Study Leave and Study Leave Expenses
*General Practice Doctors in Training ONLY*
Before applying for Study Leave, please make yourself familiar with the Study Leave Policy. It contains information that will help you over the course of your training.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days of study leave am I entitled to?
(Study Leave Policy Section 4, page 7, 4.0.2)
Full time GP Doctors in Training (GPDiTs) receive 30 days of study leave per year. The year runs from the first day of the August rotation, to the day before the next August rotation begins.
You must split the 30 days equally between the two six-month rotational periods.
Regional weekly teaching must be deducted from your study leave allowance. This will be checked by Central Office during ALM application reviews.
Durham & Tees Valley - 0.5 days of study leave per teaching session
DTV regional teaching information can be found via their webpage
North Cumbria - 0.5 days of study leave per teaching session
North Cumbria regional teaching information can be found via their webpage
Northumbria -
- Weekly teaching - 12.5 days per rotational period
- Monthly teaching - 5 days per rotational period
- Enhanced Monthly teaching - 7.5 days per rotational period
Northumbria regional teaching information can be found via their webpage
You must create one application in ALM per rotational period to cover that periods teaching dates (North Cumbria yours will be an application per term).
Create the application as per the below example and submit to your ES. Courses requiring Central Office approval (e.g. discretionary leave, private study leave, conferences, courses not on the Approved Course List, Minor Surgery, Joint Injection, Implant courses etc. will not be approved in ALM until there is an approved Regional Teaching application deducting the teaching from your entitlement balance).
Use our Study Leave Calculator to run any calculations you wish to do to look at study leave entitlement.
Less than Full Time (LTFT) GPDiTs receive study leave pro-rata in relation to their LTFT percentage:
Study leave days per rotational year:
- Full time = 30 days (15 days per 6 month rotational period Aug - Feb, Feb - Aug)
- 90% LTFT – 27 days (13.5 days per 6 month rotational period Aug - Feb, Feb - Aug)
- 80% LTFT – 24 days (12 days per 6 month rotational period Aug - Feb, Feb - Aug)
- 70% LTFT – 21 days (10.5 days per 6 month rotational period Aug - Feb, Feb - Aug)
- 60% LTFT – 18 days (9 days per 6 month rotational period Aug - Feb, Feb - Aug)
- 50% LTFT – 15 days (7.5 days per 6 month rotational period Aug - Feb, Feb - Aug)
Link to the survey survey for communicating change requests for ALM study leave entitlement:
ALM Entitlement Changes
If you are required to complete an extension period, your study leave entitlement will be pro-rata in relation to the length of the extension, and your contractual hours. If you CCT during a rotational period or are due to start maternity leave, your entitlement will change. Complete the survey link above for Central Office to update your ALM entitlement.
During periods of statutory leave (e.g. sickness absence, parental leave) the study leave enitltlement accrues as if you were in post. If you are full time before you go on the leave, the entitlement will accrue at the full time rate, however if you return to work LTFT, the accrual will change to the LTFT amount from the date you start working the reduced hours. Complete the survey link above for Central Office to look at this for you.
Study leave entitlement can be used during keeping in touch (KIT) days.
Please use the survey link above if you need to request any updates to your study leave entitlement balance.
What courses can I apply for?
(Study Leave Policy Sections 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.1.6, 4.2)
Please take a look at our Approved Course List.
If the course you would like to apply for is not listed, you must discuss the course with your ES and enter a full PDP (personal development plan) into your portfolio before submitting a request in ALM. If you do not complete the PDP, the application will be rejected. The PDP must be SMART. If the application is not supported by a suitable PDP, or the PDP is missing, the application will automatically be rejected.
Course limits and rules – some courses are capped per ST year, or per time in training. Please check your course against the Approved Course List. and think back to any previous courses you have done. Course rules/limits are checked by Central Office, and if breached, will result in your application and claim being rejected.
You cannot claim for any subscription or membership fees, this includes the Red Whale unlimited package.
Exam fees are not reimbursed.
Attendance at courses or conferences should either be taken online or as close to the training base as possible.
We advise that you DO NOT PAY for any courses prior to your ALM application being fully approved. If the date your ALM application is fully approved is later than the date you paid for the course/expenses related to the course, this will be automatically rejected for reimbursement.
If a course is mandatory for a Trust rotational placement, you must claim back any costs related to the course directly from the Trust. If study leave time is required, the study leave must be applied for via ALM.
