The early decisions matter most.
FY1 through CCT is when the structural decisions are made: how to work (locum, substantive, both), what to do with the pension, when to set up a limited company, which consultant offers to take. Get them right and the rest of the career runs cleaner. Get them wrong and the cost compounds for decades.
Start here.
Three shipped products that map directly to the decisions trainees face.
The trainee arc, in three decisions.
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1
How will you work?
Substantive post, locum career, or both. Take-home pay isn't the same thing as the headline rate; pension accrual changes the answer; tax structure changes it again. The Locum vs Substantive Calculator runs the comparison properly under UK 2026/27 rules.
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2
How will you be taxed?
The minute you do any private work — locum, sessional, anything outside PAYE — the limited-company question appears. The post-April 2026 dividend rate regime has reshaped the answer. The Limited Company Decision Calculator models the three structural alternatives.
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3
Which consultant offer?
When the consultant offer comes, the headline figure is one component of the package. Threshold, additional PAs, on-call category, pension uplift — two offers with the same basic salary can differ in total economic value by 20%. The Consultant Contract Evaluator does the decomposition.
Also worth knowing.
One Guide is worth reading even before you need it — and two products are in production that will matter at CCT.
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