United Kingdom · Internal consulting · Lead (8-12 years)

Lead Performance Consultant

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

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Where should we send it?

One email: what AI is changing in this job, and where to start free. With a link back here. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

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  • Experience bandLead (8-12 years)
  • Direct reports3-8 reports
  • Reports toPrincipal Performance Strategist
  • UK framework levelUsually a manager, or the deepest specialist in a team

Also advertised as Principal Internal Consultant · Senior Strategy Advisor · Head of Process Excellence (Programmes) · Internal Consulting Lead

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England Pearson Education Ltd · Level 5 · covers 4 of 19 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Digital Technologies Pearson Education Ltd · Level 5 · covers 2 of 19 standards
NOCN Level 4 certificate for Data Analysts NOCN · Level 4 · covers 5 of 19 standards
OTHM Level 7 Diploma in Data Science OTHM Qualifications · Level 7 · covers 4 of 19 standards
Pearson BTEC Level 4 Higher National Certificate in Computing for England Pearson Education Ltd · Level 4 · covers 3 of 19 standards
Highfield Level 3 Diploma for Team Leaders and Supervisors (RQF) Highfield Qualifications · Level 3 · covers 2 of 19 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Data Analytics Pearson BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Computing for England
Data Analytics Primer NOCN Level 4 certificate for Data Analysts
Data Analysis and Visualisation OTHM Level 7 Diploma in Data Science
Data Analysis Highfield Level 3 Diploma for Team Leaders and Supervisors (RQF)

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly
Change Fluency taking people through change
Trust Fluency keeping the digital world safe
Your Plan Illustration

Built for Lead Performance Consultant

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Data Analytics Pearson Education Ltd · covers 4 of 19 standards Level 5
  2. Data Analytics Primer NOCN · covers 5 of 19 standards Level 4
  3. Data Analysis and Visualisation OTHM Qualifications · covers 4 of 19 standards Level 7
  4. Data Analysis Highfield Qualifications · covers 2 of 19 standards Level 3
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Lead Performance Consultant?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • AI-Driven Insights & Validation
  • Digital Transformation Acumen
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Lead Performance Consultant plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

3What this role really is

A lead performance consultant designs and drives major change programmes across a business. You work out who needs to do what, and check the results follow. VPs and directors turn to you when they need to fix a tricky problem or launch a new initiative.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Designing complex, multi-tab financial/operational models for business cases, mastering Power Query for data transformation across disparate sources, and writing simple VBA scripts for automation.

Tableau / Power BI Expert

Designing and building complex, interactive dashboards from scratch to track programme performance, using advanced features (LOD expressions, DAX) to answer novel business questions for VPs.

Microsoft Visio / Lucidchart Advanced

Facilitating workshops to map complex 'as-is' processes and design optimized 'to-be' states, using layers and data linking to create clear, actionable process documentation.

Asana / Monday.com / Jira Advanced

Configuring and managing complex programmes, creating custom workflows for your team, and building reports to track team velocity, programme health, and deliverable status for stakeholders.

Confluence / Notion / SharePoint Advanced

Designing and building the knowledge management system for your programmes and team, creating templates and governance for documentation, and ensuring easy access to programme artefacts.

Anaplan / Workday Adaptive Planning Intermediate

Modifying existing models or building simple modules to test scenarios for your programmes, understanding how changes impact financial plans, and collaborating with Finance to ensure alignment.

Cascade / Workboard / Gtmhub Basic

Updating initiative progress within the corporate strategy execution framework, linking your programme outcomes to strategic objectives (OKRs), and understanding how your work contributes to the bigger picture.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Programme Methodology & Approach Follows prescribed methodology, escalates deviations. Proposes methodology for routine problems, seeks manager approval for novel ones. Selects and adapts methodologies for complex projects, consults Director on significant departures.
Programme Budget Allocation No budget authority, informs manager of expenses. Manages small project budgets up to £5K, escalates overruns. Recommends budget allocation up to £50K, requires Director approval.
Team Resource Allocation & Tasking Receives tasks, no allocation authority. Allocates tasks for self and provides informal guidance to juniors. Allocates tasks to mentees, provides input on project staffing.
Stakeholder Communication Strategy Drafts communications for manager review. Communicates routine updates to project team and peers. Develops and executes communication plans for project stakeholders, consults Director on sensitive messages.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Programme Value Realisation
Documented financial impact (cost savings, revenue uplift, efficiency gains) from your led programmes.
Target · £500K - £2M annually per programme (depending on scope)

Leading a supply chain optimisation programme that reduces logistics costs by £750K in its first year, or improving customer onboarding to increase first-year revenue by £1.2M.

