NOTICE: 2024 Updated Article now available
How much will it cost to get to better?
One of the first questions that most people have about coaching is simply: how much does coaching cost?
Plus for new coaches, it’s a pretty big question – what is a fair rate to charge as a coach? How much money could I make if I become a coach?
So, for the curious, here’s my 2022 review of the UK typical costs and rates for individual 1:1 life coaching, and for organisation / executive coaching. Plus bonus content: some insight on global prices, and the eternal gender gap.
UPDATE: my new analysis of coach prices for 2024 is here
Summary
Individual coach rates in the UK average around £100 per hour for the less qualified / experienced; and around £165 for the highly qualified and experienced, for at 1:1 self-funded coaching (reasons for this gap below)
Corporate coach rates are far higher than individual ones, jumping by 60% to £260 per hour, These rates are applied when a company is paying for the coaching (I explain why corporate is so much higher below)
Bear in mind that coaching is usually done in sets of typically 5 to 10 sessions – unlike therapy, it doesn’t continue forever! So: likely to cost some hundreds to some thousands.
There are a number of life coaches below £50 per hour (about 10-15% of the ‘less qualified’) – and a fortunate few (just 5 of 1700 – 0.2% of the ‘more qualified’) who charge individuals over £700 per hour. So – something for every pocket.
If you’re thinking of becoming a coach based on this – bear in mind that most folks do coaching on a part-time basis, with roughly 10% to 45% of their time going on coaching. So don’t throw in the day job just yet – sadly, it isn’t as simple as £165 per hour x 40 hours per week. According to the ICF, the average income from coaching in Western Europe is just £42k – nice, but not exactly untold wealth.
Quick summary of all the data:
| Source | Individual | Corporate |
| Henley 2021 Rigorous survey, >400 qualified and experienced UK coaches | £165 per hour | £260 per hour |
| Life Coach Directory >800 UK coaches of varied experience and qualifications (my analysis based on price filters, 2022) | £100 per hour | Not available |
| ICF 2020 Global survey, >22k participants, 161 countries – stats reported from ‘Western Europe’ | £42k per annum – income purely from coaching, in Western Europe, working part-time (average 44%) | £237 per hour |
| Henley 2018 – UK focus Survey of 951 UK coaches | Not available | England were mostly €200-400/hr. Scotland spread widely through €100 to €600 ranges. Wales had many under €50 per hour |
| Henley 2017 – Europe >1700 coaches, varied experience and qualifications, 48 countries in Europe | £110 per hour average across Europe (UK likely 30% higher than this average) | £194 per hour average across Europe (again, UK likely 30% higher – and note this was 2017) |
| Lequin 2017 No info on audience, but likely top end executive coaching, UK-only | Not available | £250 to £740 per hour, averaging £550 per hour. |
Note on sources: the respected Henley College is one of the leaders in executive coaching training, with famous coaching authors like Passmore running regular surveys on the topic – I’ve drawn heavily on several of their surveys below. I’ve done quite a bit of hunting for other data sources and they’re sadly few. There’s more info available on corporate coaching rates than on individual rates, and much more info on American rates than on UK. Ping me if you spot useful additions!
Individual UK coaching rates
Henley College’s Future Trends in Coaching 2021 report has per-country analysis of average coaching rates (page 14). This indicates that the UK has $200 / £165 per hour average charge, with data from almost 400 UK-based coaches.
I also reviewed the Life Coach Directory. First, I checked individual coach profiles in detail, using a random sample of individuals who are members of professional bodies and who offer online sessions – this allowed me to check their stated hourly fee in detail. Then I also did a rough analysis using the site’s price filters. It suggests that somewhere in the region of £100 per hour is fairly average for individual / life coaching, but there are a lot of coaches above and below this level.
Why is there such a gap between Henley’s 2021 £165 and the Life Coach Directory’s £100?
The coaches in the Directory are from a variety of backgrounds, and may be less qualified and experienced than those surveyed by Henley. In addition, coaches in the directory are obviously keen to gain new clients, and might focus on promoting their lowest rates. My review of individuals suggested a wide range of ages and experience and qualifications.
Henley’s participants, by contrast, had an average age of 55, and were reached via networks such as the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), one of the major professional bodies, and would likely tend to focus more on executive coaching rather than life coaching, which tends to be at a higher rate.
UK versus worldwide rates for 1:1 coaching
Interestingly, the Future Trends in Coaching 2021 survey also indicates that UK individual coaching rates are fourth highest of the 10 countries surveyed. Per the table (“Figure 11″) above:
- The US has the highest rate $264 per hour, according to 124 respondents.
- Australia ($254) and India ($230) also have higher coach prices than the UK at $200.
- My homeland – Ireland – is in 7th place at $143
- Belgium is the cheapest of the 10 countries at a bargain $124 per hour
Worth noting that there were around 40 respondents from the last four countries mentioned – small sample size!
If you look at the European countries only, the UK is firmly on top with $200 per hour, 31% higher versus the Europe-only average of $153 – and almost double Belgium’s rate.
Europe-wide rates
Henley also did a more detailed survey of >1700 respondents across 45 European countries – The State of Play in European Coaching and Mentoring 2017. Obviously, it’s probably fair to assume that rates are a good 10% higher than in 2017 after five, hmmm, interesting years.
The coaching rates below are averaged across all of Europe, for those who paid for their own individual 1:1 coaching. Most (35%) paid in the €50-100 / £42-85 per hour region. But averaging out the midpoints, you get €129 / £110 per hour average across Europe.
