Almost every UK trainee has a study budget. Most never use it on a teaching course — not because it isn’t allowed, but because the process is opaque, the rules are set locally, and nobody explains the sequence.
This page explains how the claim works and gives you the emails to send. It does not promise your claim will be approved — amounts, eligible categories and deadlines are set by your own deanery and change from year to year.
Download the Study Budget Application PackPDF · 3 email templates + evidence checklist
Want to edit the templates? Download the Word version.
Also for your form: PDP entry template (Word) · Course fact sheet (Word)
Study leave and study budget are two different things
This trips up most people, so get it straight first.
Study leave is time
It comes out of your annual study leave allowance and is approved by whoever runs your rota — clinical supervisor, clinical director, rota coordinator.
Study budget is money
It is approved through your postgraduate education route — usually your educational supervisor, then your Training Programme Director or local medical education department.
Erudical’s live course days run at weekends. You are not asking your rota for a day off. You are asking for the course fee only — which removes the single hardest part of most study leave applications: finding cover. Say so explicitly when you apply; it makes the request much easier to say yes to.
In most regions the funding application is still submitted on the study leave form, even when you are taking no leave days. Fill the form in anyway and note on it that the course falls on a non-working day.
How the claim actually works
The detail varies by deanery, but the sequence is consistent across the UK.
- Read your own policy first.
Allowances, category lists and deadlines are local and change annually. Links in the last section. - Get your educational supervisor to agree it meets a curriculum need — in writing, before you book.
This is the step that decides everything. Your ES is not usually the one holding the budget, but their written support is what the budget holder acts on. - Submit the funding application through your local route before you pay.
Retrospective claims are commonly refused outright. Notice periods of around six weeks are typical, and some regions want the process started earlier than that. - Attend the course. Keep the receipt.
- Submit the expense claim with your receipt and proof of attendance
Inside your local deadline — often a few weeks to three months after the event.
The one thing that matters most: apply before you book. Everything else is recoverable; a retrospective application usually is not.
What you will be asked for, and what we give you
| What the claim needs | What Erudical provides | When you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Course title and provider | Erudical Teach the Teacher Course for Doctors, Erudical Limited | Now — on this site |
| Course outline or programme | 20-module self-paced syllabus plus the full-day live programme, published on the course page | Now — before you book |
| Cost | Published on the course page | Now — before you book |
| Dates | Live dates published on the course page and chosen at checkout | Now — before you book |
| Accreditation | Accredited by The CPD Certification Service (CPD UK), provider ID 13684. Up to 24 CPD hours in total: 12 for the self-paced course and 6 for the live day, plus 6 for the NMERC 2026 conference place included with every enrolment (accredited separately by CPD England) | Now — before you book |
| Curriculum mapping | Wording you can paste into your form — supplied in the pack | Now — before you book |
| Receipt or invoice | Itemised invoice or order confirmation, issued on purchase. Erudical Limited is not VAT registered, so there is no VAT line — normal for a small provider, and it does not affect a claim | On purchase |
| Proof of attendance | Formal certificate of completion | After you complete the course |
Everything your supervisor needs in order to approve the spend is available before you book. The certificate comes later, which is normal — that is for the reimbursement claim after the event, not the approval before it.
Claiming NMERC on your study budget
The same steps work for a place at NMERC, our national online conference for doctors in training. If you already have an Erudical enrolment, your NMERC place is included and there is nothing to claim.
Presenting is its own route
Presenting your own work is a recognised reason for funding. In some regions it is one of the few things F1 doctors can claim for at all.
No study leave days
NMERC runs online on a Saturday, so you are asking for the ticket cost only.
For the claim, you get an order confirmation when you book, a CPD certificate for 6 hours (CPD England) after the day and, if you present, an evidence letter confirming what you presented and when. The programme and price are on the NMERC site.
For the justification box, adapt this: “I have an accepted abstract for [oral / poster] presentation at NMERC, the National Medical Education & Research Conference, a national online conference CPD accredited for 6 hours by CPD England. It runs on a Saturday, so no study leave days or rota cover are needed.”
