Is there an official figure for what locum GPs earn?

No. NHS England publishes GP earnings from HMRC records but splits them into contractor and salaried GPs and excludes solely-locum GPs, and ASHE surveys employee jobs, so a self-employed locum appears in neither. The reference points are the salaried GP contract range of £78,699 to £118,759 and the published 2024/25 averages either side of it: £74,800 for salaried GPs and £164,200 for contractors.

Should a locum GP incorporate as a limited company?

Not for NHS locum work you want to pension. The NHSBSA GP Locum A form states that freelance GP locums cannot pension income in the NHS Pension Scheme if they trade as a limited company; the form is for work done as an individual. A company also changes how the income is taxed - Corporation Tax on profits, then salary or dividends to extract them - so compare the whole position, not only the tax rate.

What would a locum keep on profits equal to the salaried GP floor?

As arithmetic, taxable profits of £78,699 leave about £56,957 a year in England in 2026/27, after £18,912 Income Tax and £2,831 Class 4 National Insurance, before any NHS pension contribution. The take-home box above is worked out on the same self-employed basis. Above £100,000 of adjusted net income the personal allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2; a pension contribution reduces adjusted net income and restores it.

Locum GP Pay 2026/27: What the Published Figures Do and Do Not Cover

Locum GPs are self-employed, filling sessions at practices and PCNs ad hoc. No official statistic measures what they earn: NHS England publishes GP earnings for contractor and salaried GPs only, and ONS surveys employee jobs, so locums fall outside both. The nearest published anchor is the salaried GP contract range for 2026/27, £78,699 to £118,759, against which sessional rates are negotiated - there is no nationally fixed locum rate.

Typical pay & take-home

Salaried GP contract range minimum, England 2026/27 - no locum pay series exists: £78,699
Salaried GP contract range, England 2026/27: £78,699–£118,759
Take-home on that salary: £56,957 England, as self-employed profit: Income Tax and Class 4 NI, no pension.

At £78,699, you earn about 102% above the UK full-time median (£39,039), which is above the 90th percentile of UK full-time earnings (£76,903), the highest point ONS publishes.

See exact take-home for £78,699 →

What influences locum gp pay

Rates are negotiated per session and vary with how hard a practice is finding cover, so geography moves them more than experience does. No body publishes the resulting distribution, which is why this page anchors on the salaried contract range rather than quoting rates it cannot evidence.

Freelance locum work can be pensioned in the NHS Pension Scheme, but not through the practitioner routes a GP partner uses. For each month's work the locum completes the NHSBSA GP Locum A form (and then Form B to pay): pensionable pay is 90% of the fee, the practice pays an employer contribution of 14.38% (including a 0.08% administration levy) as part of the fee, and HM Treasury funds the rest of the 23.78% overall employer rate. The locum sends both contributions on by the seventh day of the following month, and work that ended more than 10 weeks earlier cannot be pensioned. The locum's own tiered contribution rate is set by their total GP pensionable income for the year.

A self-employed locum pays Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance on profits: 6% between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above. Since 6 April 2024 no Class 2 is payable on profits above the £7,105 Small Profits Threshold, and the year still counts for State Pension; below it Class 2 is voluntary. Clinical negligence claims from NHS work under a GP contract in England have been covered by NHS Resolution's Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice since 1 April 2019; private work is outside that scheme. Allowable business costs, such as GMC registration and professional subscriptions, are deducted from profit before tax.

Career progression

GP Registrar in specialty training: £67,325 at ST3 on the England resident doctor scale, plus the General Practice Registrar Enhancement.
Salaried GP contract range: £78,699 at the floor to £118,759 at the ceiling for 2026/27.
Salaried GPs in practice: £74,800 average income before tax in England in 2024/25, below the contract floor; the average is not adjusted for hours worked and predates two pay rounds.
Contractor GPs (partners): £164,200 average income before tax in England in 2024/25.
Locum GPs: not separately measured in any published series; NHS England excludes solely-locum GPs from its GP earnings estimates.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an official figure for what locum GPs earn?: No. NHS England publishes GP earnings from HMRC records but splits them into contractor and salaried GPs and excludes solely-locum GPs, and ASHE surveys employee jobs, so a self-employed locum appears in neither. The reference points are the salaried GP contract range of £78,699 to £118,759 and the published 2024/25 averages either side of it: £74,800 for salaried GPs and £164,200 for contractors.
Should a locum GP incorporate as a limited company?: Not for NHS locum work you want to pension. The NHSBSA GP Locum A form states that freelance GP locums cannot pension income in the NHS Pension Scheme if they trade as a limited company; the form is for work done as an individual. A company also changes how the income is taxed - Corporation Tax on profits, then salary or dividends to extract them - so compare the whole position, not only the tax rate.
What would a locum keep on profits equal to the salaried GP floor?: As arithmetic, taxable profits of £78,699 leave about £56,957 a year in England in 2026/27, after £18,912 Income Tax and £2,831 Class 4 National Insurance, before any NHS pension contribution. The take-home box above is worked out on the same self-employed basis. Above £100,000 of adjusted net income the personal allowance is withdrawn at £1 for every £2; a pension contribution reduces adjusted net income and restores it.

All UK professions →

Typical pay & take-home

What influences locum gp pay

Career progression

Frequently asked questions

Related professions

Sources