How much do locum pharmacists earn?

What a locum pharmacist earns comes down to three numbers: the hourly rate, the hours a day, and how many days you work in a year. Rates vary a lot by place, by day of the week and by how short the notice is, and they have fallen recently.

Average hourly rates

The most comprehensive recent figures come from an analysis of more than 200,000 locum shifts booked through one of the large locum booking platforms between June 2024 and July 2025, reported in the pharmacy press in October 2025:

The England average was down 11.9% on the year before. Averages hide wide ranges: the same analysis found the highest city average in Inverness (£44.29) and the lowest in London (£25.38), where more pharmacists compete for shifts. These are figures from one platform's bookings, so treat them as a guide to the market rather than a rule.

From an hourly rate to a year's income

A locum is paid only for the hours worked: no holiday pay, sick pay or paid training days. So the number of weeks you work matters as much as the rate. Taking 5.6 weeks off, the same as an employee's statutory holiday, leaves about 46 working weeks.

That is income before tax and expenses. On £44,970 of fees, with £2,000 of expenses, a self-employed locum in England would pay about £6,080 in income tax and £1,824 in National Insurance, leaving about £35,066 to take home.

What pushes earnings up or down

• Location. Rural and remote pharmacies that struggle to find cover tend to pay more than big cities.
• Short notice. A shift that needs filling tomorrow is often worth more than one booked months ahead.
• Weekends and bank holidays are commonly paid at a higher rate.
• Services. Being able to provide vaccinations or clinical services can make you the locum a pharmacy books.
• Paid or unpaid breaks, and whether travel is paid.
• Quiet spells. Unbooked days earn nothing, so a full diary at a slightly lower rate can beat a patchy one at a higher rate.

Try your own numbers in the rate calculator, which shows what each extra £5 an hour is worth over a year, after tax.