Programme Delivery Adherence
Percentage of programmes delivered on time, within budget, and meeting agreed-upon objectives.
Target · 90% on-time, 95% within budget, 100% objective achievement

A 12-month programme to implement a new CRM system completes in 11.5 months, £10K under its £200K budget, and achieves all 5 key user adoption and data quality targets.

Team Performance & Development
The growth and effectiveness of the Performance Advisors and Analysts you lead and mentor.
Target · 80% of direct reports meet or exceed performance targets; at least 1 promotion or top rating annually.

Two of your direct reports successfully take on more complex workstreams, and one is promoted to Senior Performance Advisor within 18 months, directly attributing your guidance.

Stakeholder Engagement & Influence
The extent to which your recommendations are adopted and you're seen as a trusted advisor by senior business leaders.
Target · 80% adoption rate for major recommendations; consistently invited to strategic planning sessions.

Successfully convincing the Head of Sales to overhaul their lead qualification process, resulting in a 15% increase in conversion, despite initial resistance. They now regularly ask for your input before major decisions.

Strategic Clarity & Problem Framing
Your ability to take ambiguous, complex problems and distil them into clear, actionable strategic questions and programme scopes.
  • Business unit VPs consistently praise your ability to 'cut through the noise' and define the real problem. Programme charters are clear, concise, and get quick sign-off from senior leadership. You're often asked to help frame new initiatives before they even become formal projects.
Organisational Alignment & Buy-in
How effectively you build consensus and commitment across disparate business units for complex change initiatives.
  • Key stakeholders (Directors, VPs) proactively champion your programmes. Resistance to change is identified and mitigated early. Cross-functional teams collaborate smoothly under your guidance, even when their objectives initially conflict. You're known for getting people 'on the same page'.
Methodology & Quality Assurance
The rigour and quality of the analytical approaches, process designs, and recommendations developed by you and your team.
  • Your programmes consistently use robust methodologies (e.g., Lean Six Sigma, ADKAR). Deliverables are consistently high-quality, data-backed, and stand up to executive scrutiny. You're seen as setting the standard for analytical excellence within the department.
Risk Anticipation & Mitigation
Your foresight in identifying potential roadblocks, dependencies, and political challenges, and developing proactive strategies to address them.
  • Major programme risks are identified well in advance and have clear mitigation plans. You rarely get blindsided by unexpected issues. Senior leaders trust your judgment on potential pitfalls and rely on your ability to navigate complex organisational dynamics.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Solving Big, Messy Problems

You get a real kick out of taking a vague, 'this isn't working' brief and turning it into a clear problem statement with a tangible solution. You enjoy the detective work, the data crunching, and the intellectual challenge of untangling complex organisational knots.

Spending a week diving into why our customer churn rate is inexplicably high, only to discover it's a combination of a faulty onboarding process and a disconnect between sales promises and product reality. Then, designing a fix.

Driving Tangible Impact

You're not content with just writing reports; you want to see your recommendations actually implemented and making a difference. The idea of 'shelf-ware' fills you with dread. You're motivated by seeing the numbers move and knowing your work contributed directly to it.

Successfully launching a new operational process that reduces errors by 30% and saves the company £1M annually, and being able to point to that success.

Developing Others & Building Capability

You enjoy mentoring junior colleagues, helping them grow their skills, and seeing them succeed on their own. You also like the idea of leaving a legacy of improved processes and stronger capabilities within the business units you work with.

