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Protect time and development
Leave, SPA, flexible working, expenses and development time
Understand different forms of leave and supporting time, make workable requests and distinguish entitlement from local approval process.
Annual leave, study or professional leave, SPA, family leave, sickness absence, flexible working and expenses serve different purposes and follow different rules. A headline entitlement does not answer notice, approval, carry-over, funding or job-plan treatment. Use the actual contract and policy, submit clear requests early and ask for written reasons if refused.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Distinguish major leave and professional-time categories.
- Prepare a flexible-working or development request.
- Challenge repeated loss of SPA or expenses fairly.
Different leave, different rules
Annual leave supports rest. Study or professional leave supports approved development. Family, carers, sickness, bereavement and special leave have distinct contractual and statutory frameworks. Public-holiday treatment can depend on work pattern and contract.
Check entitlement, service qualification, notice, approval, pay, carry-over and evidence separately. Do not use annual leave to conceal sickness or a workplace injury; correct classification protects both health and records.
- Name the leave category.
- Check national and local terms.
- Keep approvals and balances.
Study and professional leave
A request should link the activity to the role, appraisal or agreed development plan, state cost and cover needs and comply with notice rules. Approval of leave and approval of funding may be separate decisions.
Where access is repeatedly refused, request written reasons and examine whether the job plan, service cover or policy is being applied consistently. SAS tutors, education teams and unions may help distinguish an individual request from a structural access problem.
- Link the request to objectives.
- Separate time approval from funding.
- Track patterns of refusal.
Supporting professional activity
SPA supports the professional infrastructure of safe practice: appraisal, CPD, governance, audit, teaching preparation and job planning. The precise allocation is contractual and job-specific. Avoid treating any single benchmark as a universal legal minimum across all grades and nations.
Specify outputs and time. If SPA is repeatedly displaced by service work, record the instances and consequences, seek operational protection and review the job plan. Protected does not mean disconnected from service need; it means the agreed professional work is real and deliverable.
- Define SPA activities and outcomes.
- Protect time operationally.
- Review repeated displacement.
Flexible working
Eligible employees have statutory rights to request flexible working, while contractual and local policies may add detail. A good request states the proposed pattern, start date, practical effects and possible solutions. Examples include reduced hours, compressed patterns, annualisation, remote elements or predictable days.
The employer should consider the request under the applicable process. Disability, caring, pregnancy, religion or sex-discrimination issues may create additional equality considerations; obtain advice rather than relying only on the generic flexible-working route.
- Use the statutory and local process.
- Offer practical options.
- Identify equality or adjustment issues separately.
Expenses and relocation
Travel, subsistence, relocation, professional fees and study costs are governed by contract and policy. Approval may be required before spending, and tax treatment can differ from reimbursement entitlement. Keep receipts and claim within deadlines.
For cross-site work, distinguish job-planned travel time from reimbursement. For home-to-base travel, do not assume business-mileage treatment. Ask payroll or expenses teams for written application of policy to unusual patterns.
- Obtain prior approval.
- Keep receipts and deadlines.
- Separate time, reimbursement and tax.
Fair access and record keeping
Compare decisions using relevant facts rather than rumours about colleagues. If a pattern suggests discrimination or inconsistent policy, record applications, reasons, comparators where lawfully known and the impact. Seek union or equality advice.
Do not collect other doctors’ confidential contracts or personal data. Ask for anonymised policy-level information through appropriate channels where needed.
- Keep your own decision record.
- Use lawful comparators.
- Escalate patterns proportionately.
Which agreed professional activity is most often displaced, and what objective or safety function is then lost?
Keep in mind
Three takeaways
- 1Identify the correct leave or time category first.
- 2Make development and flexible-working requests specific and workable.
- 3Repeated loss of agreed time should be evidenced and reviewed.
Situational judgement exercise
Check your understanding
Six questions on Leave, SPA, flexible working, expenses and development time test process and practical judgement. This is educational: it does not assess your health, evidence sufficiency or decide a legal issue.
Question 1 of 6
Choose one answer to continue.
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Check the source
Page last reviewed 8 September 2026. Independent education only; not individual contractual, legal, tax, financial or pensions advice.Official and professional guidance
Use the document for the relevant nation, grade, contract version, scheme and tax year.