Business protection

Locum cover

For a practice that cannot legally or practically operate without its professional, the fastest way to survive an absence is not to cut costs. It is to put someone else in the chair.

Last reviewed 4 September 2026 · Written and checked by the Best Life Insurance editorial team · How we get paid

In short

Locum cover reimburses the cost of engaging a replacement professional while the insured practitioner is unable to work.
It is most relevant to GPs, dentists, veterinarians, physiotherapists, optometrists and specialists in small or single-handed practices.
It is usually a benefit within or alongside business expenses cover, and occasionally an option on income protection.
Waiting periods are typically short, because a practice cannot wait ninety days for a replacement.
It is reimbursement of the actual locum cost, up to a monthly limit, for a defined period.
It only works if a locum can actually be found — which in some regions and specialties is the real constraint.

What this is, plainly

Some businesses carry on for a while without their owner. A practice generally cannot. If the dentist is not there the chair is empty; if the sole GP is away the enrolled population has nowhere to go. Revenue does not dip, it stops — while the lease, the staff, the equipment finance and the compliance costs continue.

Locum cover addresses that directly. Rather than reimbursing overheads while the practice sits idle, it funds a replacement so the practice keeps operating. The benefit reimburses what you actually pay the locum — agency fees, the daily or hourly rate, and on some wordings travel and accommodation — up to a monthly maximum, for a defined benefit period.

The commercial logic is stronger than it first appears. A locum keeps the patient or client base intact, which is usually the practice’s most valuable asset and the one that erodes fastest. It keeps the staff employed and still there when the principal returns, and it keeps referral relationships warm. Because the practice continues to bill, it often produces a better result than shutting the doors, even after the locum is paid.

Waiting periods on locum benefits are usually short — days rather than months — because the value collapses if the benefit arrives late. A practice closed for three months has already lost most of what the cover was meant to protect.

How it fits with the rest of the cover

Locum cover rarely stands alone. It usually appears in one of three places, and where it sits changes what it pays and how the claim works.

Three ways locum cover is usually delivered

Where it sits	How it usually works	What to check
A locum benefit inside business expenses cover	The locum’s cost is treated as a claimable business expense, drawing on the same monthly benefit as your other overheads.	Whether the locum cost has its own limit or competes with rent and wages for the same monthly pool.
A separate locum benefit or option	A distinct monthly amount for locum costs, on its own waiting period, sitting alongside overhead reimbursement.	The monthly cap against realistic locum rates in your discipline and region.
An option attached to income protection	Available on some policies for professional occupations, funding a replacement rather than replacing your income.	Whether claiming it reduces or offsets your income protection benefit.

General description of common market structures. Availability, limits and waiting periods are insurer-specific and change — check the current wording.

The practical problem: finding a locum

The insurance funds the locum. It does not produce one. In parts of New Zealand, and in some disciplines, the genuine constraint is supply rather than money — a rural single-handed practice may struggle to find anyone at any rate, and some specialties need particular credentials or vocational registration that are not available at short notice.

That is not a reason to skip the cover. It is a reason to know in advance who you would call, and to check that the monthly limit reflects what a locum actually costs in your field and region, including agency margin, travel and accommodation.

Credentialling and continuity

A locum in a regulated profession has to be registered, credentialled and covered by professional indemnity arrangements. Sorting that out while you are unwell is worse than sorting it out now. Practices that keep a short list of acceptable locums, and have already worked out the indemnity and systems access questions, use this cover far more effectively.

Not sure what cover you actually need?

That is the question an adviser is there to answer. Tell us your situation and a licensed New Zealand adviser will compare the market and come back with a written recommendation — including where you can cut cover you do not need.

Compare cover Call 0800 468 376

No cost to you and no obligation. General information only — not personalised financial advice.

What to watch for

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

Whether the monthly limit reflects real locum rates in your discipline and region, including agency fees.
Whether travel and accommodation for an out-of-town locum are claimable.
The waiting period, and whether it is short enough to be useful in a practice that stops earning immediately.
The benefit period, and whether it matches how long a serious illness in your profession is likely to keep you away.
Whether the locum cost shares a monthly pool with your other overheads or has its own limit.
How the benefit interacts with ACC where the absence is due to injury rather than illness.
Whether a partial return to work — two days a week — still allows a partial locum claim.

Where an adviser makes a difference

Every New Zealand insurer writes locum cover to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

Not every insurer offers a locum benefit and the limits vary widely — an adviser can find which currently write them for your discipline.
Professional bodies and specialty groups often have schemes worth comparing against the open market side by side.
In a practice with more than one principal, an adviser can work out who actually needs the cover.
An adviser can align the locum, income protection and business expenses waiting periods so they do not leave a hole between them.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

What happens if you get in touch

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1
You tell us what you are looking at
The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.
2
An adviser calls you
A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.
3
They compare the market
The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.
4
You decide, in your own time
There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.

Frequently asked questions

What is locum cover and which professions need it?

It reimburses the cost of hiring a replacement so a practice keeps trading while the principal cannot work. It matters most where the business cannot operate without a specific qualified person: general practice, dentistry, veterinary practice, physiotherapy and specialist medicine.

How is a locum benefit different from business expenses cover?

Business expenses cover reimburses the practice’s fixed overheads while it sits idle. A locum benefit funds someone to do the work so the practice keeps earning. In many policies the locum benefit sits inside the business expenses wording — check whether it has its own limit or shares one.

What happens if no locum is available to hire?

Then the benefit cannot be claimed, because it reimburses money you have actually spent. This is a genuine issue in rural practice and in specialties with few available practitioners, and it is why overhead cover belongs alongside locum cover.

Does a locum benefit still pay if the absence is caused by an accident?

Usually yes, but check how the policy interacts with ACC. ACC may be paying weekly compensation for the practitioner’s own lost earnings, which is different from the practice’s cost of engaging a replacement. Insurers treat overlaps differently, so read the offsets clause.

How long will a locum benefit keep paying?

Benefit periods are generally measured in months rather than years — long enough to bridge a recovery, not to fund a permanent replacement. If you would never practise again, the answer is a sale or a succession plan, not an indefinite locum.

Can a practice insure more than one partner for locum cover?

Yes, and in a partnership where each principal has their own patient base it is often justified. Where one partner can absorb another’s work, cover may only be needed for the principal whose absence would stop the practice trading. Work it out person by person.