Introduction

NHS England Workforce, Training and Education in East of England (EoE) handles providing all postgraduate doctors, dentists and public health practitioners in training (PGDiTs) within the region with assistance for relocation expenses, including removal or excess mileage. 

Policy and Guidance 

The NHS England approach to relocation and excess travel is set out in National Relocation and Excess Travel Framework which specifies the scenarios in which PGDiTs are eligible to reclaim costs for relocation and excess mileage from NHS England, and the total amount that can be claimed across the lifetime of training. Individual employers are responsible for reimbursement of excess travel, relocation and removal expenses, in line with local employer policies. It is the responsibility of the PGDiT to check that they are eligible for reimbursement prior to expenditure. If you are unsure whether your circumstances are eligible for reimbursement, please contact the HR department within your employing trust for confirmation. 

Base Hospitals  

Base hospital applies to a PGDiT who commenced their training programme prior to 1st August 2020. The base hospital definition normally applied to Foundation Postgraduate Doctors in Training (PGDiTs) is the hospital closest to their primary home or residence, which is part of their two- year fixed programme. The base hospital definition normally applied to PGDiTs in Specialty Training is the hospital closest to their primary home or residence, which is part of their specialty rotation. 

Application Process and Deadlines 

PGDiTs should apply for reimbursement via their employing trust, who manage their own local application procedures. When claiming relocation costs, PGDiTs must submit actual expense claims via their local application process within three months of the expenditure having occurred. When claiming excess mileage and/or temporary accommodation costs, PGDiTs must submit actual expense claims on a monthly basis. 

There may be extraneous circumstances for which a PGDiT will move and incur eligible expenses in advance of beginning their training programme (e.g., relocating from abroad, relocating in advance to align with school years, etc.). Where this is the case, the PGDiT will only be able to send a claim for the eligible expenses after they have started their training post. In this scenario, they will be able to give claims for eligible expenses within three months of starting in post, rather than three months from when the expense was incurred. Where a PGDiT submits a claim that does not follow these time limits, it is at the discretion of their employer as to whether it will be accepted. 

Exceptional Circumstances 

Before completing the Exceptional Circumstances request form, please ensure that your situation meets the exceptional circumstances threshold. Review whether the situation can be resolved through the normal process. This form is strictly for exceptional circumstances only. If you are unsure whether your situation qualifies, please contact your Trust to confirm its exceptional nature.

Where a PGDiT has exceptional circumstances that they believe may call for the framework to be applied more flexibly, they are able to send a request for exceptional circumstances via the Trainee Request for Exceptional Circumstances for Relocation and Travel Expenses Form. We ask that PGDiTs to  provide as enough detail to inform for ease of decision-making. Once an exceptional circumstances request is received, the EoE Relocation Team may contact you and/or your employing trust to request further information, if more detail is needed before a decision can be made. The outcome of your exceptional circumstance request will be delivered within two weeks of receipt and will be sent to the PGDiT, and their employing trust’s reimbursement contact via email, to ensure that all relevant parties are aware of the decision. 

Exceptional Circumstances - Criteria 

Exceptional circumstance requests are ordinarily only approved where the related provisions of the relocation and travel expenses framework specifically refer to exceptional personal circumstances. These are, with reference to the relevant section of the framework:  

• Paragraph 19: Requesting to claim recompense above the £10,000 maximum across the lifetime of a training programme.  
• Paragraph 19: Requesting to claim increased removal costs where the PGDiT is married or cohabiting, and the costs have been “shared”.  
• Paragraph 33: Requesting to claim travel costs for excess mileage where the PGDiT’s primary residence is not within a reasonable commute of most of their placements - this being above 70 miles each way per day.  
• Paragraph 39: Requesting to claim costs for temporary accommodation where the daily travel distance between the PGDiT’s primary residence and their placement site is viewed as excessive.  
• Continuing Commitments: Requesting to claim costs of overlapping rental payments (for a maximum of three months), where it can be demonstrated that the PGDiT was unable to agree the end of one lease for a property, and the commencement of a new lease for a new property within the region, which matched their rotation dates for placements and did not overlap  

Appeals 

Where a PGDiT feels they have been unfairly treated in relation to either the outcome of a reimbursement claims or an exceptional circumstances request, they may submit an appeal. 

To submit an appeal, the PGDiT must state their case in writing by emailing the england.relocation.eoe@nhs.net. The PGDiT must explain why they think they have been unfairly treated and provide supporting evidence. The appeal will be reviewed by East of England ’s Postgraduate Dean, or nominated Deputy.  

The outcome of the appeal will be delivered within four weeks of receipt and will be sent to the PGDiT, and their employing trust’s reimbursement contact via email, to ensure that all relevant parties are aware of the decision. Please be aware that the appeal process has one stage only, and the outcome decision is final.