Physiotherapist salary v percentage share

[quitefrankey]

This is an interesting topic for me too. After 12 years as an employee on a regular & reliable salary I decided to venture into self-employment. For 4 years I was partly self-employed (12 hours) on a percentage pay in one clinic, & remained part-time employed in another clinic. As of 2 months ago I have switched to being fully self-employed in the one clinic. I did not have the courage to be fully self-employed in my earlier post-qualification years due to the variability of pay & need to meet financial commitments on a monthly basis. My financial courage has grown over the years & obviously the level of perceived risk will vary between individuals & their circumstances. In this financial climate having self-employed status can have serious consequences for securing a mortgage, which may be a major factor for anyone deciding between an employed versus self-employed arrangement.

I personally find a higher degree of motivation for percentage pay, and I take minimal leave with the knowledge that any leave taken affects my income. Obviously one has to do more financial forecasting & planning to balance out the shorter or quieter months with the busy ones when self-employed. But overall I am preferring the self-employed status for the pure fact that I can earn the equivalent of a decent salary in fewer hours. The decision for any individual whether to be employed or self-employed is likely to be based on financial gain versus perceived risk.

One potential problem of percentage pay, in my opinion, is the issue of transferring patients to colleagues due to periods of leave or lack of suitable appointment availbility. There needs to be an agreement & a good level of trust & communication between self-employed colleagues so that when patients are transferred between different physios it is clearly defined whether it is for one appointment only or for the remainder of that patients treatment. A lack of trust & communication can lead to conflict between colleagues & disharmony in the clinic.

In answer to the original questions - my figures are based on a clinic in the Thames Valley so specifics will undoubtedly vary according to region. As an experienced physio (17 years) I would expect a full-time employed salary of around £40,000 which equates to about £22p/h & a self-employed percentage of between 45-50%. I feel pay reviews should be performed annually, & probably need to be linked to a performance review if bonuses are involved. Just one other point on pay - with increasing numbers of NHS contracts & other providers paying less than full fee there is an opportunity to employ physios with fewer years experience for these patients with an accordingly lower rate of pay.

I am soon to be consulting an accountant - something I should have done before - so will be interested to find whether I am advised to become a limited company. In the meantime I would be interested if anyone is able to answer this question based on the comment by PhysioBob - is there a maximum numbers of hours that a physio can work on a self-employed 'associate' basis for one clinic, & if so what is that maximum?

A final message to nsturner - I wish you the best of luck in setting up your clinic & finding suitable physios to work for you & I hope my input is useful.