Jane App for Counsellors: AI Scribe Cost, Consent and UK Data Location

Jane's AI Scribe gives each practitioner five free notes a month, then 15 pounds a month per practitioner for unlimited notes. Jane says recordings and chart drafts are stored on servers in London and it is registered as a Class I medical device with the MHRA. Tell every client before each appointment, and let them opt out.

That answer has three parts you should treat differently: a price you can verify on a page, a data-location claim you should confirm in writing, and a consent routine that only you can design. Counselling is also a setting where a client may say less if they feel recorded, so the consent conversation is part of the therapeutic frame, not an administrative step.

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What the AI Scribe costs, line by line

From Jane's guide for clinics in the UK (read in November 2026): every practitioner gets five free AI Scribe notes a month, and unlimited notes cost 15 pounds per practitioner per month, charged in pounds. Plan changes mid-month are prorated. AI Scribe is available on Jane's Balance, Practice and Thrive plans, and you turn it on from Settings, then AI Scribe. The add-on sits on top of your base plan, so your monthly bill is the plan plus 15 pounds for each practitioner who opts in to unlimited notes. I could not verify base plan prices in pounds this month, so look at your own Jane account for that figure.

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One detail that helps small practices: unlimited is opted into per practitioner, so a colleague who dislikes the idea can stay on the five free notes, or not use it at all, without raising the bill.

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A sum for a solo counsellor

Illustrative. A counsellor sees 20 clients a week, so about 80 sessions a month. She writes a progress note in about 10 minutes by hand: 800 minutes, or 13 hours 20 minutes. Suppose a reviewed AI draft takes 5 minutes. That is 400 minutes, saving 400 minutes, or about 6 hours 40 minutes a month.

At 15 pounds a month, each saved hour costs about 2.25 pounds. Even if she values her unpaid admin time at 15 pounds an hour, she is ahead by about 85 pounds a month. The case weakens in three situations: she sees fewer than about 15 clients a month, she finds that reviewing takes as long as writing, or she works in a way that clients find the recording intrusive. Test it on the free five notes first, and time them.

Where the data goes

Jane's UK guide says recordings and chart drafts are kept on servers in London, and states that "your data does not leave the UK". It also says your data is not used to train AI models, and Jane's FAQ for patients and clients repeats that Jane does not use patient data to train the AI feature. The same client FAQ says recordings sit in the client's chart but are not part of the legal medical record, which is a useful line for your privacy notice. Get the location and the training statement confirmed in writing for your own file, because a guide page can change without notice.

On the law, Jane's guide says session recordings and chart drafts are special category health data, and that processing for direct patient care falls under Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR. If you are a data controller, you remain responsible for your own lawful basis and for telling clients how their information is used. Our tutorial on GDPR for counsellors using AI with client information covers those duties in plain terms.

How long are recordings kept?

This is the point to pin down before you start, and Jane leaves it to the clinic. Its guide on setting a recording deletion policy gives three options under Settings, AI Scribe, Recording Deletion Policy: keep recordings indefinitely, delete them immediately after a chart draft is generated, or delete them after a number of days you choose. For newly enabled AI Scribe the default is to delete immediately after successful generation. The policy is clinic-wide, only staff with Full Access can change it, and individual practitioners cannot override it, although anyone can still delete a single recording by hand.

For most counsellors the default is the right answer: once the draft exists, the recording has done its job. If you choose a set number of days instead, perhaps so you can re-listen before signing a difficult note, write the number down with the date you set it. Whatever you tell clients, such as "the recording is deleted as soon as my draft is made", the setting must say the same thing.

What Class I means, and what it does not

Jane says AI Scribe is classified as a Class I medical device and is registered with the MHRA under the UK Medical Devices Regulations 2002, that it has completed a formal conformity process, and that it is subject to post-market surveillance. Those are the vendor's statements. Be aware of how Class I works: it is the lowest-risk class, and conformity is based on the manufacturer's own declaration rather than a regulator testing the product. That is useful (the product is on a register, and the manufacturer has duties if something goes wrong) but it is not an endorsement that every note will be accurate.