Bear in mind that UK rates are typically the highest in Europe so (per my calculations above) should be 31% higher than the European average. This indicates that around £144 per hour was the UK 2017 average.
The Part Time nature of coaching income
Supplementary data from the ICF’s 2020 Global Coaching study (page 12), which assessed salaries from coaching only, indicates that purely coaching income tends to be around $51.1k for western Europe (roughly £42k per annum); $62.5k for USA. But this is usually a part time income – as the ICF notes, “93% of coach practitioners also offer additional services such as consulting, counselling, etc. On average, … allocate 44% of their time to coaching”.
This matches with the indication from Henley (2017) that people are “typically spending 10-30% of their time on coaching”. This (American focused) Lumia article suggests that experienced coaches tend to have about 12 clients and coach for 12 hours a week. The Financial Times also quotes a German study, suggesting that “only one-third of German business coaches’ yearly income was coaching”
IE – don’t *quite* give up the day job to become a coach, just for the amazing money.
Corporate coaching rates
Why so much more expensive?
According to all data sources, corporate coaching tends to be far more expensive than individual coaching – 60% in the UK. I believe this is for two main reasons:
- Firstly – corporate coaches tend to be more qualified and experienced than individual coaches because the HR teams who hire them require them to be. Individuals usually have little knowledge of the coaching world and its qualifications.
- Secondly – as coaches, we’ll usually feel sympathetic to an individual paying their own way and offer a reasonable discount to make it possible – which we often won’t feel when dealing with a company’s finances. Also, an individual looking for a coach is highly motivated towards transformation, which us coaches love. An executive who is being offered coaching is often a more transactional client.
UK Corporate Coaching Rates
The most recent Henley survey, Future Trends in Coaching 2021, indicates the size of the difference between corporate and individual fees. UK rates are typically $323 (approx £260) per hour (as opposed to $200 for individuals) – a whopping increase of 60% on individual coaching.
Henley also did a 2018 UK breakdown comparing corporate coaching rates in England, Wales and Scotland in “The State of Play in Coaching in the UK 2018”.
- Wales is by far the cheapest area for corporate coaching, with a majority under €50 per hour.
- England has a strong majority (28%) in the €200-400 rate – four times the Welsh price! This fits in nicely with the 2021 rates, 3 years later.
- Scotland has a fairly even spread across all bands from €50 through to €600.
- Ireland (covered separately, in “The State of Play in Irish Coaching 2018”, is similar to England, with an even larger majority (40%) at the €200-400 rate
Finally, Lequin’s 2017 analysis of rates supports the higher corporate rates: their analysis of executive coaching rates indicates £250 to £740 per hour, averaging at £550. Their average is double that of the Henley 2018 study, and is possibly less disinterested as they sell coaching services. They offer no insight on their data sources – though their statistics are consistent with a sample at the upper end of the Henley data.
Worldwide corporate rates
The State of Play in European Coaching and Mentoring 2017 gives average rates across all Europe for corporates. Using midpoints to calculate the average, we get €228 (approx £194) per hour average corporate coaching rate across Europe.
Given the UK tends to be 31% higher than the European average (€228 / £194), this suggests €298 or £256/hr was the 2017 UK average corporate rate .
Other, more recent data suggest the rates have increased in the last five years – the Financial Times quotes the ICF’s 2020 survey – “In Western Europe… an hour’s coaching costs $288” (€275 or £237 – quite a bit more than €228, anyway).
The Future Trends in Coaching 2021 does per country comparison. This again has the UK in fourth place ($323 or £260 per hour, as mentioned above). Other countries follow much the same order as described for worldwide individual rates above, with a similar upshift for corporate rates – US is most expensive at $500 per hour; Australia ($413) and India ($339) are again higher than UK; Ireland moves up to sixth place at $229 with Belgium still the cheapest at $174.
Corporate rates by gender
The Future Trends in Coaching 2021 Henley report also offers a breakdown of corporate rates for men versus women.
In the UK, organisation rates for men are $263 whereas women are $233, a 12% gap.
This gender gap is enormous in Australia, almost 40% – $387 versus $278. It’s also sizeable in Germany at 22%: $201 for men versus $165 for women.
Hearteningly, the US has women charging considerably more: $438 versus men’s $340 – 22% difference – the same size gap as Germany, but in the opposite direction. And South Africa also has women charging marginally more than men, a 4% difference ($147 v $152).
On average, the gender gap is about 10% in men’s favour. As Henley noted in a previous report, “gender was a better determinate of fee rates than experience, level of training, engagement with supervision or qualification”
Conclusion
Reminder: my new analysis of coach prices for 2024 is here
There are coaches to fit most pockets, ranging from under £50 per hour to over £700 per hour, with £100 an hour as a good average for life coaching, and more experienced, qualified coaches usually over £150. Corporate coaches will usually be a good 50% more, averaging £260 – except, perhaps, in Wales.
Globally, the US is generally has the highest rates for coaching – over 30% more than the UK. But the UK is highest in Europe – with Belgium at the cheapest end.
You do get what you pay for – the upper end of rates should generally be highly qualified and experienced, and able to help you transform in ways that the cheapest coaches may not. But – what matters most is your own relationship with the coach. If you don’t like and trust the coach, it doesn’t matter how many qualifications they have. And you might get lucky and find the perfect coach for you at the cheaper end.
Feel free to book in a free intro session to learn more about coaching and how it can help you achieve your dreams – and reduce your nightmares.