Contract
Exception Reporting
Payslips
Study Budget
Expenses
Work Schedule

Employment Information

Introduction

This page provides an overview of the essential information for the Trauma & Orthopaedics Mersey Rotation. It outlines the key aspects of your contract, work schedule, payslips, and resources. The aim is to ensure that all trainees are well-prepared and knowledgeable about their responsibilities and entitlements.

Your Contract

Congratulations on starting your Trauma & Orthopaedics Mersey Rotation! It is essential to understand the details of your contract. Here are some critical points to consider:

  • You should receive your contract either before or shortly after your start date.
    • If you do not receive your contract then contact the Lead Employer for it.
  • Download and read your contract carefully. It is important to know your contract details, as you cannot rely on others to have that information.
  • Prior to every placement, you will receive an email from the Lead Employer confirming your placement
    • Your work schedule eight weeks before the start date. Ensure you check this is accurate and reflects the legal requirements.
    • Your rota six weeks beforehand.

Exception Reports

Exception reports are an essential tool for raising concerns, particularly around work hours. Many issues can balance out over time (e.g. finishing clinic early and being able to go home) so consider this before raising exception reports. Be particularly wary of exception reports during theatre days, as the answer to this may be to stop giving you the time required to train.

Communicate with your consultants to resolve any concerns before exception reporting, to give them an opportunity to resolve matters in house.

Upcoming changes to exception reporting include automatic payment for stays under two hours, with direct reporting to HR, bypassing clinical supervisors. These changes are being negotiated and expected in 2025.

Payslips

Your payslip is an important document, and you should check it each month on the ESR system. It’s essential to understand how your payslip works - no one will inform you if you've been taxed incorrectly or underpaid.

There is a helpful BMA payslip explainer, as well as a DoctorsVote payslip checker available.

  • The standard tax code is 1257L, which allows £12,570 of earnings to be tax-free.
  • If you have any issues, contact payroll at leademployerpayroll@sthk.nhs.uk providing your National Insurance (NI) number, date of birth, and job role.
  • Put a reminder in your calendar to cancel parking permits at the end of each placement.

It’s most helpful to compare your payslip and work schedule with colleagues in the same rotation to identify any discrepancies.

Study Budget

Your study budget is a very valuable resource. Use it wisely and apply early for approvals at Accent Portal.

The approval process is supportive of trainees and although there is a theoretical cap for expenses the budget is currently in surplus.

Full guidelines can be found here. A few key points:

  • 10 days a year of study leave (20 days are used for our regional teaching)
  • Claims must be prospective and claimed back within 3 months
  • One international conference funded every 3 years, either for course fees or travel and accommodation (whichever is lower).
  • Study leave cannot be used for the FRCS exam
  • Travel expenses cover standard train travel, or 30p / mile if driving
  • Accommodation is paid at £120/night, or £150/night in London
  • Subsistence is covered up to £20/day

Funding for every course you wish to attend is not guaranteed, but it is important to invest in your own education when necessary.

Expenses

Claiming expenses can be a bit cumbersome initially but becomes easier once you are in the system. It will make a huge financial difference to you over the 6 years of registrar training. Sign up on ESR and login using this link.

  • All toll and tunnel fees are covered.
  • Mileage reimbursement for travel to your base hospital exceeding 17 miles one way is set at 45p per mile.
  • The easy expenses system will automatically choose the route you travel.

Work Schedule

The first thing to do when you receive your work schedule is to check that the details are correct. The top section will also highlight some key contacts should you need to discuss or change anything.

  

Here is an old work schedule from the rotation for example. This should exactly match your expected working pattern and rota that you are sent. If anything is incorrect you should ask for it to be corrected, as this is the basis upon which you will be paid.

Looking at this we can see that it has

  • 1 in 7 on call
  • Working the morning after NROC
  • Lots of half days
  • 17:30 normal day finish

Looking at the pay section, the first thing to check is that the basic pay is on the correct scale for your grade. You can check the updated figures here.

Next, check that the weekend allowance is the correct amount for the weekends that you are working:

  

If you do non-resident on calls (NROCs) then you should also be receiving the On-call availability allowance. Nodal point 4 is ST3/4/5, and nodal point 5 is ST6/7/8.

Finally, check that the pension deductions on your payslip match the correct percentage for your salary:

Check the Duty Details section of the work schedule to see how many hours you are being paid for your NROCs. In the example below, you are expected to be off site from 3pm until 8am, with only 1 hour of work in between. If this is markedly different from what is being worked then it should be raised so that you can be paid appropriately.

You should be getting sufficient rest during your NROC if you are expected in work the next day. This is defined in your contract as:

  • 8 hours rest per 24-hour period
  • At least five continuous hours of rest between 10 PM and 7 AM.