A practical way to use this: look up the registration on the MHRA's public device registration search (PARD) yourself, note the date, and keep that with your data protection paperwork. Then rely on your own review of every note for accuracy, as with any scribe.

Consent: tell clients before each appointment

Jane's UK guide says to let clients know before their appointment that you use an AI-assisted tool for clinical charting, give them the chance to ask questions or opt out, and use Jane's intake forms to capture consent if you wish. Its FAQ for patients and clients says the practitioner should ask for consent before using AI Scribe and that clients can withdraw consent at any time. Neither page gives sample wording; the UK guide says to make your privacy notices and consent processes reflect your use of AI-assisted charting, and to check your professional body's guidance, which may add requirements. Asking before each session, rather than once at intake, is my recommendation for counselling, not a Jane rule.

For counselling that suggests a three-layer approach.

1. Contract and privacy notice. A short paragraph on AI-assisted note-taking, what is recorded, how long it is kept and where.
2. Reminder before each session. A line in the appointment reminder: "I use an AI note tool in sessions. Reply or tell me on arrival if you would rather I did not."
3. Spoken check at the start. A sentence, and a pause for the answer.

Illustrative wording for the reminder message:

Hi [first name], a reminder of your session on [day] at [time]. I use an AI tool to help draft my session notes from a recording; I read and edit every note, and the recording is deleted [as soon as my draft is made / after [number] days]. If you would prefer I did not use it, just tell me, today or at any point in the session. No explanation needed. [your name]

Our safe trial plan with consent and opt-out for counsellors sets out a fuller procedure, and the contracts tutorial shows where the AI paragraph sits in your agreement.

Four consent moments that need judgement

1. First session, when trust is thin. Some counsellors hold the scribe back until the second or third session. That is a legitimate choice. Tell the client why.
2. A disclosure that feels too raw to record. Offer to pause. After the session, write that part from memory.
3. Couples or family work. Every adult in the room must agree. One refusal means no recording.
4. A client who consented months ago. Re-ask at a natural point, such as a review session. A yes given at intake is easy for a client to forget, and asking again shows the choice is still theirs.

A worked example: a five-note trial over two weeks

Illustrative. A counsellor with 14 clients wants to try the scribe before paying. She uses her five free notes, each with a client who has agreed in writing and verbally.

1. Before: times three ordinary notes by hand, getting 11, 9 and 12 minutes: an average of about 10.7.
2. Notes 1 to 3: uses the scribe in person and records the time to review each: 6, 5 and 7 minutes.
3. Notes 4 and 5: tries dictation after the session, for a client who prefers not to be recorded: 4 and 5 minutes of dictating plus editing.
4. Result: about 5.4 minutes against 10.7. At 14 clients a week she would save roughly 5 minutes times 56 sessions, about 4 hours 40 minutes a month, for 15 pounds.
5. Quality check: two of the five drafts contained a phrase she would not have written, one adding a diagnosis-like label the client had not been given. She edits those out, and notes that the drafts need reading closely.

The dictation route matters: Jane's pricing page says you can record sessions live or dictate notes after sessions, and its guide on using AI Scribe without recording describes dictating a summary after the appointment through the same recording workflow. A third route is to type the note yourself and use Highlight to Refine, which Jane says works on any chart note and is unlimited on both the free and Unlimited tiers. For a client who declines recording, dictation after the session may be an acceptable alternative, but check that this still sits within what you told the client about AI use.

Choosing a note template for counselling

Jane's pricing page lists unlimited AI-powered templates, prompts and notes, and its guide library covers a global prompt, template and chart prompts, and shared templates, so look at what your account offers and adapt. Counselling notes are different from physical-therapy notes: you rarely need measurements, and you often need less detail, not more. A short template keeps the draft close to what you would write yourself:

Presenting theme this session (client's words where possible)
Interventions or approaches used
Client response
Risk: only what was asked and answered
Agreed focus for next session
Do not add diagnoses, labels or advice that were not said. Keep third-party details to the minimum the work needs.

Notice what is missing: no "assessment" or "impression" heading. Many counsellors prefer to write the formulation themselves. If you also want a lighter-touch route, our tutorial on an AI note generator that turns your own bullets into notes avoids recording sessions altogether.

