How do I make the case for an discretionary educational/training course/experience to be covered by study budget?

If you plan to apply for a course that does not appear on the study leave lists, you must discuss early with your ES/TPD and make sure you have achieved your required curriculum and competencies to support your application. If you wish to apply for financial support towards the costs of a course that does not appear on the study leave lists, you will need to contact your Training Programme Director (TPD) for approval with information regarding the course and the justification for attending. Your TPD will then review the request and if approved send to your Head of School (HoS) for final approval. If your HoS approves your request then you should complete the discretionary application form here. You should consider not committing yourself to attend the event or course until you have received confirmation that your claim has been approved and an indication of the level of funding that has been allocated to your claim. Further detail on the process can be found on the discretionary process document. Once you have this approval, you can apply to your Trust as per the usual process. Appropriate discretionary courses are courses which will add to your development or benefit the wider healthcare system. Due to the discretionary nature of these events, you should not expect to receive full funding for the event or course.

At the time of writing there is an approval cap on the level of support for discretionary events in the UK of £1000 per course. The £1000 cap includes course costs and any accommodation/travelling and subsistence costs. This cap may be subject to change depending on budgetary limitations and the need to support mandatory and optional curriculum events in the future. Trainees should not make a financial commitment to a course or event until they have received confirmation from the Study Leave Team of the amount of support allocated to a claim.

Please note that there are different funding rules for international courses. Please see the FAQ here for more information on this.

Please note, all discretionary applications should be prospective. Retrospective applications will be declined.

If none of the FAQs have answered your question, please submit an enquiry to the team by clicking here