Why a teaching course is a curriculum requirement, not a CV exercise
This is the framing that gets claims approved, and it happens to be true.
The Internal Medicine Stage 1 curriculum includes Generic Capability in Practice 6, “Acting as a clinical teacher and clinical supervisor”, with the descriptor “Delivers effective teaching and training to medical students, junior doctors and other health care professionals”. It maps to Generic Professional Capabilities Domain 8, Capabilities in education and training.
That wording is your case. A study budget exists to fund things that help you meet your curriculum. Teaching is in the curriculum.
What weakens your case is leading with the application. Most study budget policies are written to fund curriculum attainment, not career progression, and a request that opens with “I need a point for my IMT application” invites a refusal that a request opening with the CiP wording would not have attracted. Both things are true at once — put the curriculum first. (For what the application actually scores, see how teaching points are scored for IMT and ST3.)
Check the current curriculum version on the JRCPTB website; the CiP numbering has been stable but curricula are periodically updated.
What actually gets claims refused
Straight answers, so you do not waste the attempt.
- You applied after you paid. By far the most common cause. Retrospective claims are refused as a matter of policy in most regions.
- Your region already runs an equivalent course in-house. Some deaneries will not fund an external teaching course when there is a local one. Northern Ireland’s NIMDTA policy, for example, explicitly excludes “Teaching the Teacher” courses on the grounds that they are available locally. Check yours before you apply.
- You framed it as application preparation. See above.
- Your allocation for the training year is already spent, or the course falls into a lower-priority category with a smaller cap.
- You missed the notice period — typically around six weeks, sometimes longer.
If you are refused, most regions have a formal appeal route with a stated deadline. Ask the person who refused you first; if that does not resolve it, ask your local postgraduate medical education team for the appeals process.
Who can apply, by grade
What follows is the official position for each grade, with the source and its date. “Eligible to apply” means you can put in a claim; it is not an approval. Your deanery, region or employer decides every claim.
| Who | Study leave | A teaching course like this | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation Year 1, England | Up to 15 days, mostly for local teaching | External courses are supported only in exceptional circumstances, at your Foundation School Director’s discretion. Ask before you book. | NHS England study leave guidance, April 2025 |
| Foundation Year 2, England | Up to 30 days | Eligible to apply, at the programme’s discretion. Some regions class teaching skills courses as “aspirational”: usually one a year, and it must be in your PDP. | NHS England guidance, April 2025; West Midlands foundation guidance, May 2025 |
| Core trainees (IMT, CST, CT), England | 30 days | Eligible to apply. “Training and trainer courses” are named as discretionary: your region’s own course comes first, and part-funding may apply. | NHS England guidance, April 2025 |
| Specialty trainees (ST3+), England | 30 days | As for core trainees. Discretionary requests are usually approved by your TPD or Head of School. | NHS England guidance, April 2025 |
| GP trainees, England | 30 days, but your GP teaching programme comes out of this | Discretionary once core curriculum needs are met. Varies by region. Needs verification. | NHS England guidance, April 2025; Thames Valley and Wessex policy, March 2026 |
| Locally employed doctors | Set by your employing trust | The NHS England study budget covers doctors in training programmes, so your trust’s own policy applies. Needs verification. | BMA study leave guidance, October 2025 |
| Scotland | F1: not eligible. F2, core and specialty: 30 days | “Professional development courses” are an approved use. Your TPD or FPD approves the funding. | Scotland Deanery policy and FAQ, March 2026 |
| Wales | F1: 15 days. Everyone else: 30 days | F1: no budget. F2: £480. Core, specialty and GP: a personal budget of £1,000 a year from August 2026. Teaching courses aren’t named, so you are eligible to apply. | HEIW study leave policy, approved June 2026 |
| Northern Ireland | F1: not entitled. F2 and above: 30 days | Specialty trainees: up to £1,250 a year. Needs verification. The main guidelines are overdue for review. | NIMDTA guidance 2026 and study leave page |
Two things to know. England’s national study leave guidance is due to be replaced, and some regions already say they are expecting new national guidance, so check your region’s current page before you book. Most regions also expect the course to be in your PDP first: download our PDP entry template (Word) and the course fact sheet (Word) for your form.