The same practice, with and without recording

Recording is the single biggest decision, and the price barely changes it. Compare three ways of using the same tool, all illustrative.

Many counsellors find dictation after the session the best fit: you keep the recording out of the room, you pay the same 15 pounds, and the time saving is still real because speaking a summary is faster than typing one. The trade-off is that a dictated summary is shorter on detail than a recording would be, which for counselling is often the point.

A small group practice: three counsellors, three choices

Illustrative. A practice has three counsellors on Jane's Practice plan. Counsellor A sees 25 clients a week and opts into unlimited: 15 pounds. Counsellor B works with trauma clients and decides recording is inappropriate, so she uses nothing: zero. Counsellor C sees 8 clients a week and stays on the five free notes plus dictation by hand: zero. The practice's AI bill is 15 pounds a month, and each counsellor has made a professional decision rather than a group one.

One setting is not individual: the recording deletion policy applies to the whole clinic and only Full Access staff can change it, so the owner chooses it for everyone and tells the team. What the practice owner must also do is the shared part: one privacy notice that says AI-assisted note-taking is used by some practitioners and that clients can ask which; a log of who has opted in; and a rule that nobody records a client without the client's agreement, whoever the practitioner is. If a counsellor leaves, check that their AI-generated drafts and any retained recordings are covered by your retention policy.

Questions to ask Jane before you rely on it

Because Jane's public pages leave a few points open, send these in writing and keep the replies:

1. Apart from the recording, is any transcript kept, and for how long?
2. Are chart drafts kept after we sign the note, and for how long?
3. Which sub-processors handle recordings, and where are they located?
4. Please confirm in writing that recordings and drafts are stored in London and are not used to train models.
5. Do you provide a data processing agreement and a DPIA template for AI Scribe?
6. What is your MHRA registration number for AI Scribe?
7. How do we delete a client's recordings and drafts on request?

Question 7 matters more than it looks: a client who withdraws consent may ask you to delete what exists, and you should know in advance how to do it and what you cannot delete (the signed clinical note itself is a record you may be obliged to retain).

What goes wrong in practice

Illustrative failures, and how each shows up.

• The label that was never said. A draft calls a client's low mood "depression". You had not diagnosed anything. Search every draft for diagnostic words before saving.
• The risk line. A draft says "no risk identified" because the client said "I'm fine". If you did not ask, delete the line and write your own assessment.
• The third party. A client names an employer or family member, and that detail sits in a note that a later access request could disclose. Keep third-party detail to what the work needs.
• Silent drift. After a month of good drafts you stop reading closely. Pick three notes at random each month and check them against what you remember.

One last cost to count is your own set-up time. Budget about two hours in the first week: an hour to read Jane's guide pages and find the settings, half an hour to update your contract and privacy notice, and half an hour to write the reminder message and rehearse the spoken wording. Treat that as a one-off cost against the monthly saving, and it still pays back inside the first month for most practitioners seeing more than 15 clients a week.

How to check it worked after a month

Paying 15 pounds is easy; knowing it was worth it takes a little data. At the end of the first month, look at four things. First, the minutes: average time from session end to signed note, before and after. Second, the corrections: out of ten drafts, how many needed a factual fix, and how many needed a wording fix. Third, the clients: how many were asked, how many declined, and whether any said afterwards that the recording changed what they shared. Fourth, the paperwork: is every client's choice recorded, and does your privacy notice match what you actually do?

If the minutes are saved, the corrections are small and no client has been uneasy, keep going. If clients are holding back, the tool is costing you something money cannot measure, and the free five notes plus dictation after the session may be all you need. Either answer is a good one, because it comes from your practice rather than from a sales page.

Revisit the whole question when Jane changes its terms or pricing, which any vendor may do; subscribe to its product updates, and put a diary entry in every six months to re-read the guide pages quoted here.

Do you need Jane for this?

