Pay rates vary greatly. To get an idea of the usual pay rate for your area you can ask other locums, compare what agencies are offering and speak to the practice as to what their usual rates are and then negotiate. Guidance on how to set rates of pay can be found at BMA.org.uk.

During these negotiations, it is worth factoring in:

• Getting your NHS pension employer contribution paid by the practice
• How many patients you are expected to see
• Separate cost for admin time (e.g. signing prescriptions, reviewing letters, etc.)
• Separate cost for home visits

Locum agency pay rates tend to be lower than if you are booked directly, as agencies will take their cut. Their rates won't normally be negotiable.

How much should I charge?

If you book work directly with a practice, you can work at an hourly rate, sessional or on-call rate. Your pension contribution is usually added on top of this, but discuss this with the practice.

Hourly rate This fee is agreed for a specific duration of work; for example, £85/hr plus pension contribution for three hours work from 9am-12pm. Any additional work on top of these hours (visits, signing prescriptions, seeing extra patients, etc.) is charged extra.	Sessional rate This fee is agreed for a set amount of work; for example, £250 for a morning session from 9am-1pm. The session may be made up of a fifteen-patient surgery, two home visits, plus admin time to sign prescriptions or do telephone triage.	On call/duty doctor This is usually paid as a set fee for the amount of time a practice require you; for example, £520 for the day. It will involve a mixture of telephone triage, seeing patients, signing prescriptions and dealing with blood results, admin and home visits.