Study leave in psychiatry training: what you can claim and how

How many study leave days you get

The 2016 terms and conditions for doctors in training set the allowance. Foundation year 1 doctors get up to 15 days a year, taken as their regular scheduled teaching. Everyone from F2 upwards, core psychiatry trainees included, gets up to 30 days a year.

The contract says study leave can include study linked to a course or programme, research, teaching, taking exams, conferences with an educational benefit, and rostered training events. Protected regional teaching counts too. Statutory and mandatory training does not. That is your employer's job to provide, in your working time and at its cost.

The 30 days aren't a bank you can spend as you like. Leave up to that limit will normally be granted, tailored to what your curriculum needs, as long as the service can be run safely. You can ask for more, and the contract says a reasonable request should be considered fairly.

A few situations change the arithmetic:

• Less than full time. Your allowance is pro rata, and your work schedule should state it. If a course your curriculum requires takes more than your pro rata days, your employer should arrange extra leave where it safely can.

• A contract under 12 months. The allowance is pro rata here too.

• A course on a day off. Ask for study leave in advance. If it's approved, you get time off in lieu, or payment if you prefer.

• Parental leave. Your entitlement carries on. You can use it on keeping in touch days, or it builds up for later.

Where the study leave budget comes from

NHS England holds the study budget for doctors in training, and each regional office manages its share through the postgraduate dean's team. Your trust releases you from work. The region decides about the money.

Since April 2018 there has been no notional amount per trainee and no individual cap. Each application is judged on its own merits. The pot is finite, though, so activity beyond the curriculum may be refused or only part-funded. Your region may also put a fixed ceiling on those claims, so look up yours.

For an approved course, the budget usually covers:

• The course fee. Not a membership or joining fee, even when joining makes the course cheaper.

• Travel. Mileage is paid at the contract's reserve rate, and you're expected to use the most cost-efficient route.

• Accommodation when you need it. The national ceiling is usually £150 a night in London and £120 elsewhere.

Don't expect books or online question banks to be funded. The national guidance treats extra revision material as exceptional, and your region may not pay for textbooks at all.

The point I'd hold on to is that time and money are separate decisions. You can be given the days without the funding, and sometimes that's still worth having.

Curriculum or discretionary: what decides the answer

Nationally there are two kinds of study leave. Curriculum study leave is what you need to meet your curriculum outcomes at your stage. Discretionary study leave is career-enhancing activity beyond that. Your region may split the curriculum kind into required and recommended courses on its approved list.

Tap to enlarge

A course on your region's list usually goes through faster. A course that isn't on the list isn't automatically refused. It needs more justification, and it usually goes down the discretionary route.

Your educational supervisor is the key person here, because they decide whether a request fits your curriculum and your personal development plan. Your consultant and the rota coordinator agree that you can be released. A discretionary request usually needs the training programme director and the head of school as well.

For discretionary leave, approvers typically weigh up:

• whether your curriculum progress is on track;

• whether the course fits your career plans and doesn't repeat something you've already done;

• what discretionary leave you've had before;

• whether a cheaper or local option exists, and whether this one is good value.

Two things help. Write the activity into your PDP with your supervisor before you apply, which the national guidance expects for discretionary leave. And link the course to the GMC's Generic Professional Capabilities where it genuinely fits. Applications mapped to them, such as teaching or leadership courses, are usually treated as relevant to the curriculum.

What usually gets approved for study leave in psychiatry

These are the requests I see most often from core trainees, and what normally happens to them under the national principles. Your region may differ on any of them.

For an approved international conference, NHS England will consider paying either the fee or economy travel and accommodation, whichever is lower, and usually no subsistence.

Foundation doctors work under different limits. F1 study leave is the scheduled teaching, though F1s can bring forward up to five days from F2 for a taster. In F2, study leave for an exam covers sitting it, not revising for it.

Exam leave and MRCPsych fees

A sitting of the MRCPsych is really three claims, and they come from three different places.

Tap to enlarge

The day itself

The contract lists taking exams as study leave, though some employers book the exam day as professional leave instead. Either way, ask as soon as you know the date. I'd put the MRCPsych exam dates in your diary the day they're published. Travel and subsistence for sitting a curriculum exam can usually be claimed from the study budget.

