Trainee information
Key Principles
The following groups are entitled to study leave:
The following groups are not entitled to study leave:
* see F1 FAQ for exceptions
You can apply for Study Leave via Turas. Turas is NHS Education for Scotland’s (NES) single unified digital platform. From here you can access all your NES applications with a single secure sign on. The aim is to provide you with the information and resources you need to support you throughout your career in the NHS in Scotland.
When you login to My Turas you will see a new study leave tile under your applications. If you select Apply for Study Leave you can complete your online application, agree to the declaration and submit. Your application will be automatically sent to your Programme Director. When your Programme Director enters a decision about your application on the system you will receive an email. You can also view the status of applications on your study leave home page
If you are having any issues logging in to Turas please use the green helpdesk button on the right hand side of the screen to submit a helpdesk request.
Old-style paper application forms are no longer accepted.
30 days of study leave per year.
For the purpose of recording days taken, the study leave year begins from the trainee’s date of appointment. There is no carry forward of unused days from one study leave year to the next.
Please consult your employment contract and T&C's which will describe Study leave arrangements for LTFT trainees.
For the purpose of recording days taken, the study leave year begins from the trainee’s date of appointment. There is no carry forward of unused days from one study leave year to the next.
Consider the training year you have ahead of you, and whether there are any mandatory requirements for your stage of training. Discuss with your educational supervisor and/or programme director any other ideas you have in relation to your training and development.
If you are a Medical Trainee: attendance at Teaching is included within Study Leave, and applications should be made on Turas before the start date of the leave.
If you are a Dental Trainee: attendance at Teaching is included within Study Leave, please make an application via Turas for all teaching events so that there is a record of attendance for your final certificate.
How to apply for Study Leave
You must get service approval for your proposed leave before you make your application on Turas. Please approach your clinical director / head of service and/or rota master to request service approval for proposed study leave activity.
On making your application, you will be required to complete a declaration that permissions have been sought from your Clinical Director / head of service and/or rota master for time out of clinical duties. Your application will not proceed to your TPD / FPD for approval unless this named individual is entered as part of the online form.
Should the declaration be found to be untrue/falsified, this will be treated as a probity issue and trainee may be reported to the GMC or GDC.
Please note: your service lead will not approve the leave via your application on Turas. You must obtain their approval/permission prior to submitting your application on Turas.
Applications for study leave must be made a minimum of six weeks in advance of the activity. In exceptional circumstances (with service approval), applications can be made within six weeks of the activity. Retrospective applications will not be accepted.
You can apply for costs including Course/Conference fees, travel, accommodation and subsistence, according to the guidelines laid out in the policy document. All applications will have to be approved by your programme director. Please consider your full training year when making applications and consider what is the best and most appropriate use of the funding available to you and the other trainees in your programme.
There is not a specified funding entitlement. Annual programme budgets are based on a notional allocation as follows:
Medical Trainees: £600.00
Dental Core Trainees: £400.00*
Dental Specialty Trainees: £1000.00*
Programme Directors have full responsibility for their programme’s budget and will approve applications accordingly. Programme Directors can approve study leave applications with or without funding, and will do so by considering the needs of all trainees within the programme.
You can apply for Fees/Travel/Accommodation/Subsistence, but this will have to be approved by your Programme Director. Please consider your full training year when making applications and consider what is the best and most appropriate use of the funding available to you and the other trainees in your Programme.
The notional allocation will not necessarily cover all mandatory training required by a trainee. Trainees should discuss their requirements and any priorities with their Programme Director.
* Differential allocation for Dental Trainees based on historical decision of the Dental Directorate Team.
If you wish to claim expenses for the activity, an application for study leave must be made prior to attendance and approved by your TPD.
Where it has not been possible to enter a prospective application you will be allowed to submit a retrospective application up to 2 months following the study leave event. You should be aware that in the case of a retrospective application there is a risk that it will not be approved, or funding related to the application will not be approved, and therefore you could have to find other means to cover the time taken and be out-of-pocket for events they have already paid for. For this reason, the Deanery strongly encourages you to apply prospectively, and in all cases, you must have received prospective approval from the service to be away from your workplace.
