Locum Vet Nurse

Re: Locum Vet Nurse

Kate Lander — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:34:45 GMT

Hiya,

I've just replied to another post on this subject, so just copying and pasting here...I think if you are confident, as a nurse and generally as a person, can travel and don't mind staying away from home, then yes, the agencies will find you work and you'll make money and hopefully have a lot of fun.

When I started locumming, I spoke to pretty much all the relevant agencies and some were very helpful. Unfortunately a certain agency (which shall remain nameless) messed me around with a six week booking which then fell through, so I was left with no work. I also struggled with some agencies because as my brother is an accountant, I wanted him to look after my tax (free ) rather than pay an umbrella company.

I was lucky because I don't need to worry about rent or bills, but it was still a risk as I'm used to being financially independent. So I basically re-did my CV, printed it out on nice paper and sent it with a covering letter to every practice within 50 miles. I followed it up later with emails and phone calls, and every now and then, I re-email practices I'd particularly like to work for, to remind them of my existence. Once things got going, I've always had plenty of work, mostly from word-of-mouth. Ten months later, despite regular emails and calls, I've never had actual work materialise through an agency. To be fair, this might be due partially due to living 'out in the sticks' and being unwilling to travel far, but I decided when I started locumming, exactly what I wanted to do (i.e. how far I would travel, my hourly rate etc) and I've stuck to it. I was also influenced by another very experienced nurse who always found and negotiated her own work in her local area.

Anyway, that's just my experience. On the financial side, I've found being self-employed very simple. I designed an invoice which I send out weekly, I keep a regular record of mileage, expenses and payments, and put aside my tax into a savings account every month. My brother registered me with HMRC and does my tax return. I thought it would be a major undertaking, but apparently not. I tend to get irate when locum agencies have demanded relatively high percentages of my income to sort my tax, because practices have been convinced by scare tactics not to take self-employed locums. I'm grateful to the agency that warned me about this thorny issue when I started.

Hope that helps

Re: Locum Vet Nurse

jobone84 — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 14:41:18 GMT

Great. If you are serious I would love to have a copy of your CV and contact details to keep on file. Send them to job.avc@btconnect.com many thanks, Jo P.S-Devon is pretty nice for a little holiday. :)

Re: Locum Vet Nurse

Ems — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 00:56:19 GMT

Hi Jobone84 - I'd love to but I'm based in Edinburgh and I've not got any availability till October! Might consider it in future though, would be nice to see more of the country :-D

Re: Locum Vet Nurse

jobone84 — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 00:39:17 GMT

Hi Ems, I am looking for a locum in South Devon for next week? We have accommodation... Interested?

Re: Locum Vet Nurse

Ems — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 00:19:50 GMT

Hi Kirsty, if you search the Vet Nurse website there's loads of previous conversations on this topic which I found really helpful :)

I've just started locuming and I'm loving it, nice to be so flexible! I'm not using a an umbrella company to get the most out of my money and just putting my tax aside which I will sort at the end of the tax year, but I have friend's who are able to help me in this area. Most of my friends prefer to use umbrella companies for ease but it's completely up to yourself!

Re: Locum Vet Nurse

jobone84 — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 00:12:39 GMT

Hi Kirsty, I locumed for a couple of years after I qualified. I did it self employed, and under an umbrella, but if you are going to go self employed, you need a good accountant to ensure your tax is all sorted. Also, you need them to to assist you with all the legalities etc of earning. I Would get a good bit of financial advice before going along the self employed route, as it can be a tricky thing to do in my experience...however, if you do get it sorted, you will find yourself in pretty high demand, as Agency fees are pretty ridiculous for practices, so a self employed locum is very appealing to most practices, and means that you MAY see more of the profit as there isn't the agencies fees on top. Umbrella companies were however a lot easier I found, purely in that you are covered for tax, you will get holiday pay and the work is presented to you rather than you having to search for it, that being said, as a self employed locum word of mouth kept me very busy. I would definitely seek financial advice before embarking on self employment, legislation may have changed since I did it. Hope this helps.