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MRCPUK JRCPTB CPD

Training

Terms and conditions

Contract

1. These Terms and Conditions form the contract between the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board (JRCPTB) and the enrolled trainee.

2. They are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Offer and Acceptance

3. Postgraduate medical education in the UK is a joint responsibility of the four Departments of Health (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), the General Medical Council (GMC), Postgraduate Deaneries and the Royal Colleges. The JRCPTB undertakes the role on behalf of the three UK Royal Colleges of Physicians (Edinburgh, Glasgow and London).

4. The JRCPTB's role comprises a number of different functions, which in general are:

  • the production of specialty curricula, including specified assessment methods, for 30 medical specialties and 3 subspecialties, as well as for internal medicine training (IMT) / core medical training (CMT);
  • providing external advice to Deaneries on the quality management of training in different locations as part of the GMC's Quality Framework; and
  • recording and monitoring trainees' progress and making recommendations for the award of specialty certification.

5. The JRCPTB offers to provide these services to and on behalf of suitably qualified and eligible trainees through its online enrolment process or on the request of a trainee to the Enrolments team.

6. The acceptance of the trainee is signified by online enrolment via the JRCPTB website or manual or other enrolment arranged by the trainee through the JRCPTB Enrolments Team.

Consideration

7. The consideration provided by the JRCPTB are the services set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 above.

8. The consideration provided by the trainee is full payment of the JRCPTB's published fees.

Fees

9. The total fees for Core Training and Specialty Training, as well as the annual fees relating to LAT, FTTA and FTSA posts, are stated on the JRCPTB website on the fees and membership page.

10. For all trainees who do not elect to pay their fees annually through Collegiate Membership, fees are payable in full to the JRCPTB at the time of enrolment. These fees, paid in advance, will not be subject to any uplift or reduction in respect of future fee level reviews (para.18).

11. Trainees who enrolled on or after 01/08/2007 and at the time of enrolment, elected to pay through Collegiate Membership, will make 2 payments to cover Core Training and 5 to cover Specialty Training. These payments will be at the rate in place at the time of payment (para.18).

12. In both cases the first payment should be made directly to the JRCPTB on enrolment. Thereafter, payments will be collected annually by the College of choice on their annual membership renewal date.

13. The Core Medical and Specialty Training fees are irrespective of the time taken to complete training. Therefore, even if it takes a trainee 10 years to complete Specialty Training, he or she only has to make five payments through Collegiate Membership or an equivalent amount direct to the JRCPTB.

14. All LAT, FTTA, FTSTA and SAS fees must be paid directly to the JRCPTB. These fees are not eligible to be paid through a Collegiate Membership scheme.

15. Separately paid fees for LAT posts at Specialty level (after 01/08/2007) may be counted as one of the five payments required for Specialty Training, up to a maximum of two, within the Collegiate Membership schemes. Within this maximum of two, an old (pre 01/08/2007) LAT fee of £50 will be counted towards a reduced instalment amount of £100 (i.e. an additional £50 is due to make the full instalment). If the trainee pays the Specialty Training fee in full, in advance, directly to the JRCPTB, the amount due may be reduced by the like amount(s) to take these provisions into account.

16.  Fees collected for SAS grade access to the ePortfolio cannot be counted towards the payments required at Specialty or Core training levels.

17. The JRCPTB reviews its fees annually to reflect changing costs and circumstances in order to ensure the continued provision of a high level service to trainees and all stakeholders.

18. Any amendments to fee rates will be published on the JRCPTB website at least 30 days before they become effective.

19. Enrolment fees relate to an individual and not a particular appointment and no fee will be charged for re-enrolment in a new specialty unless the change happens after the ST5 ARCP. If the change of specialty does happen after this deadline then an administration fee of £50 may be charged to cover the administration costs resulting from the change of programme.

20. All fees must be paid in full before the completion of training and before the JRCPTB will release a Certificate of Completion of Core Medical Training, or recommend a Certification of Completion of Training (CCT) or Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration via the Combined Programme route (CESR (CP)).

21. In the event of any payment not being received in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, the JRCPTB reserves the right to withdraw its support from a trainee and may remove access to the ePortfolio. These actions may lead to a delay in the CCT date and a refusal to support applications for training credit.

22. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has agreed that mandatory trainee registration fees are now tax deductible. A new order came into force on 10 May 2013 which means tax relief can be claimed on any ‘fee payable by a specialty registrar to a body which recommends specialty registrars to the registrar of the General Medical Council for the award of a certificate of completion of training'

Collegiate Membership

23.  The rules governing payment of JRCPTB training fees through a Collegiate Membership scheme are set in this section and the section on ‘Fees' above.

24. The Collegiate Membership Schemes are only open to those in substantive appointments in Core or Specialty Training. Paying fees in this way allows the enrolment fee to be spread over a number of years. In addition to the JRCPTB training fee, each College will charge its own Membership subscription.

