Locum Insurance – What is it and how can it help you?
According to a report published in 2022, the average day rate for a GP locum is £600 – £9001. A locum dentist can earn up to £400 a day2 and a locum vet, around £3003 a day. If you own or manage a busy practice, you may have experienced the impact that losing an employee to sickness or injury can have on your business. Having high quality locum insurance in place to safeguard your practice can potentially make the difference between losing income and keeping your business running.
What is Locum Insurance?
Locum Insurance, also known as Business Overhead Insurance, is a type of income protection for a business, rather than an individual policy holder. It is there to protect your business should a key practitioner be unable to work for extended periods of time.
A Locum Insurance policy is often crucial for healthcare practices. It is a type of policy which pays towards the cost of employing a locum to cover the absence of an employee, either through sickness or injury. You may however, experience employee absences for other reasons other than short-term or long-term sickness or injury. Locum Insurance can cover these types of absences which include:
- Maternity & paternity leave
- Family emergency
- Suspension & inquiries
- Jury service
- Bereavement & compassionate leave
The NHS reimbursement scheme does not always cover the cost of losing a healthcare practitioner in the previous list of scenarios which are non-sickness or non-accident related, neither does it protect Pharmacists, Practice Managers or Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs).
How can Locum insurance help you?
Locum Insurance is there to protect your business. An indemnified policy, which is an insurance product designed to protect healthcare practitioners against legal costs and compensation claims made by a patient, may require evidence of losses incurred to your business through employee absence, such as receipts and invoices.
Our benefit driven policy will usually just require evidence of the absence and provides you with various options as to how you use the funds you receive to keep your business running, such as:
- Employing a locum to cover the absent employee.
- Paying for the cost of overtime from other employees.
- Paying for company sick pay.
- Simply keeping your business afloat whilst a key person is off work.
How does Locum Insurance work?
You have the option to choose a weekly benefit when you arrange a policy with us. In the event of a claim, you will receive payment week by week. There is usually a deferment period, after the illness or injury, where the sums insured will not be paid. You can choose the length of the deferment period and usually, the longer you select, the lower the premiums will be.
You can even choose a policy to include pre-existing conditions, subject to policy terms. The weekly payments are typically paid up to a maximum of 52 weeks and are treated like normal business income.
Executive Income Protection
Locum insurance may not always provide sufficient cover for your business, and in this event, alternative cover may be more appropriate, such as Executive Income Protection.
Executive Income Protection pays a monthly benefit towards the business and can be put towards paying for your named employee’s ongoing sick pay, should they suffer from a longer-term illness or injury. Some Executive Income Protection policies can cover Employer Pension contributions and Employer National Insurance contributions, at an additional cost.
Why source a policy through us?
Lloyd & Whyte Group are one of only a handful of organisations in the UK to hold both “Chartered Insurance Brokers” and “Chartered Financial Planners” status which demonstrates our commitment to professionalism, capability, and service.
We have been supporting healthcare practices with their insurance and financial planning for over 20 years and our experienced in-house dedicated claims support team can advise you in the event you need to make a claim or update your cover.
If you would like support with sourcing Locum Insurance,
our team of insurance advisers can help.
For further information or to get a quote email us at info@lloydwhyte.com.
Alternatively, contact us below.
- https://managementinpractice.com/practice-intelligence/map-showing-regional-average-gp-locum-daily-rates-2023/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20highest%20daily,%C2%A3600%2D%C2%A3650).
- https://dentalelite.co.uk/life-as-a-locum-dentist/#:~:text=Excellent%20rate%20of%20pay%3A%20The,%C2%A3400%20%E2%80%93%20not%20including%20expenses
- https://carltonprofessional.co.uk/veterinary-locum-pay-rates-salaries-for-vets-vet-nurses/
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Lloyd & Whyte Ltd is registered in England No. 03686765. Registered Office: Affinity House, Bindon Road, Taunton, Somerset, TA2 6AA. Calls may be recorded for use in quality management, training and customer support.
Lloyd & Whyte (Financial Services) Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England No. 02092560. Registered Office: Affinity House, Bindon Road, Taunton, Somerset, TA2 6AA. It is important to take professional advice before making any decision relating to your personal finances. Information within this article is based on our current understanding of taxation and can be subject to change in future. It does not provide individual tailored investment advice and is for guidance only. We cannot assume legal liability for any errors or omissions it might contain.
