Locums across Scotland commanded the highest hourly rates in this period, the agency revealed, amid warnings that the “volatile and unpredictable economic environment” could soon see rates across the UK fall.

According to the agency’s analysis, locum pharmacists working in Inverness were paid the highest rate in UK, receiving an average of £53.85 per hour.

Locums in Dumfries followed closely behind, with pharmacists reporting average rates of £52.79 per hour.

Meanwhile, pharmacies in Stirling paid their locums an average of £51.39 an hour, while locums in Edinburgh secured an average hourly rate of £49.97.

Read more: Average locum rate rises again as agency warns of market ‘squeeze’

Dundee and Aberdeen followed with average locum rates of £48.21 and £47.73 respectively.

Locum pharmacists in Southampton earned the highest rate in England’s, commanding £46.23 per hour.

Locums in Exeter weren’t far behind, earning £45.89, while locums in Cornwall earned an average of £44.92 and hour.

Locums in Bangor were the highest paid in Wales. They earned an average of £45.50 per hour.

The agency scrutinised more than 56,000 locum pharmacist shifts booked via its platform between July 1 and September 30 and compared these with the second quarter of 2022, April 1 to June 30.

 

Cities with the highest locum rates

 

Locate a Locum recorded a UK-average rate at £38.86 per hour across the UK in the third quarter of this year, rising 3.7% on the £37.49 recorded across the UK in the previous quarter, according to data gathered by the agency.

But locum pharmacists in Belfast received the lowest average rate at just £28.06 an hour.

Other cities with the lowest average rates included Lisburn, where locums reported an average hourly rate of £28.49, Derry/Londonderry, with a rate of £29.80 and Wolverhampton at a rate of £30.76.

Meanwhile, London-based locums took home an average of £34.73 per hour in the three-month period analysed.

 

Locum market experiencing “period of correction”

 

While the UK average grew on the previous quarter, the locum market “appears to have entered a period of correction”, the report noted.

Although Scotland “continues to offer the highest average locum rate in the UK, its lead in rates earned have fallen”, it added.

In the second quarter of 2022, Scotland held a locum rate lead of 23% over the other UK nations. But in the third quarter, this dropped to a lead of 15%, “returning to its 2021 benchmark”, Locate a Locum said.

Given the “current volatile and unpredictable economic environment...the locum employment market could be squeezed further”, the report warned.

Read more: Which major pharmacy groups reported the biggest number of temporary closures?

Earlier this month, a C+D investigation revealed that some 3,660 pharmacies across England reported temporarily closing between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022.

Affected pharmacies reported shutting their doors a total of 20,924 times during this period.

C+D’s analysis found that the majority of temporary closures across England were attributed to a lack of locum cover.

Pharmacies provided “locum could not be found” as the reason for having to close temporarily in 10,637 instances, while “no cover found” featured 811 times.