Every GP googles this. The answers they find are either NHS Employers pay scales (which tell you almost nothing about take-home), anonymous forum posts (which tell you everything but may be fiction), or BMA averages (which lump together a first-year salaried GP with a senior partner running a 15,000-patient practice). None of that helps you make an actual career decision.
Here's what the different GP contract types actually pay in 2026, with worked examples that include the costs nobody mentions in the job advert.
Salaried GP
The headline: the BMA recommended minimum for a salaried GP is currently around £11,800 per session (one session = roughly a half-day, typically 4 hours 10 minutes of clinical time). A "full-time" salaried GP works 8–9 sessions per week, giving a gross salary of roughly £94,400–£106,200.
The reality is more complicated. Your actual take-home depends heavily on what your practice includes versus what you pay for yourself.
Typical deductions from gross salary:
- NHS Pension contributions: 12.5% (for earnings in the £49,473–£79,999 tier) to 13.5% (£80,000–£114,999 tier). On a £100,000 gross salary, you're paying roughly £12,500–£13,500/year into the pension. This is genuinely valuable (the employer contribution is ~20.6%), but it's money you don't see.
- Income tax: At £100,000 gross, you lose your personal allowance taper (effective 60% marginal rate between £100,000–£125,140). After pension deductions your adjusted net income may stay below this threshold — worth checking.
- Indemnity: State-backed (CNSGP) covers NHS work, so no additional cost for in-hours salaried work. If you do any OOH, private, or non-NHS work, you'll need top-up cover (~£1,000–£3,000/year depending on scope).
- BMA/RCGP/GMC: GMC registration ~£433, RCGP membership ~£450, BMA optional but ~£600. Defence union membership (even with state indemnity, many GPs maintain it for advisory services) ~£500–£1,000. Total professional fees: roughly £1,500–£2,500/year.
What you actually take home: A salaried GP earning £100,000 gross, working 8 sessions, after pension, tax, NI, and professional fees, takes home approximately £60,000–£66,000 net. That's before any student loan repayments.
The hidden variable: admin time. Your contract says 8 sessions but if the practice doesn't provide protected admin time, you're doing letters, referrals, results, and prescriptions in your "own time." The BMA model contract recommends 1 admin session per 3 clinical sessions. Many practices offer less. Ask before you sign.
Locum GP
Locum rates in 2026 vary dramatically by geography, urgency, and whether you're going through an agency.
Current market rates (approximate):
- Direct booking (practice contacts you): £800–£950/session in most of England. London and the South East: £850–£1,000. Remote/rural: £900–£1,100+.
- Agency booking: £750–£900/session after the agency takes its cut (typically 10–20% of what the practice pays). Some agencies are transparent about this; many aren't.
- OOH/urgent care shifts: £90–£130/hour is common for evening and weekend sessions. A 6-hour Saturday morning shift might pay £600–£780.
What locums actually take home: This is where it gets interesting. As a self-employed locum, your deductions are different:
- No employer pension contribution. You can pay into the NHS pension via a locum's "type 2 practitioner" arrangement, but many don't — meaning no 20.6% employer match.
- Indemnity: You need full cover. Expect £5,000–£9,000/year depending on your scope and claims history.
- Accountancy, insurance, CPD, equipment: Budget £2,000–£4,000/year.
- Tax: As self-employed, you pay income tax and Class 2/4 NI on profits. Incorporating as a limited company (common among high-earning locums) changes the calculation significantly — dividends vs salary, corporation tax, IR35 considerations.
- No sick pay, no annual leave, no study leave. Every day you don't work, you don't earn. A "full-time" locum working 42 weeks/year at £900/session, 8 sessions/week = £302,400 gross. After tax, indemnity, pension (if you contribute), and expenses, take-home is roughly £170,000–£200,000 — significantly more than salaried, but with zero employment protections.
The catch: Consistency. Locum work can dry up, practices cancel at short notice, and the emotional overhead of being permanently temporary is real. Many locums describe the first year as exhilarating and the fifth as exhausting.
GP Partner
Partner income is the most opaque and variable of all GP earnings. The BMA publishes average contractor income figures, but averages are nearly meaningless — a partner in a well-run 12,000-patient practice with a strong QOF and enhanced services income earns a fundamentally different amount from a partner in a struggling 4,000-patient practice with a crumbling building.
How partner income works: Partners are self-employed. The practice generates income from the GMS/PMS contract (global sum per patient), QOF payments, enhanced services, rent reimbursement, and other NHS/private income. After paying staff, premises, supplies, and running costs, the profit is divided among partners according to their profit-sharing agreement.
Illustrative range: In 2024/25, HSCIC data showed average GP contractor taxable income around £140,000–£155,000 before tax. But the distribution is wide: the bottom quartile earned under £100,000 and the top quartile over £180,000. Some senior partners in efficient, large practices take home £200,000+.
The costs nobody tells you about:
- Buy-in: Some partnerships require you to buy a share of the property and/or notional goodwill. This can range from nothing (many practices now have zero buy-in to attract partners) to £100,000+ for property share in a practice-owned building.
- Unlimited liability: As a partner, you're jointly and severally liable for the practice's debts and obligations. If the practice fails, you're personally on the hook. GMS contract penalties, CQC fines, employment tribunal awards — all shared.
- Workload is unbounded: Unlike salaried GPs, partners don't clock off. Practice management, HR, complaints, CQC preparation, PCN obligations, and financial administration sit on top of clinical work. Many partners describe working 10–12 sessions' worth of hours while being paid for 8–9 sessions of clinical work.
- Maternity/sick leave: The GMS contract provides some sick leave cover, but it's limited and the remaining partners absorb the workload. Maternity arrangements are set by the partnership agreement and can be ungenerous.
The question to ask: Not "what do partners earn?" but "what do partners earn per hour actually worked?" When you account for the management overhead, many partners find their effective hourly rate is lower than a locum's — with more stress and more liability.
Portfolio GP
The portfolio model — splitting your week across clinical sessions, teaching, medtech advisory, writing, appraisal, or other roles — is growing fast. There's no standard income because the whole point is customisation.
Typical portfolio building blocks:
- 4 salaried sessions/week: ~£47,000–£52,000/year
- 2 sessions teaching/education (training practice, medical school): ~£15,000–£25,000/year
- Medtech advisory/consultancy: £500–£1,500/day, 1–2 days/month: ~£6,000–£36,000/year
- Medical writing or content: highly variable, £200–£800/piece
- Appraisal work: ~£350–£500 per appraisal, 10–30/year: ~£3,500–£15,000/year
A well-constructed portfolio can match or exceed salaried income while offering variety, autonomy, and protection against burnout. The trade-off is complexity: multiple contracts, variable income, more admin, and no single employer looking after your pension and indemnity.
Which model is "best"?
There's no universal answer, but there are patterns:
Early career (ST3–5 years post-CCT): Salaried is usually the right move. Stable income, mentorship, protected time for settling in. Use this time to figure out what you enjoy before committing to a model.
Mid-career (5–15 years post-CCT): This is where the real decision sits. Partnership offers the highest potential income and greatest control but demands tolerance for risk and management. Locuming offers the highest per-session rate but no security. Portfolio offers the best lifestyle but requires entrepreneurial effort.
Approaching retirement: Many GPs shift toward portfolio or locum work in their final decade — reducing sessions, maintaining income, and gradually transitioning.
The one thing all experienced GPs agree on: never make a career structure decision based solely on the headline number. The take-home after all deductions, divided by the hours you actually work, is the only number that matters.
iatroX is a clinical AI platform built by a practising NHS GP. We write about what matters to GPs because we are one.