Checked 28 October 2026. We will re-check these sources by 31 January 2027.
Which study leave code covers a Teach the Teacher course?
Several regions list teaching courses as a type of activity on their study leave lists. A course like this one can be claimed under that line, with your supervisor’s or programme director’s approval. The decision always sits with your deanery.
| Region | Code and wording | What the guidance says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | TRAC0001: “Developing skills for educational supervision (e.g. teach the teacher/train the trainer course)” | On the Medicine list for IMT1 to ST8. | London Medicine list |
| South East (KSS, Thames Valley, Wessex) | S-MED0003 (Medicine), with matching lines in Surgery, Ophthalmology, Radiology and O&G | “NHSE can fund 1 Teach The Teacher/equivalent course per resident doctor during their training.” Virtual courses “tend to offer the best value for money.” | South East study leave A to Z |
| South West | GEN012: “Train the Trainer Courses and Teaching Courses” | One such course during training, with supervisor, TPD or Head of School approval. | South West study leave guidance |
| Wales | No course list: personal study budget | £1,000 a year from August 2026 (F2 £480), approved by your supervisor. | HEIW study leave policy |
| Scotland | Core and developmental activity lists, set by each Specialty Training Board | Notional budget of £600 a year. | Scotland Deanery guidance |
Foundation doctors (F2). You can usually take one external course in F2. In the South East it must be “relevant to the specialty aligned to the doctor’s career intentions” and is claimed under S-FND0013 (London uses FND0013). If you are aiming for IMT or another specialty that scores teaching, you can ask to use that one course for Teach the Teacher. Your Foundation Training Programme Director decides. South East foundation study leave
Other English regions: check your own school’s course list or ask about the discretionary route. Checked 30 October 2026; re-check by 31 January 2027.
Where to find your own deanery’s policy
Rules differ by nation and by region, and they change. Start here:
England
Study leave operates under a national NHS England approach, implemented locally by your NHS England regional postgraduate education team. Search “[your region] NHS England study leave policy”, or ask your Trust’s medical education department, who administer the claims.
Scotland
Applications go through Turas. See the Scotland Deanery study leave pages for the current policy, notional allocations and claim deadlines.
Wales
Approval sits with your health board’s medical education department (HEIW for GP trainees in practice posts). Expense claims go through your e-Expenses account under the Single Lead Employer.
Northern Ireland
NIMDTA holds the funding and publishes its study leave policy, with separate Trust and NIMDTA approvals.
Your Trust or health board’s medical education department is the fastest answer to any question on this page. They process these claims every week.
The three emails you need
Download them as a PDF (or an editable Word document), or read them here first. Square brackets are the bits you fill in.
Download the Study Budget Application PackPDF · 3 email templates + evidence checklist
Want to edit the templates? Download the Word version.
1. Email to your educational supervisor
Subject: Study budget request — CPD-accredited teaching course, [date]
Dear [Name],
I’d like your support for a study budget application for a teaching course, and I wanted to check it with you before I book anything.
Course: Erudical Teach the Teacher Course for Doctors
Provider: Erudical Limited
Format: Full-day live online course, 09:00 to 17:00, plus a 20-module self-paced course of roughly 12 hours
Date: [chosen date] — a weekend, so I will not need any study leave days or rota cover
Cost: [price]
Accreditation: Accredited by The CPD Certification Service (CPD UK); up to 24 CPD hours in total (12 self-paced + 6 live day + 6 for the NMERC 2026 conference place included with enrolment, accredited separately by CPD England)
I’m requesting it against Generic CiP 6, “Acting as a clinical teacher and clinical supervisor”, and GPC Domain 8, Capabilities in education and training. I currently [deliver teaching on X / have had no formal training in teaching methods], and the course covers [lesson planning / small-group teaching / bedside teaching / giving feedback — pick the two most relevant to you]. It includes assessed teaching assignments with written feedback, which I will upload to my portfolio as evidence.
If you’re happy to support it, could you confirm by email so I can submit the funding application? I need to apply at least [X] weeks before the date, so I’d be grateful for a reply by [date].