Coaching a junior analyst through their first complex data model, helping them present it to a Director, and seeing their confidence (and skills) grow significantly.

What frustrates people
  • The 'Credibility Tax': Constantly having to re-prove your value to new business unit leaders who are skeptical of 'internal consultants' and see you as corporate overhead.
  • Implementation Ownership Dilemma: You're held accountable for the results of a programme, but the business unit that 'owns' the P&L controls the resources and has the final say on execution.
  • Data Scavenger Hunts: Being told the data is readily available, only to spend 40% of your programme time hunting down, cleaning, and stitching together messy data from ten different legacy systems.
  • Political Minefields: Getting caught in the crossfire of a turf war between two powerful executives, where any recommendation you make will alienate one of them.
  • The 'Urgent' Executive Request: Having your carefully planned programme roadmap completely derailed by a last-minute, 'back-of-the-envelope' analysis request from the C-suite that is due tomorrow.
  • The 'Not Invented Here' Syndrome: Facing resistance from a business unit that is hostile to outside ideas, regardless of their merit, simply because they didn't come up with it themselves.
  • The 'Flavor of the Month' Whiplash: Pouring months of effort into a major transformation initiative, only to have it de-prioritised when a new CEO or a market shift causes a sudden change in corporate strategy.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, predictable work environment with minimal interruptions.
  • Direct control over large budgets or operational teams.
  • The ability to always see your projects through to 100% completion without external interference.
  • A role where you can avoid internal politics or difficult conversations.

8Who you work with

This role directly shapes how major business functions operate and perform. You're not just improving a process; you're often redesigning entire operating models, which has a ripple effect on efficiency, customer experience, and ultimately, our bottom line. Your work ensures that strategic decisions actually translate into tangible organisational change and value.

Inside the business
  • Business Unit VPs and Directors (e.g., Head of Operations, Marketing Director, CFO)
  • Programme Managers (from other departments)
  • IT Leadership and Architecture Teams
  • HR Business Partners
  • Finance Business Partners
Outside the business
  • Select external vendors (e.g., software providers, specialist consultancies)
  • Industry peer groups (for benchmarking)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Proven track record of successfully leading complex projects or workstreams, ideally in a consulting or internal transformation role.
  • Demonstrable experience in designing and implementing process improvements or operational changes that delivered measurable business value.
  • Experience managing or mentoring junior team members, providing clear direction and development support.
  • A strong ability to influence senior stakeholders (Director/VP level) and build consensus across different functions.
  • Solid understanding and practical application of at least one major consulting methodology (e.g., Lean Six Sigma, Change Management, Agile).

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Data Visualisation & Storytelling

With more data available, the ability to distil complex insights into clear, compelling visuals that drive action is more critical than ever. Executives are time-poor; your dashboards need to tell the story instantly and accurately.

Dashboard Design Principles · Interactive Storytelling · Data Ethics in Visualisation

  • This month: Take an advanced Tableau/Power BI course focusing on dashboard design and interactivity.
  • Next quarter: Redesign one of your existing programme dashboards to be more interactive and tell a clearer story.
  • Next 6 months: Present a 'lessons learned' session to the team on effective data visualisation techniques, showcasing examples.
  • Next 12 months: Be recognised as the go-to expert for data visualisation best practices within the Internal Consulting team.

Quick win: Critically review the dashboards you use regularly. What could be improved? How could they tell a clearer story?

Process Mining & Simulation

Traditional process mapping is time-consuming and often relies on subjective interviews. Process mining tools can automatically discover, monitor, and improve real processes by extracting knowledge from event logs, giving you objective insights into bottlenecks and deviations.

Event Log Data Structures · Process Discovery Algorithms · Conformance Checking · Process Simulation Tools

  • This month: Research leading process mining software vendors (e.g., Celonis, UiPath Process Mining) and their capabilities.
  • Next quarter: Identify a suitable internal process with available event log data for a pilot process mining project.
  • Next 6 months: Run a small-scale process mining exercise to identify bottlenecks in one of your current programmes.
  • Next 12 months: Integrate process mining insights into your operating model design and process improvement recommendations.