ALS is no longer a requirement for GP Training therefore it will not be reimbursed by the School.
How do I apply for Study leave?
(Study Leave Policy Section 4.1)
All study leave requests must be made using Accent Leave Manager (ALM). Paper forms will not be accepted.
It is expected that requests are submitted at least 8 weeks prior to the first date of the leave period, however it is ultimately left to your placement to use their local policies/rules regarding this timeframe.
Again, we advise that you DO NOT PAY for any courses prior to your ALM application being fully approved. If the date your ALM application is fully approved is later than the date you paid for the course/expenses related to the course, this will be automatically rejected for reimbursement.
Using Accent Leave Manager
Login link: https://accent.hicom.co.uk/Portal/Live/Web/
If you do not receive a password reset email within 24 hours, or your link has expired, go to https://accent.hicom.co.uk/Portal/Live/Web/ and click on “Forgotten password” – type in the email address that you have registered with us (the address held on the Trainee Information System, TIS) and click send reset password link. Your login credentials will then be emailed to you from NoReply@hicom.co.uk – you will need to check your junk/spam folder as your email provider may filter the email. Adding the NoReply@hicom.co.uk email address to your email contacts list can also help the password reset email come through, and not be blocked by your email host server.
If you do not receive your login credentials, experience any other technical problems or require any additional support with using Accent Leave Manager, please submit a help request via this survey THIS IS ONLY FOR GP DOCTORS IN TRAINING - OTHER SPECIALTIES ARE NOT TO USE THIS.
Use the link below to view the video on how to make study leave applications, skip to 4 minutes 30 for the relevant section. If you are a Trainer looking for guidance on approving study leave in ALM, please skip to 9 minutes 10 for the relevant section.
I Need Approval for a Course but Do Not Need to Take Study Leave / I Need to Enter Less than 1 Day in ALM
You can overwrite the number of study leave days to be taken to zero or a part day if required by highlighting the number and typing in the required figure, but for any zero day applications, you must note the reason why this has been done within the application and have prior approval from your ES to do so. Central Office will check this note for any zero-day applications. Regional weekly teaching needs to be 0.5 days per session.
Submitting the ALM Form for Approval
You must choose your Educational Supervisor at the end of the application. If your ES does not appear in the list, please submit a help request via this survey and wait for a response before completing the application.
All study leave requests (including things that do not incur an expense e.g. private study leave) must be applied for via ALM and sent to your ES for review. If you are in a General Practice post, the course is on the Approved Course List and does not require Central Office review, you will see that only your ES needs to approve this in ALM. If you are in a Trust post, your ES will review it first and then it will go to the Medical Education team of the Trust.
Some courses need to be reviewed by Central Office (e.g. any requiring PDP entries, private study leave for exams, conferences, any not on the Approved Course List etc.) so these will do the same journey as the others but end with Rachel Hardy here at Central Office.
You can see the approvers list if you open your application and scroll to the bottom. There is messaging functionality here too so you can use the envelope icon to message approvers if you need to chase them. Central Office will not chase applications on behalf of Doctors in Training.
DO NOT submit the application without selecting your ES. The application will be cancelled if it does not get sent to your ES correctly.
If you receive error messages in ALM please please submit a help request via this survey There are a few common ones below so please check yours is not one of these before emailing.
I have made an error in my application - can I edit it?
No, you will need to cancel the incorrect application and submit a new one. To cancel, open the application, scroll to the bottom and use the cancel button. If the button is not there, please please submit a help request via this survey and ask for the application to be cancelled. You will need to provide the reason for the cancellation and the dates of the leave needing to be cancelled.
How can I see the status of an application in ALM?
Your ALM application dashboard or opening the application and looking at the top right hand corner.
I am getting an error message when trying to enter the event details information
Try re-entering the information keeping each field to under 100 characters.
I am getting an error message when trying to select entitlement but my entitlements are in the system - the leave is in February or August
If you try to apply for a block of study leave that goes across two rotational periods ALM will give an error message. Even if you are in the same Practice for the two rotations TIS splits this into two and ALM then copies. To get past this you need to submit two ALM applications for the block of leave, for example:
Study leave dates required 04/02/2025 - 06/02/2025
Rotational date in February 2025 is 5th.
ALM applications would need to be 4/2/25 - 4/2/25 1 day and 5/2/25 - 6/2/25 2 days.
