Microsoft Copilot · Kent and UK-wide
Microsoft Copilot, set up properly and taught on your own work
If your business runs on Microsoft 365, anyone with a work account on a Business plan can already use Copilot Chat at no extra cost. The real questions are whether to pay for more, and how to switch it on without exposing files nobody meant to share. Below: the options, UK prices, and what our set-up check and training cover.
£195 to £795
Based in Kent, working with businesses across the UK: on site in Kent, by video anywhere else.
Copilot Chat and a Copilot licence are different things
In 2026 Microsoft 365 Copilot became Microsoft Copilot, and Copilot Chat dropped the "365" too. UK sales pages still use the old names.
Copilot Chat comes with your plan. Business Basic, Standard and Premium all include it for staff signed in with a work account. It answers from the web and works on files you upload: summarise a contract, tidy a spreadsheet, draft a reply. In Outlook it can also draft emails and answer questions about your inbox and calendar.
A paid licence puts Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Teams, and lets it search your own emails, files, chats and meetings. What the free version can do inside the apps has changed more than once since 2025, and Microsoft's own pages disagree. In October 2026 its admin documentation says the free tier doesn't include Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote. For Teams meeting recaps, see our AI meeting notes page.
What Copilot costs a UK business
Add Copilot Business to your current plan, or move to a bundle that includes it. There's no Business Basic bundle.
| Option | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Chat | No extra cost | With Business Basic (£5.40), Standard (£10.80) or Premium (£16.90) |
| Copilot Business add-on | £16.10 | For organisations of up to 300 users |
| Copilot Business offer | £13.80 | 1 July to 31 December 2026, first year only |
| Business Standard with Copilot | £18.10 | From 1 July 2026, up to 300 users |
| Business Premium with Copilot | £24.60 | From 1 July 2026, up to 300 users |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (Enterprise) | £23.10 | Add-on with no seat cap |
Checked October 2026, per user per month, excluding VAT, paid yearly. Monthly-commitment prices are higher.
Do you need to buy licences at all?
Often not on day one.
Free
Get good at Copilot Chat first
For emails, letters and summarising documents you upload, the free version covers a lot. Train people on it, then see what they miss.
A few seats
License the heavy users
Licences are per person. Someone who lives in Excel or Teams calls gets more from one than someone on the shop floor. A monthly commitment costs £19.32 per user but avoids a 12-month tie-in.
Bundle
Change plan at renewal
For most staff, compare the July 2026 bundles with your current plan plus the add-on, and check the quote includes Teams.
Check who can see what before you switch it on
A licensed Copilot searches everything the person asking is allowed to open. It doesn't get round your permissions, but it makes them matter. A payroll spreadsheet shared with the whole company years ago does no harm in a folder nobody visits. Once anyone can ask Copilot what a colleague earns, it does.
Before licences go live, we check your SharePoint and OneDrive sharing with you: links open to everyone, old HR folders, accounts of people who've left, and client files only a few should see.
What the set-up check and training cover
-
Your licences
Who is on which plan, who already has Copilot Chat, and any paid licences sitting unused. -
The sharing check
SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams files tidied before Copilot can search them. -
Ground rules
Work sign-in for everyone, and a clear line on what stays out. -
Outlook and Teams
Drafting replies, condensing long threads, and preparing for meetings. -
Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Drafts from your notes, questions about a spreadsheet, a slide outline. Without a licence, upload the file to Copilot Chat instead. -
Checking the output
How to check figures and names, and when to do the job by hand instead.
What your staff can do afterwards
- Know which Copilot they're inFree Copilot Chat or a licensed app, and what each can reach.
- Work from their own filesSummarise a tender or pull the actions from an email chain.
- Catch a confident mistakeCheck totals and names before anything reaches a customer.
- Keep client data safeStay in the work account, and keep personal data out of tools you haven't approved.
Ways to book
For a whole team, the team AI workshop is £795: a full day for up to ten staff on their own work, with a one-page safe-use policy. The workshop includes a 60 to 90-minute set-up check by video with whoever manages your Microsoft 365, about a week before. A big permissions clean-up is quoted separately. For rules covering every AI tool, see an AI policy for your business; for several tools at once, AI training for your staff.
Owners wanting to learn Copilot first can book one-to-one coaching, £195 for 2 hours. Unsure Copilot is worth buying at all? The AI Kick-Start (£395) looks at the whole business, sets up three quick wins and gives you a written plan within three working days. Licences are paid to Microsoft or your IT provider, not to us.
Questions people ask
Is Copilot free with Microsoft 365 Business?
Copilot Chat is, for staff signed in with a work account on Business Basic, Standard or Premium. Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams needs a paid licence or a bundle.
How much is Copilot for a small business in the UK?
In October 2026 Copilot Business was £16.10 per user per month paid yearly, excluding VAT, with a first-year offer of £13.80 running until 31 December 2026.
Can Copilot see all our files?
Only what the person using it can already open, which is why the sharing check comes first: a file shared too widely can be found by anyone it's shared with.
Is Microsoft Copilot safe for business data?
For work accounts Microsoft applies enterprise data protection and says prompts and responses aren't used to train its foundation models. You still need rules on what goes in, and a person checking what comes out.
Who you'll work with
James Hayes Consulting is led by Ross Hayes, who builds software for his own businesses and uses AI tools in them every day. We set AI up on your real work, explain it in plain English, and tell you straight if something isn’t worth paying for.
Every project starts with a free 15-minute call, and prices are agreed in writing before you commit.
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