Why a class fee of £10-£15 (or £80-£200 that you see your instructor making for your 1 hour workout) for a session with 8-20 people in– isn’t “luxury”– it’s often bare minimum
It’s easy for people to think the local therapist or instructor is expensive, until you look behind the scenes. When that fee is spread across a group– 8-20 participants the cost per-person is often modest. Yet that class-level fee is what keeps a small wellness or fitness business afloat.
👇 UK baseline: what “average pay” looks like
• According to latest data from ONS, median gross hourly earnings (excluding overtime) for full-time employees in the UK was £19.67hr as of April 2025
• That gives a decent benchmark: if someone works a normal full-time job, that’s what they might expect to earn– without overheads, risk, or extra time that come from running a business.
What it actually costs – to run a group wellness/fitness class
Say you have a class for 10-15 people and charge each person £8-£15, the total revenue for that session is £80-£225. On the face of it, it seems pretty good compared to your average employed hourly rate.
And then:
• Hall/Venue hire – renting a space for the class (£20-£50)
• Insurance & liability – professional indemnity or public liability (essential for therapists, fitness, pilates, group classes) (£5-£10 per class when spread)
• Licences & Compliance – if you play music, you need to have a licence and purchase the music. If you belong to a regulating body, there are often membership fees, certification renewals (£2-£5)
• Training, ceritfications, ongoig professional development – clients expect qualified, safe instructors and therapists, which requires investing time and money in training and workshops
• Travel & Transpost costs – If you travel to the venue, carry equipment, drive between venues, you have fuel, wear & tear, business-use insurance. If you are online you will have purchased equipment and something like zoom to deliver sessions. (£5-£20)
• Time beyond the class – admin, booking, preparation, setting up, advertising, marketing, book keeping, clearing up, payments, travel time. (30-60 minutes more time
• Tax, NI, pension contributions, holiday pay – you have to factor these costs into these earnings (variable)
• Risk, liability, resposibility – if anything goes wrong
Given that there might only be one or two sessions a week, that money does not stretch far.
When you add all those () up – and consider the unpaid time– the per class net pay ends up much lower. It might end up more akin to a modest average hourly wage once all the overheads are accounted for.
Why people who complain “it’s expensive” may still underestimate what goes into it
• Because you see lots of people in the class– but ignore overheads
• Another instructor under-prices ( to match what people want), they often absorb the losses: less take-home pay, less ability to re-invest, or risk cutting corners
• Many clients expect “drop-in-class” prices to be similar to memberships, but a small business can’t operate at thos rates while staying insured, qualified, and sustainable
• The business relies on enough people turning up to class regularly. If attendance drops, the same overhead costs remain.