Article

Locally employed doctors (LEDs)

Information about locally employed doctors (LEDs), what the roles are, how they work and resources to support employers.

Publication date: 1 April 2026

A doctor on a hospital ward, making a phone call.

This article explains what these job roles are about, what that means for employers and resources to support their implementation.

Locally employed doctors (LEDs)

LED is a catch-all term used to refer to doctors employed by an NHS trust that are not on one of the nationally negotiated contracts. 

Instead, LEDs are employed by a trust or provider on a local contract, which may and often will mirror one of those sets of terms and conditions of service (TCS) or might be a modified version.  

For instance, only doctors in an approved national training post can be appointed onto the 2016 TCS for doctors and dentists in training, but doctors may be locally employed on TCS which mirror those. 

LEDs can be found in any specialty and go by a range of titles including trust grade, trust doctor, clinical fellow, FY3, research fellow, and many others. LEDs play an essential role within the medical workforce.  

They have diverse backgrounds and skills as well as a wide range of reasons for working in an LED role. Likewise, there are a range of reasons why employers might employ LED roles within their workforce. 

Additionally, many LEDs are international medical graduates (IMGs) for whom an LED role may be their first experience working in the NHS. 

  • LEDs play an important role in the medical workforce. Often, but not always at a level broadly equivalent to ST 1-3, many LEDs work alongside doctor in training (DiT) colleagues on rotas. LEDs may also work in undergraduate medical education and postgraduate fellow roles. 

    There are any many reasons for employers to employ doctors on local contracts, in particular when the terms of the national contracts might prohibit their use.  

    For instance, the 2016 doctor in training contract is explicitly only for those on an approved training programme. The 2021 specialty doctor contract has eligibility requirements that not all applicants may meet and, in particular where LEDs are working alongside DiTs, the session-based nature of this contract may cause conflict between working patterns. 

    The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan recognises the important role LEDs play and the rapid expansion of these roles within the workforce. It also sets out a commitment to better support their postgraduate career development. 

  • As they are, by definition employed locally, there are no national terms and conditions for employers to use in creating contracts of employment for LEDs. Therefore, employers can create their own contracts of employment. 

    However, in most cases employers will use one of the national contracts as a basis for developing local contracts; most commonly the 2016 doctor in training TCS.  

    This would be the recommended approach where LEDs are working alongside doctors in training. We would advise employers as far as possible to use ESR Codes MT01-MT05 for LEDs employed on contracts parallel to the 2016 TCS. These codes are created specifically for LEDs on such contracts and ensures they are easily identifiable through ESR. 

    In addition, where employers make significant variations to contracts which move away from national terms and conditions, particularly in regard to pay, these may by default become local arrangements. In such cases parts of the national contracts, such as pay protection, may no longer apply. 

    When developing local contracts employers may wish to consider: 

    • access to study leave and study leave budget 
    • clinical supervision 
    • access to the guardian of safe working hours 
    • remuneration – particularly as relates to the 'going rate' assessments, which for doctors in training and those in parallel LED posts is generally matched by UKVI to the equivalent nodal point on the 2016 TCS.

  • While there are increasing numbers of UK graduates choosing LED roles as part of their career journey, it is also recognised that a large proportion of LEDs are IMGs.  

    As such, employers may wish to consider the additional support and resources these doctors may need when adapting to work and life within the UK. There are a number of resources available for employers and IMGs to support this: 

     

SAS eligibility and permanency framework

This framework has been developed to allow LEDs who have been fulfilling a role that is comparable to the roles, duties and responsibilities of a SAS doctor, to be offered the opportunity to move to a permanent SAS contract. There is a six month choice window running from 1 September 2026 until March 2027. The aim is to ensure that LEDs are given the opportunity to advance their careers, transition to SAS roles where appropriate and offer job security. This guidance details the steps, qualifications and requirements of the framework.

LED FAQs

Find answers to popular questions and further information about locally employed doctors (LED).

  • A range of titles are in use for LEDs, such as trust grade, clinical fellow or research fellow.

    There is no standard approach to this however, we would encourage employers follow a standardised approach locally in order to help identify who is employed on a local contract. They should also be identifiable as locally employed doctors by their grade code on ESR, for instance MT01-05.

  • As LED contracts are determined locally, employers will need to determine pay scales for LEDs. For LEDs working alongside doctors in training, NHS Employers’ view is that the most appropriate pay is on Nodal Points 1-5, using ESR codes MT01-MT05. Some considerations employers will need to make when determining pay scales are: whether LEDs will be working in parallel to doctors on national grades, doing the same type of work. When and how to determine which pay point will be used (note that for doctors in training, nodal points are linked to progression through training). Meeting salary rate requirements for applications of Health and Care visas.

  • As LED contracts are determined locally employers will need to determine annual leave entitlement for LEDs. Employers may wish to consider the leave entitlements for doctors employed on the equivalent national contract (if any) to ensure parity between the grades.

  • Employers can set entitlement to study leave locally, but should consider the importance of access to study leave in an LEDs ability to maintain and improve their clinical skills.

  • Exception reporting and the role of the guardian of safe working hours are seemingly exclusive to those employed on the 2016 TCS. As such there is no automatic access to this process for LEDs. However an employer may wish to consider how the working hours of LEDs can be monitored and how they might raise and escalate any breaches of working hours regulations. 

    In many cases, in particular where LEDs work alongside DiTs, access to exception reporting and the Guardian may be the most appropriate course of action.

  • Employers are free to set the length of an LED contract themselves, there is no defined limit on length of contract. This may be affected by factors such as the length of the requirement, rotation intakes of doctors in training or any fixed term expansion of clinical areas.
     
    Consideration should be given to IMGs and the difficulties in obtaining right to live and work when employed on a short-term basis. 

    Employers may offer permanent LED contracts should they choose to do so, but may wish to consider offering one of the national career grade contracts (such as specialty doctor) where this is appropriate. 

  • Where LEDs are employed on national payscales which are published in the medical and dental pay circulars, such as MT01-05, any pay uplifts to those scales will be automatically applied within the ESR system.  

    Where employers have locally determined pay scales, such uplifts will not be automatically applied. In this instances employers will need to determine locally how uplifts are implemented, with reference to the provisions of their contract.

Case studies

Contact us to share your local practices around the employment of LEDs or discuss this topic in more detail. Email the medical workforce team. 

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