Airlocum Review 2026: Is It Worth It? (Honest Verdict)

A note on transparency: I founded Airlocum, so I am not a neutral reviewer. I have written this to be genuinely useful to someone deciding whether to use the platform - including where it is not the right fit. Every figure here is real, and the limitations are named honestly.

If you are searching “Airlocum review,” you are probably weighing up whether to trust a platform with something that matters - filling a clinical chair, or finding your next shift. This review covers what Airlocum is, how it works for both practices and locums, the features that stand out, an honest look at the limitations, and how it compares with booking through a traditional agency.

What is Airlocum?

Airlocum is a UK dental staffing marketplace that connects dental practices directly with verified temporary professionals — nurses, dentists, hygienists, therapists, orthodontic therapists and receptionists - without a recruitment consultant in the middle. Practices post a shift and see suitable, available locums with their rates, skills and reviews; locums choose the shifts that suit them and set their own pay. To date the platform has handled more than 40,000 shifts across over 1,900 registered practices, with a 4.9-star rating from 93 reviews.

In plain terms, it does for dental cover what ride-hailing did for taxis: it replaces phone calls and waiting with a direct, transparent, app-based match.

How Airlocum works for practice managers

For a practice, the core promise is speed without sacrificing control. You post a shift, the request is broadcast to every suitable locum in range at once, and you confirm cover — often within minutes. On Airlocum, 60% of shifts are filled in under 5 minutes and the large majority are confirmed in under 15, against the 30 to 60 minutes a traditional agency typically takes ringing round.

Crucially, you see who is coming before you commit: each locum has a profile with a photo, verified skills, a reliability score and reviews from other practices. You can filter for specialist competencies such as sedation, implant, orthodontic or radiography experience, and rebook locums you have worked with before. Payment to the locum is automatic once you approve the timesheet, and every invoice sits on one dashboard.

How Airlocum works for locum professionals

For locums, Airlocum is built around autonomy: you set your own rates, choose your own shifts, and build a reputation that wins you more work. You are self-employed, so you keep control of how, where and when you work, and you see each practice and shift before accepting. Good reviews lift your visibility and lead to repeat bookings, which means reliable, professional locums tend to do well on the platform.

There is no charge to join and no subscription. Payment lands automatically after the practice approves your timesheet, removing the invoice-chasing that locum work usually involves. The trade-off - covered honestly below - is that a strong, complete profile matters: locums who fill in their skills, keep their GDC details current and earn good reviews get the most out of it.

Standout features

Speed through broadcast matching

Instead of one consultant working a list, Airlocum notifies all suitable, available locums simultaneously. This is why same-day cover - a nurse off sick at 7am, replacement in the chair by 9am - is routine rather than exceptional.

Genuine price transparency

The locum sets their rate and you see it upfront, with the service fee shown separately: from £3 per hour for nurses and receptionists, or 10% of the hourly rate for clinical roles. The average shift carries a service fee of around £29 a day, against the £60 to £80 per booking agencies typically add. There are no subscriptions, signup fees or hidden markups. The price you see on locum profile cards include our service fee and  VAT – so no surprises.

Automated compliance

Airlocum runs an automated GDC registration check on every locum every 28 days, so a professional whose registration has lapsed cannot be booked. Continuous verification of this kind is something periodic, manual agency checks rarely match - and it keeps the practice on the right side of CQC staffing expectations.

Accountability built in

Because practices rate locums, reputation is the currency. Locums have a direct incentive to arrive on time and perform well, and practices can see that track record before booking - a feedback loop that simply does not exist when an agency assigns whoever is free.

Airlocum vs traditional agency booking

The honest comparison comes down to six things practices care about:

Agencies still have their place - for a rare permanent hire or a hard-to-source niche specialist, a consultant's hand-holding can earn its fee. But for the large majority of bookings, which are about filling a shift quickly, affordably and reliably, the platform model wins on every measurable factor.

Pros and cons

Where Airlocum is not the right fit (yet)

The biggest honest limitation is supply density. Airlocum is strongest in well-supplied areas - London and the South East, and major cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Bristol — where there are enough locums to fill shifts fast. In rural areas, and across parts of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, local supply is thinner, so fill times are slower and a same-day request may not always be met. If your practice is in one of those areas, it is worth testing with a planned, non-urgent shift first rather than relying on it for an emergency.

Two smaller things to know: higher-value dentist roles are more often booked as planned cover than filled same-day, because the pool of available dentists at short notice is naturally smaller; and for nurses and receptionists, weekend shifts and longer journeys carry small additional charges (a weekend uplift of £2ph and mileage of 45 pence per mile beyond a 25-mile round trip – so from mile 26). None of these are dealbreakers, but you should go in knowing them.

Is Airlocum worth it?

For most UK dental practices, yes. If you are in or near a well-supplied area and you want cover filled in minutes, with the locum and the cost visible before you commit and compliance handled automatically, Airlocum does the job at roughly a third of typical agency cost. The 93% rebook rate is the most telling figure in this review: practices only keep coming back when a service genuinely works, and nine in ten do.

For locums, it is worth joining if you value setting your own rates and choosing your own shifts, and you are willing to keep a strong profile and earn good reviews. The platform rewards reliability with more work.

The one caveat to weigh honestly is location: if you are in a low-supply region, set your expectations accordingly and test before you depend on it.

How to try it

There is no signup fee and no subscription, so the lowest-risk way to judge Airlocum is to run one real shift through it and time the fill. Post your first shift - or create your locum profile - free at airlocum.co.uk. For practices, the fairest first test is a real same-day or next-day shift; for locums, complete your profile fully before browsing so you see the most relevant work.