Last Updated on 15/08/2024
Annual leave entitlement
This will depend on your length of continuous service but will be at least 27 days a year, plus bank holidays (April to March). If at the start of or during training you accrue five or ten years’ continuous service within the NHS then your annual leave allowance will rise to 29 or 33 days respectively. Please show the programme office a letter confirming your years of continuous service and they will update your leave record accordingly.
Which days count as annual leave?
Example: You wish to take five days of annual leave, Monday through to Friday, inclusive. On three days you would usually be on placement, one day would be private study, and one day in for teaching. Each day counts as a day of annual leave. You need to officially ask for five days annual leave. Please see the Absence from work policy and procedure in the online handbook.
Days on placement
Full time trainees should generally be on placement three days a week. Following thesis submission trainees are expected to spend 4 days a week on placement. Where thesis hand in goes beyond the middle of March there is a grace period of 4 weeks where trainees can retain a study day per week, after that they will be expected to spend 4 days a week on placement. Where there are specific exceptional circumstances which have resulted in a delayed thesis hand-in then more study time may be agreed but this would be in discussion with the senior leadership team. Part-time trainees are typically on placement two days a week with a negotiated increase after thesis hand in.
Learning days
Generally, there is one learning day per week. If, for some reason, there is no learning session, you should be on placement. For example, during the majority of August there is no teaching planned, so, if you are not on annual leave go to your placement. Please follow the guidance below in any other situation unless explicitly instructed: –
- If the learning session is cancelled in advance then this becomes a day of placement activity. Please discuss this with your supervisor and agree a plan.
- If the learning session is cancelled on the day, this becomes a study day; this will be communicated to you in the email from the Programme Team.
- If an extra learning session is scheduled on a typical placement day, this should be noted at the beginning of placement as part of forward planning. The trainee should share the learning timetable with supervisors at the start of placement, highlighting any such days. Trainees should also make supervisors aware of any changes which occur after the start of the placement, i.e. additional days to the learning timetable, as soon as the trainee is notified of them so that placement activity can be planned for these days.
- If bank holidays and/or additional learning days fall on the same day as your study day, please discuss this with your placement supervisor and clinical tutor. In the same way that you would lose a placement day if this falls on a bank holiday, this is often also the case for study days, as these are a typical working day. If you feel this is impacting on your ability to work on assignments it may be possible to negotiate with your placement supervisor a day from placement for study to balance this out. Again, this should be done at the start of placement.