UK bookkeeping costs £20 to £55 an hour. Monthly fixed fees start around £100 for a quiet sole trader. They reach £700 or more once VAT and payroll join in. Hiring an experienced bookkeeper of your own costs about £40,000 a year.
The number that matters isn’t your business size. It’s your monthly transaction count. A sole trader with 40 bank lines a month is cheap to run. A shop with 400 isn’t.
This guide gives the real ranges for both routes. Then it explains what moves your quote up or down.
Quick Answer
Expect £20 to £55 an hour for one-off work. Expect £100 to £300 a month for a sole trader on a fixed fee. Expect £200 to £400 a month for a small limited company. Add VAT and payroll and you’re at £400 to £700. An experienced in-house bookkeeper costs about £40,000 a year with on-costs.
What Do UK Bookkeepers Charge Per Hour?
Hourly bookkeeping rates run from £20 to £55 across the UK. Freelance and junior bookkeepers sit at the bottom, around £18 to £30. Qualified bookkeepers and established firms charge £30 to £55. Firms usually bill catch-up work on old, neglected books by the hour.
Two independent UK guides give almost the same picture. Alto Accounting quotes £18 to £30 an hour for freelance bookkeepers. Firms charge £30 to £50. Hill Bookkeepers quotes £35 to £55 plus VAT for general bookkeeping. Its market range is £20 to £55.
Hourly billing suits one job with an end. Cleaning up two years of unrecorded transactions is the classic case.
It suits ongoing work badly. You can’t budget for it, and neither side knows when to stop.
What Do Monthly Bookkeeping Packages Cost?
Monthly fixed fees track transaction volume. Under 50 transactions a month costs roughly £100 to £300. Between 50 and 200 transactions costs roughly £200 to £400. Add VAT returns, payroll and reporting. The range then moves to £400 to £700 a month.
Here’s the same picture as a table. Figures are the overlap of the two sources named above.
| Monthly transactions | Typical business | Monthly fee range |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 | Sole trader, freelancer, single bank account | £100 to £300 |
| 50 to 200 | Small limited company, one or two staff | £200 to £400 |
| 100 to 300, plus VAT and payroll | Growing agency or trade business | £400 to £700 |
| 300 plus, multiple accounts | Established company, several entities | £700 to £1,200 |
Count your bank lines before you ask for a quote. Export three months from your bank and divide by three. That one number gets you a real price faster than any talk about turnover.
Most UK firms price a monthly bookkeeping service this way. Volume sets the base fee, and the extras sit on top.
What Does DASA Charge for Bookkeeping?
DASA prices bookkeeping inside a fixed monthly fee. There are no hourly charges. There are no catch-up fees in January. The fee covers the coding, the bank matching and the VAT figures. One named ACCA qualified accountant handles your books all year.
| Client | Price |
| Company (Silver) | From £99 |
| Landlords & Property Owners * | From £37.5 |
| Sole Traders | £37.5 |
| CIS | £240 |
Bookkeeping sits inside these plans. You don’t buy it as a separate line.
The same plan covers your year end accounts and your filings. That’s why the monthly figure looks different to a standalone bookkeeping quote.
What Drives Your Bookkeeping Price Up?
Six things move the number. Transaction volume, VAT registration and payroll come first. Then the number of bank accounts you hold. Then the state of your records, and how fast you need the work done. A tidy business on steady monthly work pays the least.
Transaction volume. The main driver. Your bookkeeper codes and matches every line.
VAT registration. VAT adds a quarterly return and a stricter record. GOV.UK sets out the rules on keeping VAT records. You hold a VAT account and keep records for six years. Hill Bookkeepers puts VAT returns at £25 to £75 each, on top of a base fee.
Payroll. Payroll is a separate monthly job with its own deadlines. Most bookkeepers price it per payslip.
Number of bank accounts. Two accounts and a card means three feeds to match, not one.
State of the records. A tidy handover is cheap. Two years of shoebox receipts is a project.
Speed. Year end catch-up in late January costs more. Steady monthly work costs less.
What Does a Base Bookkeeping Fee Actually Include?
A standard monthly fee covers bank feed coding and monthly bank matching. It also covers basic supplier and customer invoice entry. That’s the floor. VAT returns, chasing late payers, payroll checks and management reports cost extra. Cheap headline quotes strip all four out.
Alto Accounting lists what cheap quotes leave out. It’s a useful checklist:
- VAT return preparation
- credit control and chasing late payments
- payroll reconciliation
- work in progress tracking
- management reporting beyond raw ledgers
So ask for an itemised quote, not a headline price. Two quotes at the same number can hide very different work.
Our guide to what a bookkeeper does has the full task list. Compare any quote against it line by line.
Is It Cheaper to Do Your Own Bookkeeping?
Only if your time is worth less than the fee. Add your software subscription to the hours you spend. Say a quiet business takes four hours a month. At £40 an hour, that’s £160 of your time. DIY looks cheaper on paper. It often isn’t.
Run the numbers on your own hour. Four hours a month at £40 an hour is £160. That sits inside the fixed fee range for a sole trader, before you add software.
Then add the cost of getting it wrong. Missed expense claims raise your tax bill. Missed deadlines bring penalties. HMRC can fine a company £3,000 for not keeping proper accounting records. Directors can also lose the right to run a company.
