You are a band 6 physiotherapist, your rotation has another year to run, and a friend who went locum last spring now picks her own weeks and earns more for them. You want to know what it actually takes. This guide sets out how to become a locum physiotherapist in the UK as things stand in October 2026, in the order you will need to sort it.
Your HCPC registration does most of the work
Physiotherapist is a protected title, so nobody can book you without a live entry on the Health and Care Professions Council register. Physiotherapy numbers start with PH, and any agency or hospital will search the register on the day they confirm you, not from a copy you sent last year.
Physiotherapists renew every two years in a fixed window. The last one closed on 30 April 2026, so if you renewed then you are covered until the 2028 window. The HCPC renewal fee is currently £246.68 for two years, which works out at £123.34 a year, and you can spread it by direct debit. The HCPC consulted this year on a rise of £5.06 a year, phased in from 2027 by profession, so check the figure when you are next invited to renew.
At each renewal the HCPC picks a random 2.5 per cent of registrants for a CPD audit, and those chosen have to send in a CPD profile. Locums get picked as often as anyone else. Keep a running record of courses, supervision, reflective notes and in service teaching as you go, because writing it up from memory two years later is miserable.
Indemnity is a condition of registration
The HCPC requires every registrant to have a professional indemnity arrangement that suits the work they do. When you are employed by a trust, the trust usually covers you. As a locum that changes depending on how you are engaged, so ask the agency in writing what covers you on each booking.
Many physios hold indemnity through membership of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. If you do, read the scheme terms against the work you plan to take. Acupuncture, injection therapy and private clinic work can each have conditions attached, and you want to know that before a clinic asks.
How much experience locum work expects
There is no rule that says a locum must have a set number of years. In practice the bookings that come through want someone who has finished their junior rotations and can carry a caseload without close supervision, because a locum is usually there to fill a gap in a team that is already stretched. If your rotations covered MSK outpatients, respiratory, neuro or orthopaedics, say so clearly on your CV. Hospitals book against a specialty, and a plain list of where you have worked gets you matched faster than a paragraph about your values.
The compliance file every agency will ask for
Expect to hand over the same core documents to any agency you register with. Proof of your right to work in the UK, an enhanced DBS check with the barred list that fits the work, two references covering recent employment, occupational health clearance and your mandatory training certificates. Training usually means basic life support, moving and handling, infection prevention and safeguarding at the right level.
If your DBS certificate is on the Update Service, an agency can check it online with your consent rather than starting a new application, which can save you a couple of weeks. A good agency builds the file with you and tells you plainly what is missing. If one asks you to pay to register or to be found work, walk away. The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 stop agencies charging work seekers fees for finding them work.
PAYE, umbrella or your own company
How you are paid decides how much of the hourly rate you keep, so ask about it before you accept the first booking. Paid through the agency on PAYE, you are taxed like any employee and the agency handles it. Through an umbrella company, the umbrella employs you and runs your payroll. Since 6 April 2026 the agency can be held liable for PAYE an umbrella fails to pay, so agencies now check umbrellas more carefully, and you should expect questions about the one you use.
Working through your own limited company is less common for physiotherapy than it once was. Public sector bodies have to decide whether off payroll working rules apply, and most NHS locum work is treated as inside IR35, which takes away much of the tax advantage. Get the agency to tell you in writing how a booking is treated before you agree a rate.
What changes after 12 weeks
If you are placed through an agency, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 give you the same basic pay and working conditions as a directly employed physio in the same role once you have worked 12 calendar weeks in that role with the same hirer. Ask what the comparable employee earns if a long booking runs past that point, and keep a note of your start date. Our guide to the 12 weeks rule explains how the weeks are counted and what resets the clock.
Before your first booking
Check your HCPC entry reads registered with no conditions, confirm your indemnity, get your DBS onto the Update Service if it is not already, and gather your training certificates into one folder. Then decide which settings you want, whether that is hospital wards, community rehab, MSK outpatients or private clinics, and how far you are willing to travel.
Flamingo Workforce places physiotherapists and other allied health professionals in locum and longer term roles across the UK. You can see the kind of work we cover on our physiotherapy and AHP page, and when you are ready, register with us through the site.