No-show cost calculator

When a client does not turn up, the fee is only the visible loss. The hour is gone and cannot be resold at short notice, the room was paid for whether anyone sat in it or not, and the costs of the week, supervision, insurance, software, carry on regardless. That is why this calculator prices a missed session at the full fee: the practice spent the hour either way.

The fixes are boring and they work in a set order. Automatic reminders come first, because most missed sessions are forgotten rather than avoided. A clear cancellation policy agreed before the first session comes second, because it moves cancellations earlier, and an early cancellation is a slot you can fill. Taking payment closer to booking comes third, because a session already paid for is rarely forgotten.

The recovery line uses a transparent assumption: if you halved your no-shows, you would keep half the money. We have not dressed that up with a research citation, because reminder studies vary by setting; halving is a realistic outcome of doing the three fixes above, not a promise.

One caveat a spreadsheet cannot hold: a no-show is sometimes clinical information. A pattern of missed sessions can be avoidance, ambivalence or a rupture, and the useful response is to bring it into the work, not just onto an invoice.