In the first instance, please discuss the matter with your TPD / FPD. Beyond that, there is an appeals process which is described in the study leave policy (section 64-67).
How to claim Study Leave expenses
You will create an application for study leave which requires the approval of service and your programme director. Once your application has been approved, you will be able to submit a claim for expenses.
Clicking on the Claim Expenses link will open the online claim form. You should complete all details requested. You will need to upload scanned or photographed images of your original receipts to support your expenses claim. You should also retain your original receipts for a period of three years as these may be requested for audit purposes. To enable payment directly to your bank you will be asked for your account number and sort code. These details are not visible to our study leave administration team. They are stored in a secure finance system and deleted once your payment has been made. For this reason, you will need to re-enter your bank details each time you make a claim.
You can submit the claim form and receipts from the date you receive the study leave funding approval email (subject to the provision of appropriate receipts). Claims must be submitted within three months of the end date of the study leave activity. After that date, we cannot process the claim.
For Course/Conference/Meeting Fees: A formal receipt issued by the provider of the activity, and email from the provider of the activity sent from their formal work email address; online booking forms or receipts. All of these must have the amount received/paid clearly stated on them to be valid. We can also accept a copy of a bank/Visa statement with the relevant entry highlighted but we would prefer the former options.
For Travel Costs: Online booking forms/emails for travel, taxi receipts, bus receipts, petrol receipts (if claiming actual petrol costs rather than mileage). We can also accept a copy of a bank/Visa statement with the relevant entry highlighted but we would prefer the former options.
For Accommodation Costs: Any formal receipt or online booking form/email which must state the amount received/paid.
For Subsistence Costs: Itemised food receipts, Accommodation receipts with food costs detailed, Course/Conference/Meeting receipts with Course Dinner costs detailed.
Study Leave expenses are reimbursed by BACS transfer to your chosen bank account. To enable payment directly to your bank you will be asked for your account number and sort code. These details are not visible to our study leave administration team. They are stored in a secure finance system and deleted once your payment has been made. For this reason, you will need to re-enter your bank details each time you make a claim.
We will only reimburse first class travel if it can be proven to be cheaper than the equivalent standard class fare – a screenshot of the costs should be provided with any claim submission. If it is more expensive, then the standard class fare will be reimbursed.
Please consider your full training year when making applications and consider what is the best and most appropriate use of the funding available to you and the other trainees in your programme.
Yes. Accommodation should be booked which provides best value for money, and will be approved at the discretion of the TPD / FPD / CTA (maximum limit of £100 per night outside London, £150 per night within London).
Please consider your full training year when making applications and consider what is the best and most appropriate use of the funding available to you and the other trainees in your programme.
You can claim for your own meals and drinks within reason in relation to the event you have attended up to a maximum of £20 per full day. Course dinners can be reimbursed, if approved, up to a maximum of £20 but no other subsistence costs for that day would be reimbursed.
You cannot claim for alcoholic beverages, and it is not deemed appropriate to claim for other non-essential items, e.g. boxes of chocolates, popcorn at cinema. Please consider your full training year when claiming expenses and consider what is the best and most appropriate use of the funding available to you and the other trainees in your programme.
The Budget
The study leave budget runs by Financial Year from the beginning of April to the end of March each year.
In order to ensure any funding approved comes from the current financial year, trainees must submit claim form and receipts by 31 March (or last working day in March Mon-Fri).
If the claim form and receipts arrive after that date, the claim will still be processed (as long as it is within the three months claim expiry limit) but the funding will come from the next financial year regardless of the date of the leave. This means the trainee could start the new financial year with funding against their name which could limit the amount of funding available for future applications.
Funding for any leave which has a start date from 01 April onwards can only come from the new budget year (starting in April) regardless of when the application is made on Turas. Claims for this leave can only be processed once the Programme Director’s budget has been allocated for the new financial year, which is normally at the beginning of April.
This page was last updated on: 21.06.2021 at 10.38
