Workforce, training and education
East Midlands

Study Leave

For more general information about study leave and the Leave Manager system, please see our main page (www.eastmidlandsdeanery.nhs.uk/policies/study_leave)

Relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions

Due to the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, we do not anticipate that the below guidance will need to apply. However, we will leave this guidance live in the event of exceptional circumstances. 

Non-study leave queries

Unfortunately we are unable to provide advice regarding the impacts of COVID-19 on training beyond our specific remit (i.e. study leave). However, NHSE has dedicated webpages regarding COVID-19 where you can find further information regarding the impact on training:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/coronavirus-covid-19

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/coronavirus-information-trainees

Policies/Guidance relating to study leave

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Study Leave

NHSE recognises the impact that COVID-19 has had and will have on those claiming study leave and/or expenses as part of HEE training programmes and will endeavour to support trainees where possible. This page will be regularly updated with any guidance or FAQs relevant to study leave and the impacts of COVID-19 for East Midlands training programmes.

Expenses for cancelled events

If your event has been cancelled, you should endeavour to obtain a refund for any expenses that have been pre-booked from either the event provider or your bank/credit card company as appropriate.

If you are unable to obtain a refund through the above route/s, please submit your claim and receipts to your Trust/Programme Office via the usual study leave claim process (see FAQS below, “How do I claim reimbursement of expenses?”). As you will be unable to provide proof of attendance, please instead provide evidence of the cancellation of the event, and that the expense is non-refundable.

All requests for study leave time not taken during the outbreak will be properly considered by employers and training programmes (with the support of the Postgraduate Dean if necessary) and will be subject to the need to maintain NHS services, and training requirements for completion of programmes.

Primary Care CSA/RCA exam

The RCGP are offering the new Recorded Consultation Assessment (RCA) exam in place of the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) exam during the period of disruption caused by COVID-19. You can read more about it on the RCGP website.

The East Midlands School of Primary Care have agreed that doctors on our GP training programmes can have two days of study leave for the RCA (as they would for the CSA) in order to prepare their videos for the exam. This should be applied for in the normal manner on Accent Leave Manager (ie as Exam leave).

Contact us

On behalf of all of NHSE, we would like to thank you for your patience while the situation develops, and for your continued hard work keeping the NHS going. If you have any queries regarding study leave, please don't hesitate to contact us at StudyLeave.EM@hee.nhs.uk.

 

How do I claim reimbursement of expenses (standard)?

In order to claim money from your study leave budget the following needs to happen

  1. You need to submit a study leave application on Accent Leave Manager in advance of the study leave taking place and you need to include estimated expenses in your application.
    • Please remember when adding expenses to Leave Manager to click ‘Add’ after entering every line of expenses (even the first one); expenses are not saved until and unless you click the button.
    • To check that the expenses have saved when you’re applying, make sure that the expense appears as a line under Leave Expenses (instead of saying ‘No leave expenses claims have been made for this application’).
  2. The application needs to be approved on Accent.
  3. After the study leave has taken place you need to follow your Trust’s/Programme Office’s process for claiming the expenses within 8 weeks.
    • Please note that NHSE do not pay expenses directly, and this is not done automatically by the Leave Manager system.
    • If you are unsure of your Trust’s/Programme Office’s process, please contact your local Study Leave Coordinator/Programme Office (details on our website, www.eastmidlandsdeanery.nhs.uk/policies/study_leave) who can support you appropriately.
    • Please remember to submit your leave requests and expenses claims in an appropriate timeframe; forgetting this may prevent you claiming expenses, and exceptions will generally only be made for circumstances beyond your control.
What's different for claiming expenses for activities cancelled due to COVID-19?
  1. You should first endeavour to obtain a refund for any expenses that have been pre-booked from either the event provider or your bank/credit card company as appropriate.
    • Providers should generally offer either a rescheduled date (requiring no additional payments) or at least a partial refund.
  2. If you are unable to obtain a refund through the above route/s, please submit your claim and receipts to your Trust/Programme Office via the usual study leave claim process (FAQ above). As you will be unable to provide proof of attendance, please instead provide evidence confirming:
    • The cancellation of the event.
    • That the expense is non-refundable.
Is study leave/teaching being cancelled by NHSE?

Last updated Wednesday 13 January 2021 15:50

As things stand currently, study leave and teaching are not being cancelled as a blanket rule. Please note that this does not supersede any decision made by Trusts to cancel leave or teaching. Teaching should continue where possible and where there is no risk to the delivery of patient services, but in areas under the greatest pressure, it is recognised that Trusts may be unable to release hospital-based trainees for training.

If the activity you'd planned to attend has been cancelled and you need to claim expenses from your Trust, do not cancel your leave request. Claims should only be processed by your local team if there is an approved leave request on Accent. If you need to re-use the days attached to an approved leave request for a cancelled activity, please contact StudyLeave.EM@hee.nhs.uk and we will release the days back to you.

If you have booked study leave for a specific activity which has been cancelled (including teaching as per the above FAQ) and you will not be submitting an expenses claim, please cancel the leave request on Leave Manager. Guidance regarding cancelling leave requests can be found on our main webpage, https://www.eastmidlandsdeanery.nhs.uk/policies/study_leave ("How do I cancel a leave request?").

Obviously, this is a developing situation and this decision may change - we will update the FAQs and contact all stakeholders as/when/if it does.

Please note that all parties are requested to be as flexible as possible both during and after this difficult time. Please liaise with your Trust/Practice regarding any need to cancel study leave due to specific clinical needs.

My study leave activity has been postponed, but I'm unable to attend on the new date; what should I do?

While we would ask that every effort should be made to attend on the rescheduled date, we are conscious that this may be genuinely impossible under some circumstances:

  • Maternity leave
  • Planned medical leave
  • Completion of training (study leave activities and expenses cannot be supported by NHSE post-completion of training)

Please follow the same process as for cancelled activities:

  1. You should first endeavour to obtain a refund for any expenses that have been pre-booked from either the event provider or your bank/credit card company as appropriate.
    • Providers should generally offer at least a partial refund.
  2. If you are unable to obtain a refund through the above route/s, please submit your claim and receipts to your Trust/Programme Office via the usual study leave claim process (FAQ above). As you will be unable to provide proof of attendance, please instead provide evidence confirming:
    • The cancellation of the event.
    • That the expense is non-refundable.
    • If available, evidence regarding your inability to attend the new date.

Trusts; if you receive a claim for a postponed event for a reason not listed here, please contact StudyLeave.EM@hee.nhs.uk in the first instance for advice. We will update this FAQ with any additional supported circumstances when agreed.

I've had approval for a budget increase, but now my activity has been postponed/cancelled. Will I need to apply again?

In principle, if you've applied for a budget increase for an activity in this academic year, but the activity has been postponed to the next academic year, we will generally be able to simply transfer the budget increase to the next academic year.

However, if your activity has been cancelled, you have been unable to claim the course/conference fees back from the provider, and you have claimed through Study Leave, you will need to reapply for the budget increase (due to the costs being incurred twice).

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