Study leave: Locally delivered courses and claiming by Trusts

Overview

This article explains how locally delivered courses are treated for study leave purposes and sets out the principles for claiming study leave funding by Trusts.

What is a locally delivered course

A locally delivered course is an educational activity organised or provided by an NHS Trust or Community Interest Companies (CICs) for postgraduate medical or dental doctors in training on particular training programmes or types of training programme, without those doctors in training being charged to attend.

Who this article applies to

This article applies to NHS Trusts and CICs (referred to as “Trusts” for brevity below) that provide placements for postgraduate medical or dental doctors in training on London training programmes.

When locally delivered courses may be funded

Funding may be considered where the course directly supports curriculum requirements and cannot reasonably be provided through existing employer education provision.

What cannot be claimed

Trusts cannot claim for training that forms part of normal service provision or mandatory employment training.

Trusts cannot claim for the creation or hire of training facilities, such as simulation suites, as funding for Trust education centres is received as part of the placement Tariff. However, reasonable costs of hiring actors and use of consumables may be charged. Staff time may only be charged if it is not already funded in another way.

Providers can only claim from the London study leave budget for costs associated with attendance by people who are not postgraduate medical or dental doctors in training (for example other healthcare professionals) if the non-resident doctor attendees make up less than 10% of the total attendance at a training course. If the number of non-resident doctor attendees is higher than this then these attendees should be funded in some other way. Resident doctors from other regions who attend such courses can be claimed in the usual way: Trusts should record the equivalent London training programme for these resident doctors in the dropdown menu on the Trust’s monthly return.

Approval principles

Prospective approval for locally delivered events, including simulation, will not be required if the following criteria are met:

• There is a clear link to essential or supporting course codes as specified on the specialty course lists, thereby linking to courses with clear relevance to curriculum requirements.
• The funding is used directly for the training of resident doctors on NHS England-supported training programmes.

Course organisers should check the study leave specialty course lists in the first instance to confirm whether the proposed event matches a pre-approved code on the course lists. The lists can be found on our study leave website here.

If the course does not match a code on the existing curriculum aligned list, Trust PGMDE teams should apply for pre-approval of funding and the allocation of a unique approval code by the Study Leave Team before the course takes place.  Trusts should provide an itemized breakdown of all costs in order to enable the DPG Dean to make a decision on funding, by demonstrating how the proposed course represents value for money.

Conditions and limitations on funding

There are some limits specified in the published course lists, giving the maximum that will be funded for a specific course.

The following expense limits also apply:

How to apply

If the course matches a pre-approved code, prospective approval for funding will not be required. Trusts should submit claims for reimbursement of locally delivered events on their monthly return through the PGMDE Support Portal (PSP) once the course has taken place using the relevant code from the course list. This includes claims for courses such as simulation for Foundation and IMT resident doctors. Trust claims must ensure that the names, GMC numbers and programme details of all attendees are listed. When claiming for multi-specialty courses, Trusts should ensure that all those to whom the course is advertised have a relevant code on their specialty course list.

If the course does not match a code on the existing curriculum aligned list, Trust PGMDE teams should apply for pre-approval of funding by completing the locally delivered approvals form on our website here. The Study Leave Team will then forward the request to the relevant Deputy PG Dean for approval of funding.

The Study Leave Team will contact course organisers directly with the outcome of their application once received and issue a unique funding approval code. Once approval code has been received, funding for each running of the course may be claimed in the next monthly claim for reimbursement.

Further information

Further guidance is available in related articles and course lists on PSP or by contacting england.studyleave.lase@nhs.net

Related articles

• Study leave: who is eligible and what can be funded
• Discretionary study leave applications: what counts and how to apply

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