The contract also allows leave to prepare for an exam your curriculum requires, with your educational supervisor's and service manager's approval. For a core trainee the MRCPsych is that exam, so private study days before a paper are worth asking for. How many you'll get varies a lot between regions. An F2 sitting it early gets the day of the exam, not revision days.

The exam fee

Exam fees don't come from the study budget. What changed in 2026 is the resident doctors' deal, accepted on 29 June 2026. Under it, your employer reimburses the first two sittings of each exam needed for a CCT, for exams sat from 1 April 2026. Sittings before that date don't count against your two.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges lists MRCPsych Paper A, Paper B and the CASC as in scope. Locally employed doctors in NHS posts and foundation doctors can claim too. You claim from the employer you worked for when you sat the exam, even if you've moved on since.

Here's what is and isn't live. The entitlement is agreed and covers anything you've sat since 1 April 2026. The claims system isn't. When I last checked, in October 2026, the Academy said it would go live in the next few weeks, with guidance on how to claim. Once it's up, you can claim as soon as you've paid and can show it.

Membership and portfolio fees are in the deal too, but those aren't due to be covered until April 2027.

So keep the College receipt for every paper, and check the Academy's reimbursement page for how to claim.

The revision course

National guidance says your school's own exam teaching should come first. Where there isn't a local course, one private preparation course per exam would usually be funded. Ask your study leave team whether they treat Paper A, Paper B and the CASC as separate exams for this. Apply for it as study leave like any other course, and before you book.

What catches people out: paying for a course, then asking for approval. Expenses are usually only paid once approval has been given, and a refused retrospective claim leaves you out of pocket.

How to make a study leave application, step by step

I'd work back from the course date. Figure 3 shows the order.

Tap to enlarge

1. Talk to your educational supervisor first

Do this two or three months ahead, at a supervision meeting if you can. Something like:

"I'd like to go on this two-day course in March. It covers the psychotherapy capabilities we put in my PDP. Do you think it counts as curriculum, or will it need to go as discretionary?"

If it's discretionary, ask them to note the conversation in your PDP. The ARCP and portfolio checklist lists what else your portfolio needs for review.

2. Check your region's approved list

If the course is on the list, say which category it falls in. If it isn't, expect the discretionary route and plan for the extra signatures.

3. Clear it with the rota

Tell the rota coordinator before anything else is booked, and agree any swaps. The contract asks for six weeks' notice of annual leave, and your region's study leave form may ask for the same. Treat six weeks as the minimum and give more if you can.

4. Fill in the form properly

Whatever your region's form looks like, include:

• The course. Title, provider, dates, location, and whether it's online or in person.

• The costs. Fee, travel and accommodation, each estimated separately.

• The category. Curriculum or discretionary, and the list it appears on.

• The reason. One or two sentences linking it to a curriculum outcome or a PDP goal.

• For discretionary leave. Why now, why this course, which cheaper or local options you looked at, and why it's worth travelling if it's far away.

• The signatures. Your consultant's release and your educational supervisor's support, plus the training programme director and head of school if it's discretionary.

5. Wait for approval in writing

Keep the approval email or code. Then book, choosing the cheapest sensible travel and accommodation.

6. Claim promptly

Keep every receipt and the certificate of attendance. Your region may set a time limit for claims, so check it and don't let receipts pile up.

When the answer is no

First, find out which part was refused. If it was the money, you may still be able to have the days. If it was the time, ask whether other dates would work, because the contract says every request must be properly considered.

Ask for the reason in writing. A refusal often comes down to something fixable: no link to the PDP, a local course already covering it, or a missing signature. Fix it and resubmit.

If you still think the decision is wrong, the postgraduate dean is responsible for making sure the process is fair, and each region publishes an appeals route. Use it calmly and with your paperwork in order.

Raj

References

1. NHS Employers. Terms and conditions of service for NHS doctors and dentists in training (England) 2016 (version 14, Schedule 10). 2016, updated 2026. https://www.nhsemployers.org/publications/doctors-and-dentists-training-terms-and-conditions-england-2016

2. NHS England. Study leave: an overview of the England-wide approach. 2018, updated 2024. https://kss.hee.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2025/03/NHS-England-NHSE-Study-Leave-National-Guidance-1.pdf

3. Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. Reimbursement of examination fees. 2026. https://www.aomrc.org.uk/publication/reimbursement-of-examination-fees/