Redeye:
That's £185 plus VAT? For an LPC? And who got the 'dual' bit of the hire fee? Examiner or operator? Sounds a bit steep!
The CAA 'guideline' charge for a PPL skills test carried out by a FE(H) is, I believe, the same as the CAA would charge for a staff examiner. That's currently £175. (Which has to be one of the CAA's bargain offers!) Guidance is that the workload required for the FE is such that normally no more than 2 tests should be carried out in one day. So, half a day's work, OK. But an LPC (flight time about 25 to 30 mins) should be a matter of an average of 1.5 hours work for a Brief, Flight Test and Debrief, including checking logbook hours and signing the forms etc. So on the PPL skills test guidance criteria, I wouldn't dream of charging more than £85; a bit more when it's an initial type rating test.
I do not distinguish between PPL and professional pilots in setting a fee: same either way.
(And no, I'm not touting for business and anyway, I'm anonymous!)
As it happens, I pay my own examiner auth fees to the CAA personally, and any examinees pay me directly. I can understand a FTO/TRTO bumping up the test fee passed on to candidates in order to cover general overheads, if the fee is recovered through the school for an employee.
If the examiner is not local, it would be reasonable for him/her to ask for travel expenses.
Personally, I encourage all the PPLs that I test to have a flight with an instructor every 6 months. OK, so thats £45-£50 per hour on top of normal hire charges, or operating costs for owners, but still money well spent: and it generally shows, to the good, when pilot turns up for his LPC.
The common SEP/SET is good for us all. Shame about the R22 and R44. BTW, when AL4 to FCL-2 is implemented, the current LTE allowing 3 hours for conversion to R22 and R44 will go: it'll be back to 5 hours for these two types.