Setting up in private practice: the UK admin checklist

Training prepares you to do the work. It rarely prepares you to run the business around it, and the first few months of private practice can feel like discovering a second job you didn't apply for.

This is a checklist of the business admin involved in starting out in the UK, roughly in the order it makes sense to tackle it. It's not clinical guidance and it isn't legal, tax or insurance advice, because several items here turn on your own circumstances and belong with your professional body, your insurer or your accountant. What it is, is a map, so that nothing important arrives as a surprise.

First: the things that gate everything else

Registration with a professional body

You'll already be working towards or holding registration with a body such as BACP, UKCP, NCPS or BPS, depending on your training and modality.

For private practice this matters beyond professionalism: insurers usually require it, most directories require it, some clients look for it, and if you ever want to work with an EAP or an insurer's network it's non-negotiable. Check your body's specific requirements for practising independently, because some have additional criteria, particularly early in your career.

Professional indemnity insurance

You need your own cover. If you've been employed or working within an agency, you may have been covered by them; that cover almost certainly does not follow you into private work.

Talk to a broker who knows the therapy market rather than buying the cheapest policy you can find online. Things worth asking about specifically: online and remote work, working with clients who are physically abroad, run-off cover after you stop practising, and whether your modality has any exclusions.

Supervision

Your professional body will set expectations for supervision in independent practice. Sort this before you see clients, not after. It's the thing that makes solo practice sustainable, and it's much harder to arrange retrospectively.

Budget for it properly. It's an ongoing cost, not a setup cost, and it's the one people quietly cut when money is tight, which is exactly when they need it most.

Second: the legal and financial setup

Tell HMRC

If you're self-employed, you need to register with HMRC. There are deadlines tied to when you started trading, and penalties for missing them.

Then get to grips with Making Tax Digital, which changed how sole traders report income from April 2026. If your gross income is over the threshold you now file quarterly rather than annually, and we've written about what that means in practice. Thresholds drop in 2027 and again in 2028, so even if it doesn't catch you now, it probably will.

Sole trader or limited company?

This is an accountant question, not an internet question. The answer depends on your income, your other work, your plans and your appetite for administration. Most therapists start as sole traders; some incorporate later. An hour with an accountant early is cheap relative to unpicking the wrong structure.

The ICO data protection fee

You hold client records, so you're a data controller, and you almost certainly owe the ICO an annual fee of £52, or £47 by Direct Debit, and about fifteen minutes online.

It's the easiest item on this list to complete and the most commonly forgotten. More detail here, including the part that matters more than the fee: what being the data controller actually commits you to.

A business bank account

Not legally required for sole traders, but keep practice money separate from personal money from day one. It makes bookkeeping tractable, quarterly reporting survivable, and your accountant's job cheaper.

Third: your policies and paperwork

These are the documents that prevent most of the awkward conversations you'd otherwise have.

A contract or working agreement, covering fees, session length, cancellation terms, confidentiality and its limits, and how you handle records. Your professional body may offer a template, so start there rather than from scratch.

A cancellation policy you'll actually enforce. The number matters less than your consistency. A generous policy applied evenly works; a strict policy you waive whenever you feel guilty is worse than no policy, because it makes every cancellation a negotiation.

A privacy notice telling clients what you hold, why, on what lawful basis, how long you keep it and who you'd share it with.

A retention position: how long you keep records after therapy ends. Check your professional body's guidance and your insurer's requirements; they don't always match, and the period is usually longer than people expect.

Clarity on communication and boundaries. What you respond to, how quickly, and what happens outside those hours. Write it down before it's tested, because the first time a client emails at midnight is a bad moment to be deciding.

Fourth: the practical setup

Where you'll work

Room hire, working from home, online, or a mix. Each has consequences worth checking before committing: home working may raise questions with your mortgage or insurer; room hire is usually the largest fixed cost; online widens your reach but raises questions about where your clients actually are.

If you're working online, your professional body and insurer both have views on remote practice, and where a client is physically located can affect what you're permitted to do. Ask rather than assume.

How clients will find you

Realistically, in the first year: your professional body's directory, word of mouth from supervisors and peers, local networks, GP surgeries and other practitioners, and your own website.

Directories are where most private clients start looking. A properly filled-in profile on your body's directory usually outperforms an elaborate website in the early months.

How clients will pay you

Decide before your first session, not after. Bank transfer works and costs nothing, but you'll be reconciling manually and chasing. Card payments are easier for the client and carry a processing fee. Direct Debit suits regular weekly work.

Whatever you choose, keep a clean record of what was invoiced, what was paid, and when. Quarterly tax reporting now depends on it.

The tools

The honest answer is that you need less than the internet suggests. At minimum: a way to hold your diary, a way to keep notes securely, and a way to get paid.

Some therapists run that on a paper diary and a bank account for years, and there's nothing wrong with it, though digital record-keeping requirements have made the paper end of that harder. Others want it in one place from the start.

If you're weighing up practice management software, we've written a buyer's guide that's about how to choose rather than what to buy. The short version: work out the two or three things that are actually annoying you, buy for the practice you have now rather than the one you imagine, and check you can get your data out before you put anything in.

Roughly what it costs

Indicative annual figures for a solo UK practice, to help you build a picture. Check current prices, because these move.

| Item | Rough annual cost | |---|---| | Professional body membership | £100–£250 | | Professional indemnity insurance | £70–£200 | | ICO data protection fee | £52 (£47 by DD) | | Supervision | Varies widely, often the largest single cost | | Room hire | Nil to several thousand, depending on model | | Practice software | Nil to ~£350 | | Accountant | £300–£800 | | CPD | Varies |

Supervision and room hire dominate. Everything else is comparatively small, and most of it is a deductible business expense.

What to do in what order

If it helps, a sequence:

1. Registration and insurance sorted
2. Supervision arranged
3. HMRC registered, accountant found, business account opened
4. ICO fee paid
5. Contract, privacy notice, cancellation and retention positions written
6. Room or online setup decided
7. Directory profiles completed
8. Payment method chosen and tested
9. Software decided, last and deliberately, once you know what you actually need
10. First client

Steps 1–4 gate everything. Steps 5–8 can happen in parallel. Step 9 is genuinely last: it's much easier to choose tools once you know how you work.

One honest thing

Almost everyone starting out under-charges, under-insures against their own time, and over-invests in a website.

The parts that turn out to matter most in the first year are unglamorous: supervision you can rely on, a cancellation policy you apply consistently, and knowing where your money went. None of that is visible to clients. All of it decides whether you're still practising comfortably in three years.

This article is general information about setting up in private practice in the UK as at August 2026. It is not legal, tax, insurance or clinical advice, and it doesn't take account of your circumstances. Requirements vary by professional body and change over time, so check the current position with your body, your insurer and your accountant.

Faresay is practice management software for UK therapists, with a free plan for up to six active clients. See how it works.