The locum accountant who knows your shift pattern.

It depends on your shift mix. A limited company can be tax-efficient at higher profits, but you cannot pension company income in the NHS Pension Scheme, and public-sector trust shifts are frequently caught by IR35, which removes most of the advantage. Many GP locums stay self-employed precisely to keep building NHS pension. We model both on your real figures before you decide. A specialist locum doctor accountant will not push you into a company just to charge a bigger fee.

Yes, if you do freelance GP locum work for a practice or ICB on a self-employed basis and aren't engaged through an agency. You complete Locum Form A and Form B (or SOLO forms for ICB work), and only 90% of your earnings are pensionable, the other 10% is a fixed expenses allowance. Crucially, forms must reach PCSE within 10 weeks of the work or that period can't be pensioned.

The Type 2 Medical Practitioner self-assessment confirms your tiered NHS pension contributions for salaried or solo GP sessions. If you are solely a freelance locum you generally don't need it, your Locum A and B forms cover you. If you mix salaried and locum work, you do. We confirm which applies and complete it before the annual deadline.

GMC registration, medical indemnity (MDU, MPS or MDDUS), BMA and Royal College subscriptions, exam and CPD course fees, medical equipment, professional journals, business mileage between sites, and a reasonable share of phone and home-admin costs. We make sure each is claimed correctly, generalist accountants often miss indemnity and CPD, which is where a specialist accountant for locum doctors pays for itself.

Self-employed locums pay through payments on account: your first Self Assessment bill includes the tax owed plus a 50% advance payment towards next year, then another 50% in July, so the initial demand can feel like 150% of the tax. We forecast it from your first invoices and tell you exactly what to set aside, so it's never a shock. Forecasting that bill early is a core job for your locum accountant.

Usually not. Most medical services provided by a registered doctor for the protection of health are VAT-exempt, so locum clinical income typically doesn't count towards the £90,000 VAT registration threshold. Some non-clinical work (certain medico-legal reports or expert witness work) can be standard-rated, we check the mix and advise. Your accountant for locums confirms the VAT position before it becomes a problem.

Fixed monthly pricing at £129, £250 or £499 depending on whether you're self-employed or running a limited company, with a named qualified accountant, replies within 72 hours, a 30-day money-back guarantee and rolling monthly terms. We work in Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage. You get a named accountant for locum doctors, not a call centre.

The annual allowance is the most your pension can grow in a tax year with tax relief, currently £60,000. NHS Pension growth counts towards it, and it is measured by a growth formula rather than the contributions you pay, so a busy year of pensionable locum sessions can use more of it than you would expect. For higher earners the allowance also tapers: once your adjusted income passes £260,000 it reduces by £1 for every £2 above, down to a minimum of £10,000. Go over the allowance and there is a tax charge, which can often be met from the pension itself through Scheme Pays rather than your own pocket. We calculate your pension input each year, flag a likely breach before it happens, and help you weigh whether to keep pensioning or pause.

Usually yes, for travel between workplaces. If you are genuinely itinerant, moving between different trusts, surgeries or pharmacies rather than commuting to one regular base, the mileage between those sites is normally an allowable business cost. You can claim the HMRC approved mileage rate, 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in 2026/27 and 25p a mile after that, or your actual running costs if you work through a company. The grey area is ordinary commuting to a single fixed workplace, which is not claimable, and that line catches locums out. We look at your real travel pattern, claim what genuinely qualifies, and keep the records to back it.

Yes. We act for locum pharmacists, locum optometrists and dispensing opticians alongside GP and hospital locums. The core work is the same: separating multiple engagements and remittances, claiming your professional fees, indemnity and mileage in full, getting the sole trader versus limited company decision right, and filing an accurate Self Assessment. The sector detail differs, a pharmacist's mix of dispensary shifts or an optometrist's sessional test clinics, and that is exactly the detail a generic accountant tends to flatten. You get a named accountant who understands how your profession is actually paid.

Less than the headline, and how much less depends on structure. A self-employed locum keeps the day rate minus allowable expenses, then pays Income Tax and National Insurance on the profit through Self Assessment. Inside-IR35 agency shifts have tax and National Insurance removed at source before you are paid, and an umbrella also takes its margin and the employment costs. A limited company can improve take-home on outside-IR35 income but adds running costs and gives up NHS pensionable pay. There is no single percentage that fits every locum, which is why we model your real shift mix and show you the take-home under each option before you commit, rather than quoting a number that does not survive contact with your actual work. Modelling that honestly is the real job of an accountant for locums.

You pay Income Tax and National Insurance on your profit, not your day rate, so what you can claim matters. Allowable costs for a locum pharmacist usually include GPhC (General Pharmaceutical Council) registration, RPS (Royal Pharmaceutical Society) membership, indemnity cover, CPD and revalidation, and mileage between the pharmacies you cover. Locum pharmacy work is not pensioned into the NHS scheme the way freelance GP sessions can be, so there is no locum pension form to file. We keep a pharmacist-specific checklist so nothing is missed.

The main allowable costs are your GOC (General Optical Council) registration, membership of the AOP (Association of Optometrists), the College of Optometrists or ABDO (Association of British Dispensing Opticians), professional indemnity, CPD, and the test equipment and consumables you buy yourself, plus travel between the practices you cover. The clinical services you personally provide are usually VAT-exempt, though some retail or non-clinical work can be standard-rated, so we check your mix. Locum optical work is not pensioned into the NHS scheme.

It depends on the engagement, not on what you call yourself. Many locums are genuinely self-employed and file a Self Assessment tax return, but a specific shift can be inside IR35, the off-payroll working rules, which means tax and National Insurance are taken at source. For public-sector engagers such as an NHS trust, and for larger private ones, the status determination is the engager's to make, not yours. We read each engagement, keep the evidence, and reconcile anything taxed at source so you are not taxed twice. A locum doctor accountant keeps that evidence for every engagement you take.

It will, in stages. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) means keeping digital records and sending HMRC quarterly updates instead of one annual return. It starts from 6 April 2026 for people with qualifying income over £50,000, from 6 April 2027 for income over £30,000, and from 6 April 2028 for income over £20,000. If your locum income is heading towards those levels we get your bookkeeping onto software early, so the switch is quiet rather than a scramble.