“An hourly rate of £11 for locum cover at [a Boots] store in York was recently published in error,” a spokesperson for the multiple this week (October 22) told C+D.
The clarification came after social media users on Reddit last week (October 17) published a screenshot of locum rates of £11 per hour on offer for a Boots pharmacist in York on January 25 and 27.
One commenter said that the rate was “less than the national minimum wage”.
Read more: ‘Respite to employment challenges’: Average UK locum rate nosedives 10% in a year
The original poster added that they saw a rate at an undisclosed pharmacy in “Southend-on-Sea a couple of weeks ago that was £15”, saying that “pharmacists will be coming to a foodbank near you soon”.
But this week, Boots clarified to C+D that the York rates were posted “in error”, adding that the chain has “immediately corrected this”.
Read more: Three-week Boots pharmacy union merger ballot opens today
“Boots aims to offer competitive rates for locum pharmacists, in line with local market conditions, which are regularly reviewed,” it said.
“We also offer a competitive total reward package to eligible salaried Boots pharmacists,” it added.
However, the spokesperson declined to confirm what are the lowest locum rates currently offered by the multiple.
Wage worries
Advising on minimum locum wages yesterday (October 23), Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) union director Paul Day told C+D that the government’s “national living wage is £11.44 per hour and it is illegal to pay employees aged 21 or over less than that”.
“However, self-employed people running their own business are not covered by the national living wage legislation,” he added.
“The way that some businesses treat locums brings into question if in reality they are really self-employed or should actually be treated as an employee” – a question asked by HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) “review of the tax arrangements in community pharmacy that began before the pandemic”, he said.
Read more: ‘Peasant wages’ for ‘muppets’: Christmas locum rates set to plummet
Being treated as an employee would allow locums to “receive all the additional benefits and legal rights that employees receive, including a right to the national living wage”, he added.
“Employment and tax status should be considered on the overall circumstances of how an individual is treated by the business they are working for in reality, and it can’t be overridden by having a written agreement that claims the situation is different from actual practice,” Day stressed.
This month, new data from Locate a Locum revealed that pharmacist locum rates in some parts of the UK have plummeted by a third since 2022.
Read more: HMRC investigating Lloydspharmacy over possible £33m locum tax bill
And last month, pharmacists took to social media to express their dismay at locum rates on offer to them in the upcoming festive period.
One deemed the rates - which were almost seven times lower than the highest paid Christmas shifts reported by Locate a Locum last year - “peasant wages”.