Sole traders and companies keep their records for different periods. We list every time limit in our guide to HMRC record-keeping rules.
What Does an In-House Bookkeeper Really Cost?
Salary is only the start. A UK bookkeeper earns £24,000 as a starter and £35,000 with experience. You then pay 15% employer National Insurance above £5,000 a year. You add at least 3% pension. Software, a desk and holiday cover sit on top.
The National Careers Service puts the bookkeeper salary range at £24,000 to £35,000. Working hours run 37 to 40 a week.
Now add what you pay as the employer.
National Insurance. HMRC’s rates and thresholds for employers set employer National Insurance at 15% for 2026 to 2027. You pay it above £96 a week, or £5,000 a year. On a £35,000 salary that’s £4,500 a year.
Employment Allowance. Employment Allowance cuts your yearly National Insurance bill by up to £10,500. It can wipe out that £4,500. Not every employer qualifies, so check before you count on it.
Pension. The law sets minimum workplace pension contributions. You pay at least 3% of earnings between £6,240 and £50,270. On £35,000 that’s about £860 a year.
Everything else. A desk, a laptop, a software licence and a recruitment fee. Then holiday and sick cover. Nobody prices cover until the week they need it.
Here’s the full year side by side.
| Cost line | In-house (full time, £35,000) | Outsourced fixed fee |
|---|---|---|
| Salary or fee | £35,000 | £1,200 to £8,400 |
| Employer National Insurance | £4,500, less any Employment Allowance | £0 |
| Pension at the 3% minimum | About £860 | £0 |
| Software licence | £150 to £400 | Usually included |
| Holiday and sick cover | You arrange it | The provider arranges it |
| Recruitment | One-off fee | £0 |
A part-time hire changes the salary line, not the shape. Two days a week at £35,000 pro rata is £14,000. Pension and cover still sit on top.
When Does Hiring In-House Actually Win?
Hire when the work fills a real role. Daily cash handling and stock counts need someone on site. So do trade counter invoicing and walk-in questions from customers. As a rough guide, past three days a week an employee often costs less per hour.
Volume is the honest test. A business with 800 transactions a month already pays near the top fee band.
Control is the second reason. An employee changes their day when you ask. An outside provider works to an agreed list of tasks.
Concentration is the risk. One person holds all the knowledge. Say your bookkeeper leaves in December. You start January with a mess.
Many small businesses split the job instead. Someone in the office raises invoices and files receipts. An outside bookkeeper does the coding, bank matching, VAT and reports. Name one person to own the bank matching, or both sides assume the other did it.
Why Do Two Quotes Differ So Much?
Scope, qualifications and supervision set the gap. A coding-only quote always beats a full-scope quote on price. A qualified bookkeeper costs more than an unqualified one. Any outside firm or freelancer paid to do your books needs anti-money laundering supervision by law. The cheapest quote often skips one.
The supervision point is the one owners skip. GOV.UK lists professional bookkeeping among accountancy service providers. They register with HMRC or a professional body.
GOV.UK is blunt about the rule. Do this work without anti-money laundering supervision and you’re breaking the law.
So ask any cheap provider one question. Who supervises you for money laundering? A real answer names HMRC or a professional body. No answer means the price is low for a reason.
Getting a Quote That Holds
Bring three numbers to the call. Your monthly transaction count, your VAT status, and how many people you pay.
With those three, any decent provider can price the work in one call. Without them you’ll get a range, then a change later.
DASA’s small business bookkeeping service prices on volume and scope, not on guesswork. Send us your transaction count and tell us how you take payments. We’ll confirm which plan fits.
This article gives general information about UK bookkeeping costs. Prices quoted are market ranges from third party sources, not DASA prices. Employment costs use HMRC figures for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. It’s not financial, tax or legal advice. Speak to a qualified accountant about your own situation.
Last reviewed October 2026 by Raqeeb Marzook, ACCA.
Raqeeb Marzook is Manager at DASA Accountancy. He’s a qualified member of the ACCA. He has over five years advising UK small businesses, sole traders and company directors. His work covers bookkeeping, VAT, self assessment, payroll and business planning. He prepares articles from primary HMRC guidance. Found an error? Email info@dasaaccountancy.co.uk.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a bookkeeper cost per hour in the UK?
Hourly rates run from £20 to £55. Freelance and junior bookkeepers sit at £18 to £30. Qualified bookkeepers and established firms charge £30 to £55.
How much does monthly bookkeeping cost for a small business?
Under 50 transactions a month costs roughly £100 to £300. Between 50 and 200 costs roughly £200 to £400. Adding VAT returns and payroll moves it to £400 to £700.
How much does an in-house bookkeeper cost?
An experienced bookkeeper earns about £35,000. Employer National Insurance adds £4,500 for 2026 to 2027, before any Employment Allowance. The minimum pension adds about £860.
Is outsourced bookkeeping cheaper than hiring?
For most small businesses, yes. A fixed fee runs £1,200 to £8,400 a year. Hiring makes sense once the work fills about three days a week or needs someone on site.
Why are some bookkeeping quotes so cheap?
Cheap quotes usually cover coding only. VAT returns, credit control, payroll checks and reports get stripped out. Some cheap providers also lack the anti-money laundering supervision the law requires.