Locum Solicitor Expenses: What You Can Claim for 2025/26

Working as a locum solicitor offers flexibility and variety, but it also means you are responsible for your own tax affairs. If you are engaged as a self-employed locum, you must report your income and claim allowable expenses on your Self Assessment tax return each year.

The general rule is straightforward: you can claim expenses that are incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of your trade as a locum solicitor. HMRC applies this test strictly. Mixed-use items, such as a phone used partly for personal calls, require apportionment.

This guide covers the most common allowable expenses for UK locum solicitors in the 2025/26 tax year, with worked examples and practical tips. It is not personal tax advice. You should speak to a legal-sector-specialist accountant for advice tailored to your circumstances.

SRA Fees and Professional Subscriptions

Your annual SRA practising certificate fee is a core cost of working as a locum solicitor. It is fully allowable as a trade expense. For the 2025/26 fee year, the SRA standard fee for a solicitor is £430 (this figure is subject to annual review; check the SRA website for the exact amount).

Other professional subscriptions are also allowable:

  • Law Society membership fees
  • Chancery Bar Association or other specialist association fees
  • Costs of maintaining your CPD record and any mandatory training modules

Example: Sarah works as a locum solicitor for three different firms during 2025/26. She pays £430 for her SRA practising certificate and £295 for Law Society membership. Both are fully deductible against her locum income.

Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) and the Excess

Every SRA-regulated solicitor must hold PII cover. For a locum, the policy is typically arranged through an agency or directly with an insurer. The premium is an allowable expense.

What about the PII excess? If you have to pay an excess on a claim, that payment is also deductible as a trade expense, provided it arises from your professional activities. HMRC accepts that the excess is a cost of carrying on your profession.

Example: James, a locum solicitor, has a PII policy with a £5,000 excess. A claim arises from a missed deadline on a conveyancing file. James pays the £5,000 excess. This is an allowable expense in the year it is paid.

For more detail on how PII interacts with your tax position, see our guide on professional indemnity tax treatment for solicitors.

Training Expenses

As a locum solicitor, you are responsible for your own continuing professional development. The SRA requires all solicitors to complete a minimum of 16 hours of CPD per year (or equivalent under the new competency framework).

Training expenses that are allowable include:

  • Course fees for CPD-accredited courses
  • Webinar and online training subscription costs
  • Books, journals, and legal databases (e.g., Westlaw, LexisNexis) used for your work
  • Costs of attending conferences and seminars relevant to your practice area

HMRC may challenge training that qualifies you for a new specialism rather than updating existing skills. For example, a conveyancing locum taking a course in criminal advocacy would likely be a non-allowable capital expense. Stick to training that maintains or improves your current competence.

Example: Maria, a locum solicitor specialising in family law, pays £450 for a two-day CPD course on financial remedies. She also subscribes to a legal database for £120 per year. Both costs are allowable.

Travel Expenses

Travel between your home and a temporary workplace is a common area of confusion. HMRC distinguishes between:

  • Temporary workplace: A location you attend for a limited duration (typically less than 24 months). Travel to a temporary workplace is allowable.
  • Permanent workplace: A location you attend regularly and for an indefinite period. Travel to a permanent workplace is not allowable.

As a locum solicitor, each assignment is usually a temporary workplace. You can claim the cost of travel from your home to the firm's office and back. This includes mileage at HMRC's approved rates (45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 25p per mile).

You cannot claim travel from your home to a permanent workplace, even if you work from home some days. If you have a regular office base, the rules change.

Example: Tom, a locum solicitor, takes a six-month assignment at a firm 30 miles from his home. He drives there and back each day. He can claim 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, then 25p per mile. For a 60-mile round trip, 220 days worked: 60 x 220 = 13,200 miles. First 10,000 miles at 45p = £4,500. Remaining 3,200 miles at 25p = £800. Total claim: £5,300.