Thanks,
[Name]
[Grade, department]
2. Justification paragraph for the study leave or study budget form
Paste this into the “reason for request” or “how does this meet your curriculum needs” box. Trim to fit the character limit.
This course addresses Generic CiP 6, “Acting as a clinical teacher and clinical supervisor”, and GPC Domain 8 (Capabilities in education and training). I deliver teaching to [medical students / foundation doctors / nursing staff] but have had no formal training in teaching methods, assessment or feedback. The course is accredited by The CPD Certification Service (CPD UK) and provides up to 24 CPD hours in total: 12 for a 20-module self-paced course and 6 for a full-day live course, plus 6 for a place at the NMERC 2026 conference included with enrolment (accredited separately by CPD England). It includes assessed teaching assignments with written feedback, which will be uploaded to my portfolio as evidence against this CiP. The live day falls on a weekend, so no study leave days or rota cover are required. Provider: Erudical Limited. My educational supervisor has confirmed support by email, attached.
3. Follow-up when nobody replies
Subject: Re: Study budget request — [course], deadline [date]
Dear [Name],
Following up on the message below. The application deadline for this course is [date], and my region requires funding applications at least [X] weeks in advance, so I need to submit by [date] to be eligible.
Could you let me know either way? If it’s easier, a one-line reply confirming you support the application is all I need — I’ll handle the form.
If it should be going to someone else — [TPD / medical education department / the study leave team] — let me know and I’ll redirect it.
Thanks,
[Name]
We are not going to promise you this works
We will not tell you the course is “effectively free”. Whether your claim is approved depends on your deanery’s current policy, your remaining allocation, your supervisor, and how you apply. What we can do is make sure the paperwork is never the reason you are refused: accreditation, published programme, dated invoice and a certificate of completion, all on request.
If your education team needs something specific from us to process a claim — an invoice in a particular format, a letter confirming accreditation, a copy of the programme — get in touch and we will send it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my study budget for a Teach the Teacher course?
Often, yes — but the decision sits with your own deanery. Study budgets are intended to fund activity that supports curriculum attainment, and teaching is a curriculum requirement for internal medicine trainees under Generic CiP 6, “Acting as a clinical teacher and clinical supervisor”. Amounts, eligible categories and deadlines are set locally and change from year to year, so check your own region’s current policy before booking.
Do I need to apply before I book the course?
Yes. Most UK study budget policies refuse retrospective claims, so you should obtain approval before you pay. Notice periods of around six weeks are typical and some regions ask you to start the process earlier. This is the most common reason a claim fails.
Do I need to use study leave days for the Erudical live course?
No. Erudical’s live course days run at weekends, so no study leave days or rota cover are required. You are applying for funding only. In most regions the funding application is still submitted on the study leave form — complete it and note that the course falls on a non-working day.
What evidence does my deanery need for a study budget claim?
Typically the course title and provider, a course outline or programme, the cost, the date, evidence of accreditation, and a statement of how it meets your curriculum. After the course you will usually need a receipt and proof of attendance to complete the reimbursement claim. Erudical publishes the programme, price, dates and accreditation before you book, and issues a certificate of completion afterwards.
Who approves a study budget application?
Your educational supervisor normally confirms that the activity meets a curriculum need, and the funding decision is then made by your Training Programme Director, local medical education department or regional postgraduate education team, depending on your nation and region. Your Trust or health board medical education department can tell you the exact route.
What if my study budget claim is refused?
Ask the person who refused it for the reason first, as many refusals are procedural — wrong form, missed deadline, or an equivalent course available locally. Most regions publish a formal appeals process with a stated deadline; your local postgraduate medical education team can point you to it.
Can I claim NMERC on my study budget?
Often, yes, and presenting your own work strengthens the case: in some regions it is one of the few things F1 doctors can claim for. NMERC runs online on a Saturday, so you apply for the ticket cost only. Get approval before you pay, as most regions refuse retrospective claims. An Erudical enrolment already includes an NMERC place.
Ready to put the claim in?
Pick your date, then send the email. The pack has everything your supervisor will ask for.