25. Membership forms must be completed and received by the relevant College within 3 months of the enrolment application with the JRCPTB. Failure to provide the forms within this timeframe may lead to the option to pay the fees via Collegiate Membership being withdrawn. Full fees would then become immediately payable directly to the JRCPTB. All matters relating to payments through Collegiate Membership are handled by the relevant Membership team and hence any communications about Membership should be addressed to them directly.

26. As noted in para.12, the first payment for trainees registering to pay via Collegiate Membership must be made at time of enrolment directly by the JRCPTB. Depending upon the timing of this and the Collegiate collection date, a trainee may be required to make more than 1 payment in a 12 month period.

27. All payments must be made before the completion of training. If there is insufficient time for all the payments to be collected through Collegiate Membership, the trainee will be required to pay the outstanding amount directly to the JRCPTB before completion. Dependant upon the date of completion of training, this too could conceivably result in a trainee being required to make more than 1 payment in a 12 month period.

28. Under the Collegiate Membership plan that was available before 01/08/2007 trainees paid fees for each full or part year of training. It was recognised that this disadvantaged certain trainees, for instance those who trained flexibly or extended their training. In order to make the system more equitable for all, this was replaced by the current system. Transitional arrangements were adopted to ensure that trainees already in training would not be disadvantaged by the new system. Trainees may apply to stop paying JRCPTB fees when they have paid either the full fee due at the time of enrolment or the full value of the fixed payment plan, whichever is greater.

29.  Annual fees are collected alongside Collegiate Membership subscription fees on a set date on an annual basis.

30. Default dates for collection of Collegiate Membership fees are:

  • Edinburgh: 1 October;
  • Glasgow: 1 April;
  • London Core Medical trainees: 1 August; and
  • London Specialty trainees: 1 October.

31. After the correct number of payments have been made, the College of choice will cease the collection of JRCPTB fees and will collect only their membership subscription and any other agreed fees.

Payment Terms

32. Payments due directly to the JRCPTB must be made at the time of enrolment or no later than 30 days after a request for payment from the Enrolments Team.

33. Payments made through Collegiate Membership schemes must be paid in accordance with the College's payment terms.

34. The outstanding balance of the full training fees of any trainee who cancels Collegiate Membership or elects to discontinue paying training fees through a Collegiate Membership scheme, must be paid in full directly to the JRCPTB within 30 days of resignation or other notice.

35. Any trainee with training fees in arrears for more than 30 days through Collegiate Membership may be required to pay the full outstanding balance of training fees (not merely the sum in arrears) due directly to the JRCPTB within 30 days of notification.

36. The JRCPTB reserves the right to charge a late payment administration fee of not more than 10% of the original fee for any payments that are not received within 30 days of request.

37. Payment can be made to the JRCPTB via the online enrolment system by credit or debit card (excluding American Express) or by calling the Enrolments Team on 0203 0751 283 (the line is open from 09:30 to 13:30 and from 14:00 to 16:00 Monday to Thursday and from 09:30 to 13:30 on Fridays).

Refunds

38. Refund applications must be submitted by the trainee on the official, easy to complete, JRCPTB refund form. A copy is available on application to the Enrolments Team.

39. All refund applications must be received by the Enrolments Team within 3 months of the payment under query being made; excluding refund applications relating to resignation from a training programme.

40. Refunds will be considered inter alia:

  • when more than the maximum number of required payments have been made through a Collegiate Membership scheme;
  • on resignation from the training programme;
  • on the death of the trainee; or
  • where eg LAT or FTSA fees have not been offset against Specialty Training fees.

41. A trainee who terminates training may be entitled to a refund of fees paid in advance for any full years (12 month periods from the date of commencement) of training not undertaken.

42. No refunds will be given for partly completed years of training.

Out of programme

43. When a trainee who is paying by annual payments through a Collegiate Membership scheme goes out of programme on eg maternity leave or on properly authorised research, JRCPTB fees may be suspended until training recommences with the relevant permissions from the Collegiate Membership team.

44. Where fees have been paid in advance directly to the JRCPTB these cannot be refunded for an out of programme event.

Resignation from training before completion

45. The trainee must inform the JRCPTB in writing at least 3 months before the final day of training.

46. The JRCPTB reserves the right to deactivate the ePortfolio account within 3 months of the last day of training or 30 days from receipt of the notice of resignation. It is the trainee's responsibility to download any forms or other documentation they may need in the future. The JRCPTB may charge an administration fee for the retrieval of any ePortfolio information at a later date.

Non-training grade access to ePortfolio

47. Non-training grade access to ePortfolio may be granted on payment in advance of a sum equivalent to the instalment amount for Core and Specialty Trainees.