Quick win: Watch a few YouTube tutorials on process mining. It's a fascinating field that's rapidly gaining traction.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending industry conferences or webinars on internal consulting, operational excellence, or digital transformation.
  • Actively participating in professional networks or communities of practice (internal or external) to share insights and learn from peers.
  • Taking advanced courses in data analytics, AI applications for business, or specific industry domains.
  • Seeking out opportunities to mentor junior colleagues and develop your leadership coaching skills.
  • Reading widely on strategy, organisational behaviour, and change leadership from diverse sources (books, journals, thought leadership articles).

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI-Driven Insights & Validation

Our competitors are already using AI to generate initial analyses and hypotheses in minutes, not days. Analysts who can effectively prompt, validate, and interpret AI outputs will outproduce their peers significantly. As a Lead, you'll need to guide your team in this.

  • Prompt Engineering for Consulting
  • AI Output Validation & Bias Detection
  • Augmented Decision Making
  • Ethical AI in Consulting

Digital Transformation Acumen

Most performance improvement now involves a significant digital component. You can't just optimise a manual process; you need to understand how technology can fundamentally reshape it. Executive sponsors will expect you to speak intelligently about digital solutions.

  • Cloud-Native Architectures
  • Low-Code/No-Code Platforms
  • API Economy & Integration
  • Cybersecurity Fundamentals

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Lean Six Sigma (DMAIC)
  • Change Management (Prosci ADKAR / Kotter's 8-Steps)
  • Business Case Development & Financial Modelling
  • Strategic Frameworks (Balanced Scorecard, OKRs)
  • Programme & Portfolio Management (PPM)
  • Operating Model Design

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Senior Performance Advisor (Internal Promotion)

    3-5 years as a Senior Performance Advisor

    Skills to master

    • Leading end-to-end projects independently, mentoring junior team members, managing complex stakeholder relationships, and consistently delivering measurable value.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully led 3+ significant projects from diagnosis to implementation, achieving stated objectives.
    • Consistently sought out by business units for advice and problem-solving.
    • Demonstrated strong informal leadership by mentoring at least two junior colleagues to success.
    • Proven ability to navigate political challenges and influence decisions at the Director level.
  2. 2

    External Management Consultant (from Tier 2/3 firms)

    8-12 years in external consulting (e.g., Senior Consultant, Engagement Manager)

    Skills to master

    • Adapting to our internal culture and political landscape, building long-term internal relationships (rather than project-based), and understanding our specific business context and legacy systems.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Experience leading client engagements, managing project teams, and presenting to senior client leadership.
    • Strong foundational consulting toolkit (problem-solving, analysis, communication).
    • A desire to move from project-based external work to driving long-term internal change.
    • Proven ability to quickly learn new industries and organisational structures.
  3. 3

    Senior Manager in a Business Unit (e.g., Head of Operations, Strategy Manager)

    8-12 years in a relevant operational or strategic role, with a strong track record of driving change.

    Skills to master

    • Developing a broader, cross-functional perspective, mastering consulting methodologies, and learning to influence without direct hierarchical authority.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully led significant change initiatives within their own function.
    • Demonstrated strong analytical and problem-solving skills in their previous role.
    • A clear desire to apply their operational expertise to broader organisational challenges.
    • Proven ability to work collaboratively across departments and drive results.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to senior consulting roles, to running a business unit, or to shaping strategy across an entire enterprise.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Lead Performance Consultant is actually changing.

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Data Analytics, worked against Lead Performance Consultant.

Data Analytics Level 5

Applied to your work in Lead Performance Consultant

The objective of this unit is to enable learners to understand and apply data analytics techniques for decision-making. Learners will be able to apply descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytic methods, utilising statistical methods, to convert raw data into actionable insights and determine the best course of action.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Lead Performance Consultant
  • Lean Six Sigma (DMAIC)
  • Change Management (Prosci ADKAR / Kotter's 8-Steps)
  • Business Case Development & Financial Modelling
  • Strategic Frameworks (Balanced Scorecard, OKRs)
  • Programme & Portfolio Management (PPM)
  • Operating Model Design
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Lead Performance Consultant is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Principal Performance Strategist

    3-5 years as a Lead Performance Consultant

    This is a significant step up, moving from leading individual programmes to managing a portfolio of strategic initiatives and shaping the entire internal consulting function's methodology and direction. You'll become a trusted advisor to senior VPs and Business Unit GMs.