If you already use Jane for booking and records, the scribe is an add-on in the same system, and Jane's pricing page says no additional apps or installs are required. If you use something else, switching platform for a scribe alone is a large step for a small saving, and our tutorial on practice systems with AI built in compares the alternatives. Jane also has a security-focused write-up in is Jane safe for patient records, worth reading before you move client notes into it.

A checklist before the first real client

• Plan includes AI Scribe (Balance, Practice or Thrive); setting switched on for you only.
• Recording deletion policy found, set and dated.
• Registration looked up on the regulator's public database, and the data location confirmed with Jane in writing.
• Privacy notice and contract paragraph updated.
• Reminder wording and spoken wording ready; a place to record each client's choice.
• A plan for stopping mid-session, and for dictation instead.
• Ten notes timed by hand, ready to compare against your five free ones.

If you would rather work through the sums and the wording with someone, that is what my AI implementation consultation covers; get in touch and bring your current note template.

Jane AI Scribe for counsellors: cost and consent questions

Is Jane's AI Scribe free?

Partly. Jane says every practitioner gets five free AI Scribe notes a month. Unlimited notes cost 15 pounds a month per practitioner who turns them on. It needs a Balance, Practice or Thrive plan, and you switch it on under Settings, AI Scribe.

Where does Jane store AI Scribe recordings?

Jane's guide for UK clinics says recordings and chart drafts are stored on servers in London and that the data does not leave the UK. It also says the data is not used to train AI models. Ask Jane for its data processing terms and keep a copy.

Does Class I mean a regulator approved it?

Not exactly. Jane says AI Scribe is a Class I medical device registered with the MHRA, with a completed conformity process and post-market surveillance. Class I registration rests on the manufacturer's own declaration, so it is evidence of a process, not an endorsement of clinical accuracy.

Do I need written consent from clients?

Jane advises telling clients before the appointment that you use an AI tool, giving them a chance to ask questions or opt out, and says you can capture consent on Jane's intake forms. It does not prescribe wording. Check your professional body's guidance and update your privacy notice to match.

Can a client change their mind mid-session?

Yes. Jane's FAQ for patients and clients says consent can be withdrawn at any time. Agree in advance how you will stop the recording and what happens to the part already captured, and write that into your contracting paperwork so it is not awkward when it happens.

Further reads

• BACP AI Guidance: A Checklist for UK Counsellors Before Using AI — Professional-body checks to make before using AI with clients.
• Counselling Contract Template: Key Clauses and an AI First Draft — Contract clauses to add when AI is part of your process.
• Safe AI Uses for Counsellors That Never Touch Client Notes — AI uses for counsellors that never touch client notes.
• Starting a Private Counselling Practice in the UK: What AI Can Do — Admin set-up for a new private counselling practice.
• AI Scribe for Chiropractors: Chiro Tools vs Heidi and Jane — How Jane's scribe compares with Heidi for another clinic type.
• Physiotherapy Clinic Software Compared: Which Has Built-In AI? — Jane, Cliniko, Splose and Zanda compared on what their AI actually does, what it costs a three-practitioner clinic and how to test before you switch.
• Starting a Speech Therapy Private Practice: AI and the Admin Stack — The five admin systems a new speech therapy practice needs, which parts AI can draft, what each costs, and the order to build them for your first 30 clients.
• Therapy Practice Management Software: What the AI Add-Ons Cost — SimplePractice, Jane and Carepatron base plans against their AI add-ons, with a monthly sum for a three-therapist practice and the traps in each quote.
• What Does an AI Scribe for Therapists Cost a Solo Practice? — List prices for five AI scribe routes for a solo therapist, with cost per note, annual totals and the privacy defaults to check.
• Jane App for Chiropractors: The AI Scribe and Online Booking — Step-by-step set-up for Jane's AI Scribe (five free notes a month, unlimited add-on) and online booking in a chiropractic clinic.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: Jane's guides AI Scribe for the UK: FAQ, Setting a Recording Deletion Policy, FAQ for Patients and Clients, and Can I Use AI Scribe If I Don't Record a Session; Jane pricing page; GOV.UK guidance on medical device conformity assessment (all read 4 November 2026). The pound price comes from Jane's UK guide; the pricing page shows another currency.