Overview of Guidance

 

Introduction	Public Sector Equality Duty	Acronyms
Principles of Study Leave	General Study Leave Information	Time for Study Leave

 

Introduction

This guidance sets out the reviewed study leave arrangements for all Resident Doctors who come under the remit of the Workforce, Training and Education Directorate for NHS England Southwest. Throughout this document referred to as NHSE SW.
It applies from the 01 August 2025 for all eligible Resident Doctors and supersedes any other guidance.
The August 2024 Study Leave Guidance applies for all applications submitted up to the 31 July 2025.
The principles for Study Leave apply across all specialties. However, the processes for Foundation, Primary Care are managed differently. Please refer to the NHSE SW website for more detailed information relating to these specialties.
Any changes to local and/or national policy or practice will be amended through this guidance and updated accordingly.

The national guidance can be found here.

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Public Sector Equality Duty

We will review this guidance annually and following any changes to national policy as they occur to ensure that this guidance will not have an adverse impact on any Resident Doctor groups.

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Acronyms 

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Principles of Study Leave

NHSE South West - Workforce, Training and Education Directorate is committed to:

• Ensure every Resident Doctor has the opportunity to gain the competences relevant to their level of training as defined in each curriculum. This means that the NHSE SW Study Leave Team will direct funding towards curriculum delivery as a priority.
• Improve quality and access to study leave and curriculum support.
• Work in collaboration with our Trusts, educators and Resident Doctors.
• Ensure equity of access to relevant education and development opportunities required by curricula.
• Support delivery of courses and learning opportunities which are explicitly required by the relevant curriculum.
• Provide support, in line with the guidance, for other reasonable education and development opportunities, relevant at the time of a Resident Doctors training programme and which have been considered significant as part of a Resident Doctors personal development plan (PDP).
• Ensure a course list, provided by the school and specialty, to enable Resident Doctors to manage their study leave appropriately.
• Requests for study leave where the course fees cost in excess of £1000 must be discussed in advance with the Resident Doctors TPD. They will also require NHSE SW approval.
• NB - This does not include overseas courses, postgraduate courses or higher qualifications. Please refer to these subject areas separately in the document.

 

It is important that the Resident Doctor:

• Refer to the provided course lists by their specialty to access funds.
• Take responsibility to ensure that training opportunities are accessed at the relevant time in their training and when it is most appropriate to the needs of the training programme.
• Attend courses virtually or based in the South West wherever possible in order to make best use of funds.
• Should discuss their curricula and personal study leave requirements with their ES and/or TPD at the start of each placement and at each educational review to ensure requirements are relevant.

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General Study Leave Information

Study Leave Applications

• It is the responsibility of the Trust to ensure that study leave claims are managed according to the guidance.
• Requests for study leave time and reimbursement should be made through employing trust’s application process (excluding Overseas Study Leave)
• The course list should be consulted for approved/acceptable courses to attend

 

Expectations

• While not compulsory, statutory and mandatory training needs to be completed before study leave should be approved.
• Study leave days are taken as part of the Resident Doctors working days. If it is necessary to take them on non-working days (e.g weekend or rostered days off), then time in lieu should be agreed with the ES at the time of agreeing the study leave, within reasonable time frame of the activity. Special attention should be given to ensure that the Resident Doctor does not breach their contract requirements on hours worked or European Working Time Directive (EWTD).
• Resident Doctors should not commit to costs for any course or event until full approval has been received following the Trust's application process. Any costs incurred prior to approval will be borne by the Resident Doctor.

 

Queries

• General queries (except Overseas Claims) from Resident Doctors that come directly to NHSE SW will be re-directed to the employing Trust office to respond.

 

Reimbursements – Resident Doctor

• Reimbursements will only be made where study leave days have been used.
• We are unable to reimburse courses when special interest days or annual leave days are used.
• Reimbursements will be made through the employer’s payroll process following attendance at the course/event. With the exception of Primary Care Resident Doctors in a practice setting.
• Reimbursements may only be approved once proof of attendance and receipts are submitted to the Trust in line with this guidance.
• Reimbursement submissions must be submitted NO LATER than 3 months, with the expected timeframe being 6-8 weeks after the event. This is in line with NHS Financial Regulations and NHS Terms and Conditions. Any claim after this deadline will not be approved.

 

Unable to attend

• If attendance to a course/event is not possible due to ill health and is unable to recover some or all of the advance costs, the Resident Doctor should inform their Trust’s administrator in accordance with their Trust’s policy. The TPD or HoS will be required to determine the legitimacy of the reasons and make the final decision for payment. Comments will need to be added to the monthly return to NHSE SW Study Leave Team.
• If attendance to a course/event is not possible due to the Resident Doctor’s employer requiring them to work, the cost will be met by the employer.

 

Moving Trusts

• Resident Doctors are able to be reimbursed if they move one from Trust to another providing they originally complied with the guidance and their current Trust’s application process to secure a place at an event or training course. It is also advisable to ensure that they discuss this with their rotating Trust to ensure they are aware of any potential reimbursement claim.

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Time for Study Leave

Annual Entitlement Days

• Resident Doctors will have an annual entitlement of 30 days, with the exception of Foundation Year 1 who have an annual entitlement of 15 days.
• Resident Doctors who are on Less Than Full-time (LTFT) contracts will have their allocation pro-rated
• For Resident Doctors at Foundation Level 2 or higher, schools may have an agreed number of days (from the allocation above) set aside for regional/local teaching. Resident Doctors will need to discuss this with their Training Programme Director/Head of School. Time off will still need to be applied for in accordance to the employing Trust’s procedures.
• Unused study leave entitlement cannot be carried forward to the next leave year.

 

Uses of Annual Entitlement

Resident Doctors may use their Annual Entitlement for the following activities:

• Local/Regional Teaching
• Undertake approved external courses in line with the course list
• Periods of sitting (or preparing for) an examination for a higher qualification where it is a requirement of the curriculum.
• Private study leave – up to 5 days from a Resident Doctors annual entitlement. This is to be used to support private revision but only where this fits in with the policies and service requirements of the department in which they are employed at the time of the study leave. Resident Doctors need to be mindful of any impact of their taking private study leave on colleagues sitting the same exams.

Annual Entitlement – Allocation Period

• For the purposes of allocating time for study leave, each Resident Doctors study leave year runs from the changeover date of their programme to the changeover date in the following year (e.g. for programmes with nationally agreed start dates in August, the leave year is from the first Wednesday in August until the last Tuesday in August the following year).
• Resident Doctors who start or complete their training part way through the study leave year will have a pro-rata entitlement until the end of their programme’s leave year.

Parental Leave

• Where a Resident Doctor takes parental leave, their entitlement to study leave continues. This may be taken during ‘keeping in touch’ days if it is relevant and appropriate to support CCT (maximum of 10). Alternatively, it will accrue and should be taken at a later date. However, the accrual of study leave will depend on the requirements of the curriculum for the individual’s stage of training and to ensure the needs of service delivery can be safely met.

 

Resident Doctors who have reached CCT

• The entitlement to Study Leave ends once a Resident Doctor reaches CCT. Resident Doctor
• Resident Doctors are not entitled to Study Leave during the Period of Grace.

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This page was last updated August 7th 2025 (16 days ago)