Locum Doctor Salary Calculator 2026/27 — Umbrella vs Ltd
Compare your locum doctor take-home pay for 2026/27 between an umbrella company (PAYE) and a Limited Company outside IR35, using your day rate, days worked and allowable expenses. See also the Contractor Salary Calculator and the Overseas Workdays Relief guide. Useful if you search for “locum doctor take home pay umbrella”, “locum Ltd vs umbrella 2026” or “locum IR35 inside outside”.
Updated for the 2026/27 tax year (Corporation Tax ~25%; dividend allowance £500).
Typical NHS locum rates run £400–£900/day depending on specialty and region.
~200 days ≈ 4 days/week across 50 weeks. Adjust for your pattern.
Umbrella pays you via PAYE (with employer NI + margin). Outside-IR35 Ltd lets you take dividends.
Umbrella applies employer NI (~15%) plus a weekly margin before your PAYE. We model this as a deduction on the gross.
Outside IR35: pay a low salary (up to personal allowance) and take the rest as dividends. Corporation tax (~25%) applies to profit.
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Why NHS locum pay is nothing like a staff doctor's pay
A permanent NHS consultant might earn £105k on paper and take home about £67k. A locum GP working 4 days a week at £750/day can gross £150k — but the tax structure is completely different. There is no NHS pension employer contribution, no sick leave, no study budget. The headline day rate costs the trust what it costs, but what lands in your current account depends on how you structure it.
The umbrella route: simple but expensive
Most NHS trusts will not engage locums via Ltd companies anymore — they mandate umbrella payment for inside-IR35 assignments. The umbrella process is automatic: trust pays £X/day → umbrella deducts employer NI (~15%) and a £20-30/week admin fee → you receive PAYE salary on the remainder. No company admin, no annual accounts, no risk — but at a day rate of £700, the umbrella route can leave you with roughly £8,000-9,000/month after everything, equivalent to about 55-58% of gross.
The Ltd company route: only when outside IR35
A small number of locum arrangements — typically direct engagement with a practice rather than a hospital trust, or roles with genuine substitution rights — can pass an outside-IR35 assessment. In these cases, a Ltd company changes the economics significantly: you pay yourself a token salary, the company covers corporation tax at 25% on remaining profit, and you extract the rest as dividends taxed at 8.75%-33.75%. The net outcome can be 63-68% of gross — materially better, but with corresponding paperwork.
NHS-specific considerations most calculators miss
Locum GP pension implications: NHS Pension Scheme membership doesn't cover locum income unless you're on a specific locum pension arrangement. Many locums end up with reduced final pension benefits compared to what a staff doctor accumulates — treat the pension gap as a de facto cost of locuming.
IR35 in the NHS: Almost all hospital trust engagements are now blanket-determined as inside IR35. The days of choosing your status freely are largely over in the NHS, though private-sector locum work (private hospitals, clinics) may differ.
Multiple trusts, multiple tax codes: If you work across several trusts via umbrella, you may end up on emergency tax codes (BR or 0T) for secondary assignments, causing temporary overpayment. The calculator assumes a single source with a standard 1257L tax code.
As a locum GP, am I better off than a salaried GP?
The day rate looks higher, but you lose employer pension contributions (worth ~23.7% of salary in the NHS scheme), paid annual leave (6-8 weeks equivalent), sick pay, CPD time and indemnity cover. A locum on £120k gross via umbrella takes home roughly £76k — not far from a salaried GP on £95k who takes home about £67k with far better pension accrual. Run both through the NHS Salary Calculator to see the pension-adjusted gap.
Can I claim travel, accommodation and subsistence as a locum?
Yes — and this is one of the biggest practical differences vs a permanent role. If you travel to a different trust for a locum shift, you can claim mileage (45p/mile up to 10,000 miles), accommodation and meals. Outside IR35 via Ltd, these go through the company as expenses. Inside IR35 via umbrella, ask whether your umbrella offers optional expense processing — many do, but the deduction comes after the umbrella margin and employer NI, reducing the benefit.
How does working across multiple NHS trusts affect my tax?
Your first trust/umbrella gets your full tax-free allowance (tax code 1257L). Any second PAYE source will typically be taxed at BR (basic rate 20%) or 0T (no allowance) by HMRC, meaning you may overpay tax during the year and get a refund after filing. You can call HMRC to split your allowance across employers if the pattern is predictable.
Should I use an umbrella company recommended by the trust?
Trusts often maintain a preferred supplier list (PSL) of compliant umbrellas. While you have the legal right to choose your own, using a non-PSL umbrella may delay onboarding or cause the trust to reject the assignment. Check whether the umbrella is FCSA-accredited and whether their margin is competitive — reputable umbrellas charge £15-25/week, equivalent to 0.5-1% of gross on a typical locum income.
What happens to my NHS pension if I go full-time locum?
The 2015 NHS Pension Scheme has a specific "locum practitioner" category. You can opt to pension your locum earnings, but it requires registration on the NHS Pensions system and you'll pay both employee and employer contributions (roughly 12.5% + 23.7% combined) — a significant haircut that few locums fully account for. Many locums instead rely on a SIPP for retirement savings, which means the comparison to staff-doctor total reward is more nuanced than simple take-home comparison suggests.