Contracts and Entitlements

Lead Employer

All West Midlands registrars (except clinical lecturers) are employed by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (formerly St Helens and Knowsley). Depending on your entry route, you will be either on the Agenda for Change (AFC) contract if you’re from a non-medical background or the 2016 Doctors in Training contract if you’re from a medical background.

Contact details:

• 0151 478 7777 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)

• lead.employer@sthk.nhs.uk

• Website

Leave

Registrars are required to keep a record of their leave as this information will be requested at ARCP.

Annual Leave

Registrars are entitled to 27 days of annual leave per year, increasing to 29 (AFC contract) or 32 days (Junior Doctors contract) after 5 years of service. This is taken upon agreement with your educational supervisor, who is also your line manager.

Sick Leave

If you are unable to work due to sickness you must notify your educational supervisor immediately. Any prolonged or repeated sick leave should be notified to the School Administrator (if in doubt, discuss with your educational supervisor). TPDs may consider requesting an extension of your training time where you have over 10 days of unplanned leave in a year.

The Lead Employer’s Attendance Management Policy and self-certification form can be found here.

Special and other leave

For information and advice on other leave entitlement (e.g., maternity leave, compassionate leave) please visit the Lead Employer’s dedicated webpage.

Study leave

Please see dedicated page;

Study Leave

Expenses

Relocation and travel expenses

Trainees are entitled to claim up to £10.000 in relocation and commuting travel (excess mileage) expenses throughout their training. The full Relocation and Travel Expenses policy can be found here.

Relocation expenses such as furniture removal and mail redirection can be claimed through a relocation form found in the webpage above (continuing commitments expenses have a separate Excel form). A comprehensive breakdown of expenses covered can be found on Appendix 2 of the Relocation and Travel Expenses policy.

Travel expenses between your home address and your workplace are paid on an excess mileage base. These can be claimed using the EASY Expenses online system. As of 2023, travel expenses are reimbursed at 30p per mile for any one-way commuting journey above 17 miles (shorter commuting journeys are not reimbursed). The rate is the same regardless of mode of transport. Excess mileage does not cover business/work-related travel nor study days (except when travelling to regional training days).

Business expenses

This covers expenses incurred whilst undertaking travel for business purposes on behalf of your host organisation. The full Business Expenses policy can be found here.