    • Portfolio Management Office (PMO) Leadership Establishing and running a PMO for strategic initiatives.
    • Enterprise Architecture (Business Layer) Understanding how business capabilities align with IT architecture.
    • Advanced Financial Strategy Contributing to the overall financial strategy of the business unit or enterprise.
    • External Partner Management Managing relationships with external consulting firms or specialist vendors.
  2. Head of Strategy / Head of Operations (in a Business Unit)

    2-4 years as a Lead Performance Consultant

    This is a move into a business-side leadership role, taking direct ownership of a P&L or a major operational function. You'd be applying your consulting skills to a specific business area.

    • Budgeting & Forecasting (Operational) Developing and managing operational budgets.
    • Talent Management (Operational) Hiring, developing, and retaining talent within a business unit.
    • Product/Service Development Leading the development and launch of new products or services.
    • Sales & Marketing Strategy Developing and executing go-to-market strategies.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, a lot of your time is spent on repetitive tasks, data wrangling, and drafting. What if you could offload a significant chunk of that to AI, freeing you up for the strategic thinking and high-impact problem-solving you actually enjoy? Our AI Productivity Hub is designed to do just that.

As a Lead Performance Consultant, you're constantly juggling complex programmes, managing teams, and influencing senior stakeholders. The good news is, AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to give you a serious competitive edge. Imagine cutting down on data analysis time, speeding up report generation, and getting quick insights for strategic benchmarking. That's the power we're putting in your hands.

Automated Performance Reporting

Imagine AI agents automatically pulling data from our ERP, CRM, and HRIS systems, cleaning it up, and populating your weekly or monthly performance dashboards. No more manual, error-prone data pulls. This frees up your team to actually analyse, not just collect.

Root Cause Analysis Accelerator

Got a tricky performance issue? Feed large operational datasets into an AI analysis tool. It'll rapidly identify statistically significant correlations and potential root causes (e.g., 'Why did on-time delivery drop by 10% last quarter?'). You'll get hypotheses in minutes, not days, letting you focus on validation and solution design.

Strategic Benchmarking Synthesis

Need to understand what competitors are doing or what 'best practice' looks like in a new area? Use an AI research assistant to scan and synthesise industry reports, competitor filings, and academic articles. It'll quickly generate a summary of external benchmarks and strategic options for any given programme, saving you days of research.

First-Draft Communications Generator

Whether it's a project charter, a weekly status update for a VP, a risk assessment, or an executive summary presentation, give an AI model your key data points, programme goals, and stakeholder list. It'll generate a solid first draft in minutes, letting you refine and add your strategic insights rather than starting from scratch.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Lead Performance Consultant?

Common routes in include Senior Performance Advisor (Internal Promotion) (3-5 years as a Senior Performance Advisor), External Management Consultant (from Tier 2/3 firms) (8-12 years in external consulting (e.g., Senior Consultant, Engagement Manager)) and Senior Manager in a Business Unit (e.g., Head of Operations, Strategy Manager) (8-12 years in a relevant operational or strategic role, with a strong track record of driving change.). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Lead Performance Consultant progress to?

This role can lead on to Principal Performance Strategist (3-5 years as a Lead Performance Consultant) and Head of Strategy / Head of Operations (in a Business Unit) (2-4 years as a Lead Performance Consultant), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Lead Performance Consultant?

Increasingly, AI-Driven Insights & Validation and Digital Transformation Acumen. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

17Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 5

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

More jobs in internal consulting

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The skills built as a lead performance consultant transfer well. They can lead to senior roles in external management consulting, to operating roles in private equity firms, or to senior strategy or operations positions in other industries. Diagnosing problems, designing solutions and driving change are useful in many settings.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my Lead Performance Consultant plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.