The UK Advice Fee Benchmark — What Financial Advice Really Costs

Q: What is a typical financial adviser fee in the UK?

Industry research and FCA market data put typical charges at around 1–2% of the amount invested as an initial fee, plus roughly 0.5–1% a year ongoing. Hourly rates commonly run £75–£350 (around £150 on average), and fixed-fee projects £1,000–£5,000 depending on complexity. Always convert any percentage into pounds on your own numbers before signing.

Q: Why don't financial advisers publish their fees?

Research by Unbiased found around 70% of advisers don't publish fees on their websites, and over a fifth of advised consumers don't know how they're charged. Firms must disclose charges before you engage them — so ask for the first-year cost in pounds, in writing, at the first meeting.

Q: Is a percentage fee or a fixed fee better?

Neither is automatically better. Percentage fees scale with your pot — which can make ongoing service expensive on large pensions — while fixed fees are predictable but payable regardless of outcome. The honest comparison is total pounds over the period you expect to stay, which is what the calculator on this page shows.

Why fees are this opaque

Only around 9% of UK adults pay for financial advice, and when researchers ask the rest why not, cost and trust dominate the answers. Yet the industry makes comparing costs strangely hard: research by Unbiased in early 2026 found around 70% of advisers don't publish fees on their websites, and 21% of advised consumers don't know how they're charged. Firms must disclose their charges before you engage them — but disclosure you only see after you're in the meeting isn't much of a shopping tool. So here is the market, in one table.

The going rates

Charging model	Typical UK range	Watch for
Initial / setup fee	1–2% of the amount invested (larger pots often negotiate lower)	Whether implementation is included, and what happens if you don't proceed
Ongoing fee	0.5–1% of assets per year	What the annual service actually includes — and that the fee grows with your pot
Hourly rate	£75–£350 (around £150 average)	An estimate of total hours, in writing, before work starts
Fixed-fee project	£1,000–£5,000+ per defined job	Exactly what's in scope; a one-off pension review or transfer recommendation typically runs £1,500–£3,500

Adviser fees sit on top of product costs — platform and fund charges typically add roughly another 0.3–1% a year. Always ask for the aggregated, all-in figure; firms are required to be able to show it.

Turn a quote into pounds

The quote you've been given

Amount being advised on (£)

Initial fee (%)

Ongoing fee (%/yr)

Years you expect to stay

What that means in pounds

Initial fee

—

Ongoing, first year

—

Total over the period

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Same years, £1,000/yr fixed

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Cumulative fees: amber is the percentage quote, teal is a £2,500-initial + £1,000-a-year fixed-fee comparator. Illustration only — not a quote, forecast or recommendation, and a higher fee can still be good value for the right service.

Assumptions and method

The pot is assumed to grow 5% a year before the ongoing fee is deducted, so percentage fees rise as the pot grows. No allowance for product charges, inflation, tax or withdrawals.
The fixed-fee comparator (£2,500 initial, £1,000 per year for ongoing service) is an illustrative mid-market figure, not a quote from any firm.
Fee ranges above are market observations from the cited sources, not offers — individual firms vary widely in both price and service depth.

How to use these numbers

Get the first-year cost in pounds, in writing. Any percentage quote converts in seconds on this page — take the result into the meeting.
Price the ongoing service annually. List what the firm actually did for you in the last twelve months and ask whether you'd buy it again at that price.
Compare at least two firms. Differences of 0.25%/yr feel trivial and compound into five figures — see the fee impact calculator.
Then vet, don't trust. Whoever quotes best still goes through the FCA Register checks before any money moves.

Sources

Fee ranges and statistics on this page: FCA — Understanding the advice market: financial advice firms survey; Unbiased consumer research, February 2026 (via The Intermediary); the lang cat — The Advice Gap 2025; Which? — How much financial advice costs. Last reviewed June 2026.

Common questions

What is a typical financial adviser fee in the UK?

Around 1–2% of the amount invested initially, plus roughly 0.5–1% a year ongoing, is the most common pattern; hourly work runs £75–£350 and fixed projects £1,000–£5,000+. The spread between firms is wide, which is exactly why converting quotes to pounds and comparing two firms is worth the afternoon it takes.

Why don't advisers publish their fees?

Common industry explanations are that work is bespoke and that publishing invites comparison out of context. Whatever the reason, the effect is that around 70% don't — so the burden of price discovery falls on you. Firms must disclose charges before engagement; insist on the first-year figure in pounds, in writing, at the free initial meeting.

Is a percentage fee or a fixed fee better?

Neither, automatically. Percentages scale with your pot and can make long ongoing relationships expensive; fixed fees are predictable but payable regardless of pot size or outcome. Run both through this page over the years you expect to stay — the pounds answer is usually decisive one way or the other for your situation.

About this page: independent education from a publisher that sells no advice and ranks no firms. Figures are cited market observations, not quotes or recommendations, and good advice can be worth far more than it costs. For advice tailored to you, consult an FCA-authorised adviser — and verify them with our free toolkit first.