Category: Practitioner support

Could a limited company be the right choice for locum doctors?

by Crunch Accounting : Mel Dixon

Many locum doctors in the UK work via NHS and locum agencies which handle their pay much like a direct employer would. However, there are other ways that locums or freelance GPs can go about finding work and getting paid for their services.

The locum doctor can provide work under a variety of different guises, including limited company, sole trader or umbrella company. And of course, the aforementioned more direct route…

NHS and locum agencies

By providing services through an NHS or locum agency, health workers are taxed at source under normal PAYE rules. This is fine for many as they won’t have to do any accounting or tax preparation. On the downside, it’s not the most tax friendly way of working as a freelance doctor and you are restricted in the expenses you can claim.

For healthcare professionals immigrating to the UK for the first time, it may be the preferred option as some agencies offer profession specific help and guidance.

Limited company

Running a limited company offers the biggest tax saving option and gives you the opportunity to be the director of your own company. For most people a limited set-up requires the services of an accountant unless you’re particularly sharp on tax filing procedures and day-to-day administration.

The tax saving benefits stem from the ability to pay yourself the right combination of dividends and salary, thereby avoiding National Insurance Contributions.

In the right hands, a limited company can be a simple way of doing business. Unfortunately, some accountants will leave you adrift in a sea of receipts, invoices, and documentation which you then have to gather up in an orderly fashion before sending it all over for them to sort out. However, if you have an accountancy service which keeps all your records safe and secure online whilst offering expert help and guidance, limited company life becomes incredibly simpler.

Limited company accounts are a specialty at Crunch

Sole trader

The major advantage of being a sole trader is that it’s the simplest way of running your own company. You also get to claim expenses (like a limited company).

The major disadvantage is that it’s not as tax efficient as a limited company – depending on how much you earn you could keeping a lot more of your pay with a limited company. As a sole trader you are liable for income tax and capital gains tax (which is a tax on selling or giving away assets such as property or vehicles).

Umbrella companies

Working freelance via an umbrella company is much like an agency set-up where the umbrella company sorts out your tax paying responsibilities, leaving you to simply hand in timesheets. They will naturally charge for the payroll service they provide, and it’s administered on a Pay As You Earn basis. So, it’s not tax efficient and yet still you have to pay for the privilege.

For umbrella companies promising high amounts of take home pay, be very wary. From April 6, a key offshore loophole is being closed which is used by most of these services – read more about such arrangements on this link.

Summary

There are a range of options for locum doctors in the UK, but without doubt the most rewarding is a limited company formation. At Crunch we provide qualified expert accountancy advice alongside our online software which enables you to automatically draw up invoices, easily record expenses and have a real-time snapshot of your incomings and outgoings – among many other capabilities. By keeping all your accounting needs in one place, life as a limited company director is surprisingly easy.

Find out more about how Crunch works

Your personal Request Inbox on your mobile phone

Do you know that GPnetworks offers a great way for you to view your Request Inbox at a private address via your mobile phone

This can help you keep up-to-date with info from the site and your account, without logging in.

This address is secure for each GP’s, with a personal private address

Please contact us to obtain your private address (include your mobile number in the message) and we will send your private mobile address to you via SMS (text message)

Send your availability to anyone

Do you know that using your GP account, you can very easily send a Personal Availability Calendar to anyone you like?

There are 4 simple steps:

1. Login and goto your Profile tab

The GP Profile tab

2. Scroll down and set the ‘Publicise my availability’ option to ‘Yes’

3. Copy the link in the box below this Option and click the ‘update’ button at the bottom of the page

The publicise your availability option

4. Email the link you copied to anyone you like (note: your notes are not shown)

GP availability calendar

Try sending the link to yourself. Logout of GPnetworks first, then click the link in your email to see what others will see.

The Request process

The background
To start at the beginning, each GP can specify how far they are willing to travel to work from their postcode (setting their work radius) within their account.

This creates a list of Practices that the GP can see, the GP can then select/deselect practices individually to create their own list of Practices that can see their availability.

When a practice logs in, they see a calendar of combined GP sessional availability, made from all the GP’s that have allowed that practice to ‘see’ them. They can browse this calendar and click to see each GP’s details. They can chose to contact GP’s directly.

The Request process
If a practice wants to search for a GP to meet their sessional requirements, they can use a special tool in their account to do so.

Create Requirements
Any practice can create as many sessional Requirements as they like in their Calendar by clicking a session and inputting some details about the requirement. Then they can search quickly through the availability of all the GP’s that they can see, for any that show session availability that matches their requirements.

Requests GP’s
In the results of this search they a can select as many GP’s as they like and click once to send Requests to all of them. This creates a Request in both the GP and Practice calendar and sends the GP an email notification of this.

Managing Responses
Both GP and Practice accounts have features that allow users to manage the Request / Response process until it reaches a satisfactory conculsion.

The GP can then login and read/respond to requests, accepting or declining reach one. This action alters the status of the Request in both parties calendars and sends email notifications to both.

If a GP has accepted a Request, a practice can then Confirm or Decline that acceptance, choosing between any GP’s that have accepted it. An appropriate email notification is sent to the GP.

Confirmed Bookings

GP’s cannot cancel Confirmed bookings (green) – only a Practice can cancel a Confirmed booking

GP’s can cancel any booking before it reaches the Confirmed stage

If a GP has a Confirmed booking with a Practice, then cancels it (by speaking to them) – the GP should ask the Practice to cancel the booking in their account, to avoid future confusion and to allow the GP to re-publish availability for that session should they want to

Facts about GPnet

Some facts about GPnetworks:

  • GPnetworks has the most advanced online locum availability system in the UK
  • Our system intelligently matches locations
  • We’re PCT funded in many areas
  • We’re 100% free
  • All data is kept private (you choose who can see you)
  • We have over 400 Practices and Health Centres looking for locums around the UK
  • Practices are also advertising salaried positions to our GP members
  • We are not a locum agency