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Home › Professional Support › Policies & Forms › Study Leave › ALM Applicant User Guide (Study Leave)

Study Leave
for Postgraduate Doctors and Dentists in Training

This page provides step-by-step instructions for submitting an application on Accent Leave Manager and other user tasks. Please also refer to the Overview of Study Leave and the Frequently Asked Questions for more information and help. Please ensure that you read the relevant information on the website before contacting the NHSE study leave team.

ALM Applicant User Guide

How to activate your account

ALM accounts are created automatically, and you should receive an account activation email 12 weeks before your programme start date. The account activation email will be sent to the email address recorded in the NHSE Trainee Information System (TIS). Your ALM username will be the email address in your TIS record. If the email address in your TIS record changes, your ALM username will update automatically overnight.

To activate your account, please follow the instructions in the account activation email or use the Forgotten Password link on the ALM login page (https://accent.hicom.co.uk/Portal/Live/Web/) to request a password reset. There may be a delay before receiving the password reset email. Please check your junk/spam folder and consider adding NoReply@hicom.co.uk to your safe senders list.

To check or change the email address in your TIS record, please contact:

When contacting the teams above, please include your full name, GMC number, and preferred e-mail address. They will only be able to update your TIS record. If you encounter any technical issues activating your account, please contact the NHSE study leave team. If the email address in your TIS record changes, your ALM username will update automatically overnight.

Please note: Some email providers may block emails from NHSE / ALM. Where possible, we recommend that doctors & dentists in training provide us with their nhs.net email address.

How to change your username

Your username is linked to the email address in your TIS record. TIS is the NHSE Trainee Information System. To change the email address in your TIS record, please contact england.tis.yh@nhs.net (doctors in training) or england.dentalsupport.yh@nhs.net (dentists in training). When contacting the TIS / Dental support team, please include your full name, GMC number, and preferred e-mail address. When your email address in TIS has been updated, your ALM username will update automatically overnight.

The TIS / Dental support team, will only be able to update your TIS record. If you encounter any technical issues logging into your account, please contact the NHSE study leave team.

How to reset your password

To change your ALM password, please use the Forgotten Password link on the ALM login page. There may be a delay before receiving the password reset email. Please check your junk/spam folder and consider adding NoReply@hicom.co.uk to your safe senders list.

if you do not receive the password reset email, you may need to check the email address in your TIS record - see above.

How to create a new application

To create a new application on ALM, go to the Navigation Menu and click Leave Application.

Please note: ALM is not optimised for mobile browsers and some essential sections of the application screens do not function on mobile devices. Please ensure that you access ALM using a computer and either the Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox browser.

Leave details

Begin by entering the initial leave details and checking the placement information displayed:

  1. Enter a leave start and end date. If the leave dates span two placements, two applications will normally be needed.
  2. Check the number of days requested. This can be adjusted, eg to reflect half-day courses or if the activity is taking place outside of work time and you do not intend to claim TOIL.
  3. Check the placement details that appear. If the details are incorrect or an error message appears instead of your placement, please see the Study Leave FAQs for help.
  4. Select the leave type. Please ensure you select the appropriate leave type. See below for descriptions of the different leave types.
  5. Click save to save your application and move to the next page.

Study Leave Types
Study - All curriculum or discretionary courses / conferences / activity not covered by one of the other leave types below.
Exam - Exam preparation courses and exam sittings. Please note: Exam fees may not be funded through study leave. 
Private - Home based revision / exam preparation before an exam sitting. Expenses may not be claimed for private study leave. 
International - Courses / conferences taking place outside of the UK.

Event details

On the next page, enter the details for the course / conference for which you are applying:

  1. If the name of your course / conference appears in the event list select it here. The list will include courses typically approved for your grade / curriculum, as well as Regional Teaching (see below for a definition of Regional Teaching). Only select from the event list if you are confident that the selection correctly matches the course / conference for which you are applying. Applications where the event details have been completed incorrectly will be rejected.

Or, if your course / conference does not appear in the event list, toggle 'My event does not appear in the list above' and free type the event name, as below:

Regional Teaching 
Regional Teaching is a study / clinical skills day organised by your training programme, or a school conference. As a general rule, regional teaching does not have a course / conference fee. Please only select regional teaching if the course / conference is organised by your training programme or specialty school.
  1. Enter the course reference, venue, provider and a website link for the course / conference. Please avoid abbreviations.

  • Course reference (Optional): Normally the course code used by the provider. If you selected regional teaching above, enter the session name here.