I am getting an error message when trying to book leave - I am trying to book for the next rotational period
ALM is linked to TIS, therefore, you cannot apply for study leave for the next rotational placement until your Programme Support Officer has input this into TIS.
All placement data should be in TIS 12 weeks prior to the rotational date. Please do not chase this unless your TIS placement is not in with less than 12 weeks to go until the rotation begins, the Programme Support Officers will not be able to put this in any earlier for you.
For example, as a rough guide February placements should be in by mid November and August placements should be in by mid May.
I can no longer attend a course I have booked – what do I do?
(Study Leave Policy Section 4.1.10)
You will need to contact the course provider directly and ask them if they can issue you a refund or move the course date if appropriate. If you have already received reimbursement for the course via Easy expenses, you must email LET.expenses@nhct.nhs.uk and let them know so they can recoup the money from you.
In ALM, you will need to cancel the study leave application. You can do this by opening the application, scrolling to the bottom, and clicking on the cancel button.
Inform your ES and your CS/rota manager/Practice Manager as soon as possible to let them know you will no longer be on study leave for this time.
The course I would like to do falls on my non-working day
Please see the Study Leave Policy, section 4.1.11.
The course I would like to do falls within a future rotational placement
Please see the Study Leave Policy, section 4.1.7.
Can I take study leave whilst on parental leave?
Please see the Study Leave Policy, section 4.0.3.
Can I take study leave to revise for the exam?
(Study Leave Policy Section 4.7)
The school does not encourage the taking of private study leave for any reason. This includes exam preparation, as the best preparation for both AKT and SCA is consulting and reflecting on casework. However, if you do decide that some would be beneficial, we remain in line with the study leave policy for private study.
To book private study leave in ALM, you must use the slider button within the application stating that your event does not appear in the list above and then fill in the event details with the number of days leave you are requesting, that the leave is for private study and state the exam type (SCA or AKT). If any of these details are missing and/or you don't use the slider button, the application will be rejected.
Claiming via EASY Expenses
(Study Leave Policy Section 4.5, 4.6, Appendix 2)
Easy login link: https://let.easy.giltbyte.com/user/login/
Guidance on how to submit expenses.
All expenses relating to a course must be claimed for correctly within 6 weeks of the course date or the claim will be rejected.
Rules on what can be claimed – Study Leave Policy, Appendix 2.
How long do I have to claim my expenses? - Study Leave Policy, section 4.4.1.
Deadline to submit correct expense claim(s) to Easy for the same months' payslip: 5th
If you need help with logging in/password resets/queries on payments contact LET.expenses@nhct.nhs.uk.
You must upload a PDF of your fully approved Accent Leave Manager application for each study leave claim being made. Claims without this form will be automatically rejected. If the date your ALM application is fully approved is later than the date you paid for the course/expenses related to the course, this will be automatically rejected for reimbursement.
If you are intending to claim expenses, you must ensure you ask for, and source, the appropriate evidence ready for when you make your claim.
How do I submit mileage claims to Easy that are not study leave related? E.g. home visits, regional teaching.
Please see the Lead Employer Trust website, their Easy guidance and email LET.expenses@nhct.nhs.uk
From the Easy website landing page:
Placement Mileage – This expense type should be selected if you are travelling from your home to your current placement and back when you are NOT carrying out clinical duties elsewhere that day.
Business Mileage – This should be selected when carrying out clinical duties anywhere that is NOT your current placement. For example, home visit, clinic, theatre, patient visit etc.
Home to Base & Base to Home (GP Only) – this expense type should ONLY be selected when you are travelling from home to your current place of work, but then go on to do a business mileage journey on the same day.
Pedal Cycle Business Mileage – When carrying out a journey on a pedal bike, rather than a vehicle then this option should be selected.
If you don't see these mileage options, please ensure you have a vehicle added to your account and that it has been approved.
How do I claim expenses related to weekly/regional teaching?
LET Easy guidance pages 6-7 to cover travel to teaching and parking claims.
I have a query about an Easy claim that is not study leave related, who do I contact?
Please see the Lead Employer Trust website, their Easy guidance and their email LET.expenses@nhct.nhs.uk
I cannot access my Easy account, who do I contact?
LET.expenses@nhct.nhs.uk.
I need to change my home base in Easy / add a new vehicle, who do I contact?
Please see the Lead Employer Trust website, their Easy guidance and their email LET.expenses@nhct.nhs.uk
