Guides · Updated 13 October 2026

Agency, platform or direct. Three ways to find locum work.

Locum work reaches you in three ways, and most locums end up using more than one. What changes between them is who finds the work, who sets the rate and how you are paid.

A group of healthcare staff walking down a bright corridor

Through an agency

An agency matches you to bookings from the workplaces it works with. You deal with a person who knows the local market, which helps when you are new or want work at short notice. How you are paid varies: some agencies pay you, and with others you invoice the workplace yourself. Ask before the first booking.

Through a booking platform

A platform is an app or website where workplaces post sessions and you apply for them. You can see the rate before you apply and book at any hour. Each platform has its own way of handling payment and its own record of the sessions booked through it.

Directly with the workplace

Many locums build up workplaces that contact them directly. You agree the rate and the terms between you, and you send the invoice. There is nobody in the middle, which also means the record keeping and the chasing are yours.

The catch with using all three

Each route keeps its own record, if it keeps one at all. Nothing shows you the whole month: every session you worked, what each one earned and which are still unpaid. That whole picture is what you need for your own accounts, and it is the part nobody else keeps for you.

Example: One month, three sources

Through an agency: 6 sessions. Paid by the agency 14 days after each timesheet
Through a booking platform: 4 sessions. Paid through the platform
Booked direct: 5 sessions. Your own invoice, on 30 day terms

Fifteen sessions and three different pay dates. Only your own record has all of them.

What to ask before a first booking

Who pays me, and when?
Do I send an invoice, or do you raise the paperwork?
Is the rate fixed, or can I agree it with the workplace?
Which documents do you need from me, and how recent?

Who sets the rate

With an agency or a platform the rate is usually set or offered by the workplace, sometimes with room to negotiate. When you book direct it is whatever the two of you agree. Record the rate with the session either way, because it will not be the same everywhere.

Where Locbase fits

Locbase is separate from all of them. However a session was booked, you add it to Locbase and it sits in one list with its rate and its pay date. Sessions you invoice yourself become invoices from the app. Sessions paid through an agency or platform are marked paid when the money lands.

Questions

Does Locbase find locum work?

No. Locbase is for the admin once the work is booked. It is independent of every agency and booking platform.

Can I track sessions from several agencies in one place?

Yes. Each session keeps its own workplace, rate and pay date, wherever it was booked.

Is it better to book direct or through an agency?

Each has its place. Direct bookings give you control of the rate and the terms. Agencies and platforms bring work you would not otherwise find. Most locums use both.

Do I need more than one agency?

Many locums register with a few, which widens the work on offer. It also means more places holding your documents, and more pay dates to keep track of.