookkeeping and extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | £900 a year (annual billing only) | Up to £90,000 | Annual bookkeeping, 1 Self Assessment return, replies within 72 hours |
| Scale | £1,399 a year or £130 a month | Up to £90,000 | Quarterly bookkeeping, 2 Self Assessment returns, replies within 48 hours |
| Pro | £2,160 a year or £200 a month | Up to £200,000 | Monthly bookkeeping, VAT registration and quarterly VAT returns, replies within 24 hours |
| Enterprise | £4,299 a year or £399 a month | Up to £500,000 | Everything in Pro, plus a quarterly management accounts review, a quarterly advisory call on request and same-day replies |
Payroll is £85 per employee a year, monthly management reports are £100 a month, and Xero is £375 a year if you’d rather not use SleekBooks. Each plan spells out its bookkeeping frequency, filings and reply time, so what you pay for is what you get.
You can see the full scope of our accounting services or compare our plans and pricing before you decide.
More general questions are covered in our bookkeeping FAQs.
Find out what a bookkeeper will cost your business
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FAQs on how much does a bookkeeper cost uk
Do bookkeepers charge VAT on top of their fees?
Bookkeepers who are registered for VAT add it to their invoices, which is why many quotes are shown plus VAT. A bookkeeper only has to register once their own taxable turnover passes £90,000, so smaller freelancers often don’t charge it. If your company is VAT-registered, you can usually reclaim the VAT on bookkeeping fees.
What qualifications should a UK bookkeeper have?
There’s no legal requirement for a bookkeeper to hold a qualification, but AAT and ICB are the most widely recognised UK credentials. Every bookkeeper offering services to clients must be supervised for anti-money laundering, either by a professional body or by HMRC under the money laundering rules for accountancy service providers. Ask who supervises them before you hand over your books.
How much does it cost to catch up on months of missed bookkeeping?
Catch-up work is usually billed by the hour, because nobody can price a backlog until they’ve seen it. A bookkeeper will ask for bank statements and receipts for the whole period, then quote a one-off fee before moving you onto a monthly rate. The more paperwork you hand over in one go, the fewer hours you’ll pay for.
Do bookkeepers charge a setup or onboarding fee?
Some do, usually to connect bank feeds, set up your software and bring opening balances across. Whether a quoted fee includes setup is one of the questions Sleek’s sales team hears most often. Ask for the answer in writing, along with any charge for handing your records over if you leave.
What should a bookkeeping quote spell out?
A useful quote lists the tasks covered, how often your books are updated, any transaction or employee limits and the reply time you can expect. It should also say what triggers an extra charge, such as crossing a volume band or registering for VAT. If two quotes don’t cover the same work, the lower one may cost you more by the end of the year.
How often should a bookkeeper update your books?
Monthly is the safest rhythm once you’re VAT-registered or running payroll, as both need current figures every few weeks. A small company below the VAT threshold can manage with quarterly or annual bookkeeping, though you’ll see less of your cash flow in between. Match the frequency to how often you make decisions based on the numbers.
Can you switch bookkeeper partway through your financial year?
Yes, you can switch at any point, though it’s simplest just after a VAT quarter or your year end. Ask your current bookkeeper for a full export of your ledgers and supporting records before you go. A limited company must keep its accounting records for six years, so hold on to your own copy as well.
