Consultant Fee Splits Explained: 70/30 vs 75/25 vs 80/20

Walk into any consultant recruitment conversation and within five minutes someone will quote you a percentage. 70/30. 75/25. 80/20. Some firms will go further. The number is anchored in the consultant's mind almost immediately, and most decisions get made on the basis of that single figure. This is a mistake. The split tells you almost nothing useful on its own.

What the firm's share actually pays for

The percentage going to the platform firm is not profit. It is paying for, in roughly descending order of cost: PII premiums (which for any solicitor are now significant and rising), regulatory compliance overhead, the central cashiering and finance function, AML and conflict checks, file storage and case management software, secure email and document infrastructure, the SRA-authorised entity itself (every COLP and COFA needs paying), client account management and reconciliations, marketing and brand investment in the firm name, central HR and operations staff, and — at most firms — some level of internal referral facilitation. Whatever is left after all of that is the firm's profit margin, and at most platform firms it is modest.

This matters because two firms with the same headline split can have wildly different value propositions. A 75/25 firm with strong central marketing, an active referral network and modern tech is delivering substantially more for that 25 percentage points than a 75/25 firm with none of those things. Compare what you're getting, not what you're paying.

How to actually compare

The right way to compare splits is to model your real economics. Take your expected annual billings. Apply the split. Now subtract the costs the firm doesn't cover — often these include: your own marketing spend, your own website (yes, even at firms with a directory page), CPD, professional subscriptions, accounting and bookkeeping, travel to clients, mobile and home office costs. Some firms also cap their PII coverage at a level that requires you to pay extra for top-up cover; check.

Now do the same model for the next firm down. The differences in headline percentage usually shrink dramatically when you compare net of everything. A nominal 5-point difference in split frequently turns into less than a 2-point difference in actual take-home, and the difference is more than offset by what one firm includes and the other doesn't.

Tiered splits and bonuses

Several firms operate tiered or progressive splits — your percentage rises once you cross a billings threshold. This is usually a good sign because it aligns the firm's incentives with the consultant's growth, but read the small print. Some tiered structures reset annually. Some apply only to billings above the threshold rather than retrospectively. Some include or exclude disbursements, VAT and bad debts in the calculation. None of these are sinister; all of them affect the maths.

Disbursements, VAT and write-offs

Three things consistently catch new consultants out. First: disbursements. The split usually applies to your fees, not your disbursements, but the calculation is sometimes muddied in practice. Confirm in writing. Second: VAT. The split is calculated on net, not gross, but make sure you understand who collects VAT on your behalf and when it's remitted. Third: write-offs and bad debts. If you write off a fee, do you still owe the firm their share, or does the write-off net through? Rules vary. Get it in writing.

The number that actually matters

The only number that matters is your annual take-home, after all costs, doing the type of work you want to do, in the firm you actually want to be in. That is a function of the split, but it is much more a function of: what billings you can realistically deliver in this firm, what it costs you to deliver them, what work you don't have to do because the firm handles it, and how much of your time is freed up to do more billable work. A consultant billing £400,000 on a 70/30 split with strong support and a good referral network will out-earn a consultant billing £350,000 on an 80/20 split with no support — every time.

One last thing

Don't negotiate the split as the headline number. Negotiate what's included. The firms that are good to work with will have this conversation openly. The firms that are not will get defensive. That itself is useful data.