UK · Pricing guide · Bookkeeping

How Much Does a Bookkeeper Cost in the UK?

Short answer

UK bookkeeping typically costs £150–£500 per month for a small business in 2026, depending on transaction volume, VAT status and whether payroll is included. Hourly bookkeepers charge roughly £15–£35 an hour, but the unpredictable bill is why most owners prefer a fixed monthly fee. BlackpeakCFO's UK bookkeeping starts at £150/month, agreed in writing before any work begins.

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What it costs with BlackpeakCFO

Engagement	Price	What it covers
Sole trader / micro business	From £150/mo	Low transaction volume, not VAT-registered. Bank feeds reconciled, transactions categorised, monthly close.
VAT-registered small business	£250–£400/mo	Bank reconciliation, VAT-ready ledger, quarterly MTD VAT return, monthly management figures.
Bookkeeping + payroll	£350–£500/mo	Full bookkeeping plus payroll run, RTI submissions and pension filing for a small team.
Catch-up / cleanup	Fixed one-off quote	Behind on the books? Priced as a separate one-off so the monthly fee stays clean.

All prices fixed and agreed in writing before any work starts. No hourly meter, no surprise invoices. Prices shown in GBP, current as of May 2026.

What drives the price

Transaction volume

The number of bank, card and payment-platform transactions each month is the single biggest driver. Twenty transactions a month is a different job from four hundred, and the price reflects that honestly.

VAT registration

A VAT-registered business needs a ledger structured for MTD VAT and a quarterly return prepared and filed. That adds work — and it adds value, because it keeps you penalty-safe.

Payroll

Running payroll, filing RTI submissions to HMRC and handling pension auto-enrolment is a distinct task. If you have employees, it is bundled in clearly — never hidden.

Software and bank feeds

Clean Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent with working bank feeds keeps the monthly job efficient. If your setup needs fixing first, that is a one-off — quoted separately, not buried in the retainer.

What you'd pay elsewhere

UK bookkeepers commonly charge £15–£35 an hour, which sounds modest until the invoice arrives and never quite matches what was done. A part-time employed bookkeeper costs £14,000–£22,000 a year plus employer's National Insurance, pension and the cost of supervising them. High-street accountancy firms often bundle bookkeeping into a wider package at £200–£600 a month, but the bookkeeping itself is frequently handled by a junior. The market is moving towards fixed monthly fees precisely because hourly billing makes the cost impossible to plan around — and because Making Tax Digital has made consistent, monthly bookkeeping non-negotiable rather than a year-end scramble.

How we price it

BlackpeakCFO charges one fixed monthly fee for UK bookkeeping, from £150/month, agreed in writing before the first transaction is touched. The work is done by Stuart Wilson, ACMA CGMA — a chartered management accountant, not a junior — so the books are not just reconciled but read: if something in the numbers looks wrong, you hear about it. Bank feeds reconciled, transactions categorised to a clean chart of accounts, VAT-ready ledgers, monthly close completed promptly and a year-end package handed to your accountant. No hourly meter, no surprise invoices, MTD-compliant throughout.

Common questions about how much does a bookkeeper cost in the uk?

Is a fixed monthly fee better than paying a bookkeeper hourly?

For almost every small business, yes. An hourly bookkeeper gives you a bill you cannot forecast and a quiet incentive not to ask questions. A fixed monthly fee — from £150/month with BlackpeakCFO — turns bookkeeping into a known budget line, agreed in writing, with unlimited email contact included. You pay for the outcome, not the clock.

Does the price include my VAT return?

For VAT-registered businesses, the quarterly MTD VAT return is included in the £250–£400/month band — preparing and filing it from a ledger that is already structured correctly. If you are not VAT-registered, you are not paying for VAT work you do not need. The quote is always scoped to your actual situation.

How much does it cost to add payroll?

Bookkeeping with payroll for a small team typically runs £350–£500/month all-in, covering the payroll run, Real Time Information submissions to HMRC and pension auto-enrolment filing. It is shown as a clear, separate component of the quote so you can see exactly what payroll is costing you.

What if I am behind on my bookkeeping?

Catch-up work is quoted as a fixed one-off, separate from the ongoing monthly fee, so the monthly price stays clean and predictable once you are current. BlackpeakCFO will look at how far behind the books are, give you a fixed figure to bring them up to date, and then move you onto the standard monthly service.

Is monthly bookkeeping required for Making Tax Digital?

Effectively, yes. MTD for VAT already requires digital records, and MTD for Income Tax (from April 2026 for those over £50,000) requires quarterly submissions that are only painless if the bookkeeping is kept current month by month. A consistent monthly process is no longer optional housekeeping — it is the thing that keeps you penalty-safe.

Get a fixed price for your business

Send your details in a one-minute form. Stuart reads every one personally and replies within one business day with a written, fixed quote — no phone call required, no obligation.