Career guide
Step-by-step guide to becoming a locum GP in the UK: GMC registration, performers list, indemnity, CPD, NHS pension, and how to find your first session.
At a glance | Regulator
GMC registration with a licence to practise requiredA locum GP covers clinical work for the organisations that need them, one session at a time, instead of holding a single salaried post. Depending on the profession and the booking that can mean self-employment, or PAYE through an agency, a staff bank or an umbrella company: the steps below say which is usual. This guide walks through everything you need to do to start, in order, and the common pitfalls that catch people in their first year.
Guide | 7 steps
You need full GMC registration with a licence to practise, plus entry on the GP Register. Provisionally registered or fully registered without a licence is not enough. If you’ve been out of the UK for a while, check your licence status before accepting any bookings.
Every GP delivering NHS primary care in England must be on the National Performers List. Scotland, Wales, and NI run their own equivalents. Applications go through PCSE in England and can take 6 to 12 weeks, so start before you hand in notice anywhere. Keep a certificate or screenshot of your entry: practices will ask for it.
All NHS clinical negligence is now covered by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for GPs (CNSGP) in England. That’s only the NHS work. You still need discretionary indemnity from MDU, MPS, or MDDUS for private work, good-Samaritan acts, coroner’s inquests, GMC support, and disciplinary representation. Don’t skip this.
Most new locum GPs start as sole traders for simplicity. A limited company can save tax above roughly £60,000 gross (outside IR35), but adds real admin. Don’t form a company just because a colleague did. Read our IR35 guide before you decide.
A separate account keeps bookkeeping clean. Set a minimum session rate before you start offering. It’s much harder to push a rate up than to hold it. Check our UK locum GP rates benchmark for current figures.
Options: direct approach to local practices and PCNs (highest margin), joining a GP chambers/federation, agency bookings (lowest admin, lowest margin), or a digital platform. Most established locum GPs mix two or three of these. Start with practices you already know.
NHS locum work is pensionable if you submit Form A (one for each organisation and month of work) and Form B (monthly). Form B and the contributions are due by the seventh day of the month after the month you were paid, and the forms say a fee must be pensioned within 10 weeks of the work, so late paperwork can cost you pensionable service. Sessional prepares both forms from your sessions on Plus and Pro. If you opt out of the NHS pension, you’ll want a private SIPP instead. Don’t just leave the money in cash.
Once you are registered
Log every session with its date, rate, and workplace, send invoices that chase themselves, keep your documents current, and watch your tax reserve build as you go.
Checklist | Documents
On Plus and Pro, Sessional stores these and emails you a reminder 30, 14, 7 and 1 days before each one expires.
Checklist | First year
Related
Last reviewed April 2026. Rates and regulator details change. If something looks off, let us know.
From the first booking
Keeps the records, does the sums. Filing and advice stay with you and your accountant.
Sessional tracks every session and invoice from day one on the free Basic plan, with no card. Expenses and documents come with Plus.