Transitioning LEDs to substantive contracts

Yes, an existing locally employed doctor must be given a choice on whether to accept a substantive contract or not. Any substantive offer must be on terms which are equivalent to the doctor’s existing employment. Unless otherwise agreed with the doctor, the offer must retain the same contracted whole-time/ less-than-full-time equivalent status and pay point. A refusal of an offer which does not meet these requirements will not discharge an employer’s obligation to offer a substantive contract. If a doctor chooses to retain a fixed term contract over a substantive contract, this should be recorded. 

If a doctor chooses to remain on a fixed term contract but then chooses to end their employment or the contract expires then the next doctor in that post should be offered a permanent contract as the default. 

Offering substantive contracts to locally employed doctors will now be the default position. 

The deal mentions there will be exceptions where fixed-term contracts can be offered when there is a legitimate reason (for example, maternity cover, paternity cover, adoption leave, long-term sickness, covering for a secondment). These exceptions are not expected to be the norm. Further examples of scenarios which can be considered a legitimate reason are included in FAQ 4 below.  

Employers should by default offer permanent contracts to new LEDs, and transition current LEDs to a permanent contract. Offering a fixed-term contract should be by exception and only where there is a legitimate reason to do so as per the detail in this guidance. As a result, it is the expectation that the overwhelming majority of LEDs are on substantive contracts. 

The deal recognises that there will need to be some exceptions and some examples are listed in the deal: employed for the purpose of covering a secondment, long-term sickness, maternity, paternity, shared parental or adoption leave. 

Where an employer has received external funding, for example though charitable or research funding, which necessitates the creation of an LED role, a fixed-term contract may be offered. If the employer offers a fixed-term contract, the employer must note its legal obligations around ending fixed-term contracts. 

For research or academic posts which are funded by employers internally, then the LED should be offered a permanent contract as a default, except where there is a genuinely time limited requirement for the role such as a six-month project. If the funding is extended, the LED should be offered a permanent contract.  

Where funding has been consistently renewed over the past two years, a permanent contract should be offered. For example, a clinical teaching fellow whose salary is partially or wholly funded through university funding should be offered a substantive contract if funding will remain the same going forward into the next year or the role will continue to be required.

The deal states that this exercise is "From August 2026". The expectation is that there is demonstrable evidence of progress of this being rolled out in September. 

As outlined in the monitoring section, we expect that trusts put in place their own process to provide assurance that the deal is being implemented as intended. This should include regular reporting to the trust board and engagement on the plans for roll out with the relevant JLNC.  

All new contracts should by default be substantive except where there is a legitimate reason. The option of a substantive contract should be made available where there is no legitimate reason creating an exemption. This is particularly important for doctors who have been employed continuously by the employer for two years or more, as they may have statutory protection against unfair dismissal under the Employment Rights Act.  

A “repurposed contract” refers to the 2016 Terms and Conditions of Service (TCS), which have been adapted for locally employed doctors rather than creating a new contract. As the 2016 TCS were originally designed for fixed-term training appointments, amendments are required to make them suitable for permanent contracts. 

These are two separate elements of the deal that both need to be completed.  

It is important however to remember that:  

Further guidance on moving LEDs onto repurposed 2016 contracts will be shared soon. 

This approach of offering substantive contracts to locally employed doctors will require a change in thinking and working practice across the organisation and may require different approaches in the future to how things might have been undertaken historically. It is important to make sure that staff involved in finance and budget management and workforce planning are aware of this change in practice.  

It is recommended that employers set up a short-term working group to bring together key staff required to implement this change. This would include staff required to implement the contract change, and staff responsible for workforce planning for locally employed doctors in the short, medium and longer term. This might include workforce teams, medical directors, staff-side resident doctor LNC reps, the LNC chair, directors of medical education, operations managers and finance colleagues.  

With a more permanent LED workforce, day to day management, induction, support and appraisal of the workforce will also need to be given due consideration.  

Employers will be used to utilising fixed-term contracts for locally employed doctors and this change will require more rigorous consideration of how employers utilise locally employed doctors. Employers should consider whether it is appropriate to appoint a permanent locally employed doctor in each circumstance and consider how they need to use this workforce more flexibly to avoid unnecessary redundancies. Examples of the considerations employers should make are outlined in paragraphs a to d in FAQ 4 “Short-term additional capacity in response to unpredictable demand” section.   

Employers may also wish to consider how they recruit and manage pending offers with regard to the changes in workforce planning.  

No. Employers do not need to interview current LEDs prior to transitioning to substantive contracts, nor follow a separate recruitment process. Offers to make LEDs permanent should be seen as making existing roles permanent, not appointing to new/distinct permanent roles. 

As part of implementation, employers should have due regard to equality, and it is recommended that an equality impact assessment is conducted.