Guides · Updated 13 October 2026

Self-employed or employed. How to tell.

Locum work is usually self-employment, but not always. Your status decides who deals with the tax and what rights you have, and it depends on how a booking actually works, not on what anyone calls it.

Someone cycling to work down a city street

What self-employed means

GOV.UK puts it simply: a person is self-employed if they run their business for themselves and take responsibility for its success or failure. Self-employed people are not paid through PAYE and do not have the rights of an employee.

You can be both

Someone can be employed and self-employed at the same time. A clinician with a part-time employed post who also locums is exactly that. Each piece of work is looked at on its own.

Example: Two sessions in the same week

Monday, booked direct: You agreed the rate, could have said no, and send an invoice. Self-employed
Thursday, through an agency's payroll: Paid on a payslip with tax already taken. Employed for that work

An illustration. Real bookings are decided on their own facts.

What tends to be looked at

No single point settles it. HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool takes you through the questions for a specific booking.

Whether you decide how the work is done, or are told.
Whether you could send someone else in your place.
Whether you carry your own costs and insurance.
Whether you are free to turn work down, and they are free not to offer it.

Why it matters day to day

Self-employed bookings are paid against your invoice and reported through Self Assessment. Employed and some agency bookings are paid through payroll with tax already taken. Many locums have both in the same year, and the two need to be kept apart in your records.

Agency work

Agencies engage locums in different ways. Some pay you as a self-employed contractor against an invoice or timesheet, and others put you through payroll. Ask which before the first booking, because it changes what arrives in your account.

What it changes

Employees and workers have rights that the self-employed do not, such as paid holiday. The self-employed have the freedom to set terms and turn work down. Neither is better in itself. It matters that the label matches how the work really runs.

If you think it is wrong

Raise it with whoever engaged you, with the facts of how the booking works. HMRC's tool gives a view you can show them.

Where Locbase fits

Locbase keeps every session whichever way it is paid. Sessions you invoice become invoices from the app, and sessions paid another way are marked paid when the money arrives, so the year is in one place.

Questions

Are locums self-employed?

Often, but not always. Status depends on how each booking works. Some locum work, including some agency work, is paid through payroll.

Can I be employed and self-employed at once?

Yes. Each piece of work is treated on its own, so you can have an employed job and self-employed locum work in the same year.

Who decides my employment status?

It follows from the facts of how you work, not from what the booking is called. HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool gives a view on a specific booking.

Does it matter what my contract says?

The contract is part of the picture, but what happens in practice counts as well.