Salaried vs Locum GP Calculator
Compare a salaried GP sessional rate with a locum rate on a like-for-like basis.
Illustrative estimates only, not tax, pension, or financial advice.
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What this calculator does
It makes two numbers comparable that are not. A salaried GP post advertised at £11,500 a session and locum work at £480 a session sound like they belong on the same scale. They do not: the salaried figure is an annual amount for one weekly session, and the locum figure is what you get for turning up once. Comparing them directly is the single most common mistake in this decision.
So it converts both to a yearly total package, including the employer pension contribution and, on the salaried side, the fact that you are paid through your leave, and lays them side by side at every commitment from one session a week to 10.
How the comparison works
- The salaried side. The sessional rate is annual, so the salary is simply rate times sessions, and it already covers your annual leave. The practice pays 14.38% of that salary into the pension on top, and anything else you value (sick pay, study leave, indemnity paid for you) can be added as a yearly figure.
- The locum side. You are paid per session worked and nothing when you are not. You set the weeks you take off; the default is 7, roughly a salaried leave allowance plus bank holidays, leaving 45 paid weeks out of 52. Fees are rate times sessions times those weeks.
- Employer pension on a locum rate is 12.94%, not 14.38%. The 14.38% is charged on pensionable pay, and a locum’s pensionable pay is 90% of fees, so as a share of your headline rate it comes to 12.94%. Whether the practice pays it on top of your rate or you are expected to absorb it changes the answer, so the tool asks.
- A table, not a single answer. Rather than fixing a sessions-per-week, it computes every row from 1 to 10 so you can read off the commitment you are actually considering, and see that the gap scales with it.
A worked example
A salaried post at £11,500 a session against locum work at £480 a session, with employer pension paid on top and 7 weeks a year off. At 6 sessions a week:
- Salaried: a salary of £69,000, plus 14.38% employer pension, is a package of £78,922, and that salary is paid across all 52 weeks.
- Locum: 6 sessions across 45 worked weeks is £129,600 of fees, and with employer pension on top a package of £146,373.
- The locum is £67,451 a year ahead on gross package, but read the next paragraph before doing anything with that number.
The more useful figure is the rate at which the two match. On these figures it is £258.81 a session. Below that the salaried post is ahead on package; above it the locum work is. Because both sides scale with the number of sessions, that break-even rate is the same whether you work one session a week or 10.
A gross gap is not a take-home gap, though. The locum figure is before indemnity, expenses, tax and National Insurance, and it buys no sick pay, study leave or maternity pay. To turn a locum rate into what actually reaches you, use the session rate calculator; for the tax on it, the locum tax calculator.
What it doesn't cover
This compares gross annual packages on your own figures. It does not recommend either option, and it deliberately leaves out a great deal:
- Tax and National Insurance. Neither side is taxed here. An employee pays Class 1 through PAYE; a locum pays income tax and Class 4 through Self Assessment on profit after expenses. The two are not equivalent at the same gross figure.
- A locum’s costs. Indemnity, GMC and RCGP fees, accountancy, equipment and travel all come out of the locum figure and none of them come out of the salaried one, unless you enter them as a salaried benefit.
- Everything that is not money. Sick pay, maternity and paternity pay, study leave, notice periods, redundancy rights, and the certainty of a rota against the freedom to decline work. Some of these can be priced into the benefits box; most cannot.
- Pension tier differences. Both sides get an employer contribution, but a locum’s own contribution tier is set by annualising pensionable pay over days of service, which often lands them in a higher tier than a salaried GP on the same money. See the locum GP pension guide.
- The paperwork each route brings. A salaried GP files a Type 2 form; a locum files Forms A and B within ten weeks of each month. See the Type 2 guide and the Form A and B filler.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a salaried GP sessional rate actually mean?
- It is an annual amount for one weekly session, not a payment per session worked. A post advertised at £11,500 a session on 6 sessions a week means a salary of £69,000 a year, paid across all 52 weeks including your annual leave. A locum rate of £480 a session, by contrast, is what you receive for working one session. The two figures are on completely different scales and comparing them directly is meaningless.
- What locum rate matches a salaried GP job?
- On the worked example above (a salaried post at £11,500 a session, employer pension on top, 7 weeks off a year), the two packages match at £258.81 a session. Because both sides scale with the number of sessions worked, that break-even rate is the same at any commitment. It compares gross packages only, so a locum needs to clear it by some margin to be genuinely better off after indemnity, expenses and the absence of sick pay.
- Is the employer NHS pension contribution paid on a locum's rate?
- It is paid on pensionable pay, which for a GP locum is 90% of fees, so the 14.38% employer rate works out at 12.94% of your headline session rate. Whether the practice adds it to your rate or expects it to come out of the rate you quoted makes a material difference to the comparison, which is why the calculator asks which applies.
- How many weeks a year does a locum need to work to match salaried leave?
- A salaried GP is paid through annual leave, so the fair comparison gives the locum the same time off unpaid. The calculator defaults to 7 weeks off (roughly a typical salaried allowance plus bank holidays), leaving 45 paid weeks. Taking more time off, or losing weeks to illness or a gap in bookings, reduces the locum figure directly, because nothing is paid for a week not worked.
- Does this comparison include tax?
- No. Both sides are gross annual packages before tax and National Insurance, and the two are taxed differently, an employee through PAYE and Class 1, a self-employed locum through Self Assessment on profit after expenses. It also excludes a locum's indemnity and running costs, and the value of sick pay, study leave and maternity pay on the salaried side.
- Which is better financially, salaried or locum?
- The calculator will not tell you, because the answer depends on your rate, your commitment, how much time off you take, how reliably you can fill sessions, and what you spend on indemnity and expenses. What it does is remove the arithmetic error from the decision, by putting both on a yearly total-package basis so you are comparing like with like before weighing up the parts that are not money.
Sources
Checked August 2026. Rates and factors change. The primary source wins if it disagrees with anything here.
- NHS Pension Scheme member contributions, NHS Employers, employer and member contribution rates
- Pay and contracts guidance for GPs, BMA, salaried GP model contract and sessional pay ranges
- NHS Pensions member hub, NHSBSA, locum pensionable pay at 90% of fees