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Over 2000 insurance specialists ready to support you
Locum Insurance
Sickness and absence cover for your practice.
- Individual and group policies available.
- GP locum insurance options
- UK-based support
One of the UK's leading independent insurance brokers
Why choose locum insurance with Towergate?
GP locum insurance options
We offer cover for a variety of practices and medical businesses, including GPs, dentists and vets.
Locum insurance policy benefits
You can choose to include specific named members of staff only or cover the entire practice. We also offer a policy that does not require you to evidence additional costs in order to make a valid claim.
Health and wellbeing matters
All of our locum policies provide access to a leading health and wellbeing service for all insured staff including counselling services (face to face and telephone) and access to 24-hour helplines.
In-house claims team
Claims of up to £25k are handled by our dedicated in-house claims team.
About locum insurance
GP locum insurance options
Whether you are an individual, partnership, Primary Care Network, federation or trust we have a solution for you. With access to four different policies, we are confident that we can provide you with the cover you require. We can provide your surgery with full cover, a top-up to the NHS reimbursement scheme or a combination of both. Our latest policy, Locum Enhance, is designed specifically for GP surgeries. It does not require evidence of invoices/receipts to be provided so you can get on with the day to day running of your practice which are now busier than ever.
Locum insurance policy benefits
Our policies are designed to protect your budget against additional costs incurred as a result of accident and/or illness. In addition, we also provide cover for absence as a result of suspension, jury service, maternity/paternity and adoption, personal accident benefits and travel delays. Our policies give you the flexibility to select the members of staff that you would like to insure. You can choose to include specific named members of staff only or cover the entire practice. We also offer a policy that does not require you to evidence additional costs in order to make a valid claim.
Health and wellbeing matters
All of our locum policies provide access to a leading health and wellbeing service for all insured staff including, counselling services (face to face and telephone), medical information services, legal information services, HR management support, critical incident advice, financial and debt information services, online information and self-help tool and access to 24-hour helplines.
Other medical professionals
We understand that your practice can have different requirements when it comes to managing staff absence. While it may not be as important to bring in cover for appointments when you are absent, the financial implication of not being able to provide treatments can be significant, especially for extended periods of absence. This is why we provide cover that is not just based on costs incurred through providing cover, but rather protecting the overheads (I.E Rent, Loss Of Income, Bank Loan repayments etc) of a practice while a member of the team is absent and your practice is incapacitated. When a member of your practice is absent, it can bring stress and disorganisation to your business. Whether because you have contracts to fulfil and therefore need to bring in cover, or because you simply can’t provide your service for a period of time, it can be difficult, especially financially. Our Practice Benefits option does not require you to show us how you’ve covered your overheads during this period, our insurers simply pay you a weekly benefit, that you can choose, until your member of staff is back at work.
When you need to make a claim, we'll guide you through the process and get your claim settled as quickly as possible.
- Find your insurance documents and make sure you have all your information at hand, including your policy number.
- Call the claims team on 0330 123 5921 and explain exactly what happened
- Provide evidence of absence to help us understand what happened as quickly as we can.
Ready to get covered?
- Fill in our online quote form or call us
- Purchase your policy
- Relax - You're covered!
Locum insurance FAQs
Locum insurance is designed to cover you against the increased cost of working as a result of a staff absence. A claim can cover you for the costs of aspects such as calling in a locum and providing sickness pay. Locum insurance is designed to cover a range of different medical practices, including GPs, vets, dentists and opticians as well as pharmacists, chiropractors and osteopaths.
Locum insurance policies cover a range of different absence types, from illness and jury service to personal accident and bereavement. It is possible to extend policies to cover stress-related absences and maternity cover. The majority of staff absences are unavoidable and protecting your practice and your patients is key to your business. By covering a range of different types of absence you can continue striving to meet your duty of care.
For any busy medical practice staff absence can be difficult and leave you unable to provide your service to your patients. With a locum insurance policy designed to suit your needs you can ensure that your practice can continue operating as quickly as possible. Our policy gives you access to an in-house team who can respond quickly to a claim, meaning that your patients can remain at the forefront.
When choosing your policy it is important that you consider how your practice copes with staff absence. It is possible to tailor your policy to suit your needs and contingency plans, so whether you would rather have cover from the first day of absence or feel that you could cope for two weeks with an absence, you can choose the deferment period to suit you. Typically, the higher your excess/deferment period is, the cheaper your premium is likely to be, so we would always advise you to think about how locum insurance fits within your contingency plans and budget.
Whilst the vast majority of absences are entirely unavoidable, there are a number of stress-related absences every year which could potentially be reduced or even prevented by taking steps to help limit work-related stress. Ensuring that working conditions are good and the practice is inclusive and supportive may help to reduce absences due to work-related stress.
Yes, we provide access to a Health and Wellbeing programme available for all insured members of staff to use. Towergate Health Assist will help you with your duty of care to your colleagues and will help reduce long and short-term absence. All of the services provided by Health Assist are completely confidential.
Counselling - a superior counselling model that comprises of up to eight face-to-face sessions, per issue, per year. Staff will have access to counselling services delivered in the most convenient way for them, whether that be face-to-face, by telephone or online.
EAP & Online Resources – Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, our Employee Assist Programme is a confidential service providing practical information and guidance for personal and work-related issues. Qualified professionals can help with legal matters, health & wellbeing, money and debt issues, critical incidents, and managerial support. The hub also contains resources on a wide range of mental health and wellbeing topics.
Your cover will not be reduced, restricted or removed as a result of making a claim or deterioration in health of any insured member for the annual period of insurance.
Our policy provides 24/7 cover worldwide covering a wide range of activities.
Our locum insurance policy provides 'cover assurance' which means we guarantee you a renewal regardless of your claim history or situation.
Yes, we are very happy to support a partial return to work. For example, if a GP undergoes surgery and could only return for two sessions per week, instead of 6 sessions, the policy allows you to claim for the 4 sessions that need to be covered.
Yes, as care industry experts we can also provide cover for vets, pharmacies, dentists, pharmacists, osteopaths and opticians for practice overheads and more.
Also known as an excess period, this is the period of time after which you will start receiving money from a claim under your insurance policy. For example, a 4 week excess period means you have chosen for your staff to be absent for 4 weeks before you are eligible. We offer flexible excess periods to tailor your cover to your own needs with anything from 1 week to 13 weeks, or 26 weeks. The longer the excess period you choose, the lower your premium will be.
If you want to know more about our monthly payment option, please read our dedicated page on Direct Debit.
If you would prefer to spread the cost of your RIB insurance policy, you have the option of setting up a Direct Debit to pay your premium bimonthly instalments through our preferred provider, Premium Credit Limited (PCL).
To find out more about PCL and direct debit payments, select Direct Debit.
To understand more about how PCL work together with Towergate, please read our Regulatory Information.
See our range of cover
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