  • Venue (Mandatory): The venue where the activity is taking place. For virtual course/conferences enter ‘online event’ or ‘online self-paced course’ as applicable.

  • Provider (Mandatory): The name of the organisation or company providing the course.

  • Website: Enter a link to the event webpage where the approver can find more information about the course / conference, including the course / conference fees. While website link is optional, the approver may need to contact you for more information if a link is not included.

  1. Document upload can be used to provide additional information for your approver. Receipts are not required at the time of application, unless you need to evidence the cost of the course / conference fee. Applicantions for conferences should be accompanied by a link to or copy of the full conference programme and evidence of conference poster or speaking invitation (if applicable).

Supporting Statements - Discretionary and International Leave Requests
For discretionary and international leave requests, applicants should attach a supporting statement outlining 1) their reasons for attending the course/conference and 2) the perceived benefits at this point in their training or how it links to the specialty curriculum. The supporting statement will help TPD and Head of School approvers when considering these applications. Applicants should refer to the criteria for discreationary leave (p8-9) and the international leave (p9-10) in the study leave policy.

Entitlements and budget

ALM will display a summary of your study leave entitlement and budget on the application screen. Entitlements and budgets are calculated based on the financial (rather than academic) year and are imported by the Study Leave admin team.

Entitlement refers to the number of study leave days allocated to doctors and dentists in training. Your entitlement includes mandatory and regional teaching study days.

Budget refers to the costs of your study leave applications to date. On ALM your budget amount/remaining budget reads ‘unlimited’, but it is important to note that while individual study leave caps no longer apply, the overall study budget is finite. All applications are evaluated based on their educational appropriateness, quality and value for money.

If you see an error message ‘No entitlements/budgets found for selected data’, please see the Study Leave FAQs.

Cover and authorisation

Next enter the details regarding local approval for your planned study leave:

  1. Supervisor and Rota Manager (Coordinator): Enter the name of the relevant Supervisor and Rota Coordinator who have locally approved your planned study leave.
  2. Comments (optional): For relevant notes regarding local ES / Rota approval if needed. Do not use this section for other additional comments re the course/conference.
  3. Declaration: The declarartion must only be completed if your Supervisor and Rota Coordinator approval has been received. If you are still waiting for Supervisor and or Rota Coordinator approval, please save your application as a draft and continue when they have confirmed.
Please note: Where an application has been submitted but Rota Coordinator approval has not been received, the trust may decline to release the applicant for the course/conference. Late or retrospective leave requests are considered at the discretion of the trust.
Estimated expenses

If you intend to claim expenses, estimated expenses must be added to your application before it is submitted. Expense claims submitted after the event will only be processed if estimated expenses were added at the time of application and the application was approved.

To add an estimated expense, click Add in the Expenses section and follow the instructions below. Each expense must be added seperately by type. Unclear or incorrectly entered expenses may result in your application or expense claim being rejected.

  1. Enter the expense type and estimate cost. If the expense is for accomodation, also enter the number of nights.
  2. Add brief comments to explain/justify the expense: eg milage calculation or ticket type
  3. Expense files uploads are optional and receipts are not required at the time of application
  4. Then click save to save the expense item and return to your application

Study Leave Allowances
Accommodation (if required): Single occupancy only. Up to £120 per night outside London | Up to £150 per night within London. Where shared occupancy is required, only 50% of the costs will be reimbursed.

Non-Commerical Accomodation (staying with a friend or relative): £25 per night which includes the evening meal allowance.

Milage: 30p per mile, when travelling in own car and calculated using the most direct route between base hospital* and destination. Tunnel and bridge tolls may be reimbursed if receipts are provided. Parking at the destination will normally be reimbursed.

*For study leave purposes, the base hospital is the placement site or 'primary place of work'.

Public transport: Only standard class tickets may be reimbursed. Applicants should select the cheapest ticket options available.

Meals: Up to £5 lunch allowance. Up to £15 evening meal allowance where overnight accommodation is required. The maxium meal allowance is £20 in a 24 hour period.

Please note: Conference dinners and social events may not be reimbursed under meal expenses or with the conference fees. Membership fees paid when booking course / conferences are also not eligible for reimbusement.

Unless otherwise stated, study leave allowances reflect the NHS Terms & Conditions of Service.

International Leave
For international leave, either the full cost of the course/conference fees or the cost of economy travel and accommodation may be approved, whichever is the lower amount. If the course/conference fee is waived by the course provider, funding for the cost of economy travel and accommodation may be considered.

