FAQ: Are GP locums entitled to holiday pay?

If you’re a GP locum, you are self-employed and therefore are responsible for covering your own holiday and sickness pay. And maternity/paternity pay, redundancy (there will be times when you’re unemployed), tax, national insurance, travel – pretty much everything.

But that’s the choice you make when you’re a GP locum. That’s why you have to make sure that the rates you charge – and the insurance policies you purchase – cover these circumstances. There is a common misunderstanding that GP partners get holiday pay – they don’t. They instead pay a practice manager to spread their ‘drawings’ over the year.

Of course, as a GP locum, you could get holiday/sickness pay if you negotiated it into your terms and conditions. For that matter, you could even demand a case of wine for every week you work, but no practice in their right mind would want to take you on.

But if you’re doing a long-term locum e.g. for maternity leave, then it would be entirely reasonable for you to try and negotiate paid leave into your Terms and Conditions (though beware that the ‘counter-bid’ from the practice would probably be a reduced daily/weekly rate – as the other party, it’s entirely up to you what you agree to).

It’s all down to what you can negotiate. No harm in trying.

Read our FAQ for more: Am I entitled to sick pay?