Home Office Expenses

If you work from home for some or all of your locum work, you can claim a proportion of your household costs. HMRC accepts two methods:

  • Simplified expenses: £26 per month if you work 25 hours or more per month from home. This rises to £52 per month for 101+ hours.
  • Actual costs method: Apportion your rent/mortgage interest, council tax, utilities, and broadband based on the number of rooms used exclusively for work and the hours worked.

The simplified method is easier but often underclaims. The actual costs method requires detailed records but can yield a higher deduction.

Example: Priya, a locum solicitor, uses one room in her three-bedroom house as a dedicated office. She works 30 hours per week from home. Her annual household costs (mortgage interest, council tax, utilities, broadband) total £12,000. She apportions one-third of the house (one room out of three) and 50% of the time (30 hours out of a 60-hour working week). Her claim is £12,000 x 33% x 50% = £1,980 per year.

Equipment and Software

As a locum solicitor, you may need to buy your own laptop, printer, phone, or legal software. The tax treatment depends on the cost:

  • Items costing less than £2,000: Claimed as an allowable expense in full in the year of purchase (using the Annual Investment Allowance if you are a sole trader).
  • Items costing £2,000 or more: Capital allowances claimed over several years (typically 18% per year on a reducing balance basis for most IT equipment).

Software subscriptions (e.g., case management systems, cloud storage) are revenue expenses and fully deductible in the year paid.

Example: Alex, a locum solicitor, buys a new laptop for £1,500 and a printer for £300. Both are under £2,000, so he claims the full £1,800 as an expense in 2025/26. He also pays £600 for an annual subscription to a legal research platform. That £600 is also deductible.

Insurance and Professional Indemnity

Beyond PII, other insurance policies are allowable:

  • Income protection insurance (if the premiums are paid personally and the policy pays out to you)
  • Public liability insurance
  • Cyber insurance (increasingly important for solicitors handling client data)

Note that life assurance or critical illness cover paid personally is not usually allowable, as it provides a personal benefit.

What You Cannot Claim

Some expenses are specifically disallowed by HMRC:

  • Clothing, even if you wear a suit for court appearances (ordinary clothing is not deductible)
  • Fines and penalties (e.g., speeding fines, SRA fines)
  • Capital expenditure on assets that last more than two years (subject to capital allowances rules)
  • Personal living costs (food, gym membership, childcare)

There is a common myth that locum solicitors can claim lunch costs. Unless you are travelling away from your normal work location overnight, subsistence is not allowable.

Record Keeping and Compliance

HMRC requires you to keep records of all income and expenses for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline. For a locum solicitor, this means keeping:

  • Invoices and receipts for all expenses
  • Bank statements showing payments received and made
  • Mileage logs for travel claims
  • Home office calculations and supporting bills

From 6 April 2026, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax will apply to self-employed individuals with income over £50,000. If your locum income exceeds this threshold, you will need to use MTD-compatible software to submit quarterly updates to HMRC. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027.

Practical Tips for Locum Solicitors

  • Open a separate business bank account. This makes expense tracking far easier and reduces the risk of HMRC challenging your records.
  • Use accounting software designed for self-employed professionals. Many options integrate with HMRC for MTD.
  • Set aside 25-30% of each fee payment for tax and National Insurance. Locum solicitors are responsible for their own tax, not deducted at source.
  • Review your IR35 status carefully. If you work through a personal service company (PSC), the rules differ. Most locum solicitors engaged through an agency are caught by IR35 if the agency is medium or large.

For a deeper look at the tax implications of locum work, see our guide for locum solicitors.

Final Thoughts

Claiming the right expenses can significantly reduce your tax bill as a locum solicitor. The key is to keep clear, contemporaneous records and to understand the distinction between allowable trade expenses and personal costs.

If you are unsure about any aspect of your expense claims, or if you have a complex situation involving multiple assignments, home office use, or PII excess payments, speak to a solicitor accountant who understands the specific rules for legal professionals.

We offer a free initial health check for locum solicitors and law firms. Book a call to discuss your circumstances.