Submission

Once you have completed and checked all the sections, click submit leave application. When you click submit, you will be asked to select the relevant Training Programme Director for your placement at the time of the leave. If your application is for a pre-approved course/conference, it will be routed to Medical Education for approval.

If the TPD for your placement at the time of the leave is not listed or if your application is routed to the wrong TPD, please contact us for assistance.

If you are not ready to submit your application, you can save the application as a draft to enable you to return to it later.

Threshold approval
Applications with estimated expenses of £1000 or more may require Head of School approval. Where this applies ALM will initially route the application to the HoS. The HoS will consider the funding requested in relation to the overall school budget. If approved by the Head of School, the application will progress to the Training Programme Director to consider the educational appropriateness of the request in relation to an individuals training projection / career pathway.

How to view your notifications

To view your notifications and messages in ALM, go to the Navigation Menu and click Message. You can also click the messages icon in the top right corner. 

System notifications are sent when an application is approved, rejected or cancelled. You can use the buttons at the top of the list to mark messages as read or delete them. Read and deleted messages can be found in the Read and Deleted tabs.

Please note: System notifications are also sent by email. However, some email providers block emails from ALM. Please check your junk/spam folder regularly and consider adding NoReply@hicom.co.uk to your safe senders list.

How to view your previous applications

To view your previous applications go to the Navigation Menu and click My Applications. All your draft and submitted applications will appear in your My Applications list.

Applications can be filtered or sorted by type, date, application status and other fields. If you wish to delete a draft, click the relevant checkbox and then click delete. Submitted applications cannot be deleted but if appropriate can be cancelled (see below).

How to view an application's status

To view the status of an application, go to Navigation Menu > My Applications. Leave application status is displayed in the My Applications list. For more information, click and open the relevant application. 

The application status appears in the top right corner of the application (see 1 above). The Application ID also appears in the Leave Details section at the top of the page. If you need to contact us about a particular application, please quote the Application ID. This helps us to find the right application.

More information about an application can be found in the Approval Chain section at the bottom of the page. The Approval Chain section lists the TPD and Medical Education approvers linked to the application. The following symbols help to indicate the approver / application status:

 Outstanding - Indicates active approver(s) who can approve or reject the application.

 Bypassed - Indicates bypassed approvers. Bypassed approvers can view the application but cannot approve or reject it.

 Pending - Indicates the next approvers in the chain. The application status for requests that are waiting an outcome is also shown as pending.

 Approved - Indicates that the application has been approved by the named approver. Please note: Some applications require more than one approver, so it is important to check the next sequence and the overall application status at the top of the page.

 Rejected - Indicates that the application has been rejected by the named approver. If an approver rejects an application, the application status will also change to rejected.

 Cancelled - Appears in the application status only and indicates that the application has been cancelled.

Sequence 20 in the approval chain typically refers to TPD approvers. Sequence 30 typically refers to Medical Education approvers. Other approvers who may be linked to an application include Heads of School or Foundation School Directors and the NHSE Study Leave team. Most applications require only one approver but some applications require more than one approver. As noted above, it is essential to check the overall application status.

How to cancel an application

If you need to cancel an application, you can do so before the date of course / conference. To cancel an application:

  1. Go to My Applications in the Navigation Menu,
  2. Click on the relevant application to open it
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page
  4. and then click Cancel Application 

If the course / conference date has passed, you will need to email Medical Education at your employing trust to ask them to cancel the application on your behalf.

Please note: Cancelled applications cannot be reinstated, so please be certain that you need to cancel your application before submitting the request.

How to claim expenses

While study leave applications are now submitted using ALM, reimbursement continues to be through the local trust expenses system. Expense systems vary depending on the employing trust, please contact Medical Education at your employing trust for information about or assistance using the trust expenses system. 

Please note: Expense claims may only be submitted after the course / conference and must be submitted within 6 weeks of the event. Late claims are considered at the discretion of the trust. Evidence of attendance and receipts must be included with expense claims.

How to request support

For help using ALM or claiming expenses, please contact the Medical Education at your employing trust. For technical support, feedback or guidance, please contact the NHSE Study Leave team. Please see the Overview of Study Leave page for the list of support contacts.

When emailing for support, please ensure that you include your GMC Number, and the start/end dates and course / conference name for your planned study leave. If you are emailing about a system error, please include the text of the error message and or a screenshot. Please also include the date and time that you encountered the error.

 

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