DST Employment Information

Here you will find employment information relevant to the Dental Specialty Training (DST) programme.

Sickness/absence reporting process for DSTs

The process for reporting sick leave is to inform your Educational Supervisor (ES) and scheme Training Programme Director (TPD).

HEIW receive monthly absence reports from NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP), which should all correspond with the sick days recorded on form. 

The process for requesting annual leave is to:

1. agree it with your ES and University Health Board (UHB) leave approver
2. request it on ESR
3. Leave approver will enter the leave into Intrepid

NWSSP as your employer send monthly annual leave trackers to all host University Health Boards to collate annual leave requests.

Less Than Full Time (LTFT) training

LTFT training is a scheme where doctors and dentists in training of all grades may work part-time. For further information and to apply please see our LTFT webpages.

DST Expenses

1. At the start of the training year HEIW pay host UHB’s £600 study allowance for all dental specialty trainees (StRs)
2. NWSSP set up StRs on the NHS expenses system; Assure Expenses.
3. StRs will receive log in details and guidance in the first few weeks following start date.
4. StRs are eligible to claim relocation expenses, excess travel (in line with relocation policy) business mileage, study allowance expenses and travel and subsistence in respect of study leave.
5. StRs add their expenses claim to the Assure Expenses system.
6. Approver is notified of the claim to approve.

You are not required to submit a request form to set up an expense account. Your account will be activated once your payroll record has been created and the information has been passed to ourselves. You will receive an email to your @Wales.NHS.UK email address, please check your junk mail if not received. Please note that your account will not be ready for use on your first day of employment.

To access the system for the first time go to http://www.sel-expenses.com and click on ‘forgotten details’. When you access your account for the first time – make sure your details are correct e.g., base location to which hospital you are working from on each rotation, address etc.

System Access – The system can be accessed from any PC, laptop or mobile device. More information on using the mobile app can be found in the Help and Support Section in Assure Expenses. 

Vehicles - Before you can make a claim for mileage your vehicle must be added into the expense system. Once approved by the expenses department you must then ensure all relevant duty of care information is uploaded (duty of care not required for relocation/excess mileage).

Claims - Must be completed in line with policy and submitted within the published deadlines via E-Expenses. You must submit claims within three months. Claims received outside this deadline may not be paid. Please allow adequate time for you claim to be approved. Please find more information on Shared Services Partnership website.

Receipts - Must accompany expenditure where necessary.

Medical and dental mileage rates are payable in line with current terms and conditions. The rate payable will be shown against your vehicle when making a claim.

Relocation expenses

New starter dental specialty trainees who are eligible to claim relocation reimbursement can claim against their relocation budget as per the HEIW Relocation and Reimbursement policy. Claims can be made via your Assure expenses account (select Approval Group: ‘Junior Relocation’/ Type of Expense: as appropriate)

Study leave

Eligible dental trainees are entitled to 30 days Study Leave per year and an annual £600 Study Budget (normally Sep-Aug each year). Please note that normally any unused budget is lost, however during and following Covid-19 unused funds have been rolled over into the following year (Study Leave Policy).

The process to claim expenses against your study budget is as follows:

• Apply for your study leave first via the Intrepid Database (this is approved by your hosting Health Board)
• Record the associated estimated expenses on Intrepid at the same time
• Once the event has taken place claim any associated fees, travel and subsistence costs via your  Assure Expenses account, uploading all relevant receipts (select Approval Group: ‘Junior Doctor – 043 Dental’ / Type of Expense: as appropriate)
• Actual expenses claimed will then be recorded on Intrepid by the approver, once approved
• Refer to Intrepid for your remaining study budget balance.

Business Mileage (for those travelling to other sites as part of their job, e.g. to community clinics)

Dental specialty trainees who need to travel to other hospital or community sites as part of their job are entitled to claim business mileage. The process to claim business mileage is as follows:

• Ensure that you have business insurance added to your vehicle insurance policy
• Claim via your Assure Expenses account (select Approval Group: ‘Junior Doctor – 043 Dental’ / Type of Expense: ‘Business Miles M&D’)
• Mileage claimed cannot include the mileage that you would normally travel from your home to your base site.

Excess Mileage (for those working permanently at split sites, e.g. orthodontics jobs with two hospital sites)

Dental specialty trainees who permanently work at split hospital sites as per their job description can claim excess mileage (which is different to business mileage). The process to claim excess mileage is as follows:

• Complete the NWSSP Excess Mileage Application Form in order to be set up for excess travel claims on the Assure Expenses system
• Claim via your Assure Expenses account (select Approval Group: ‘Junior Relocation’/ Type of Expense: as appropriate)
• Mileage claimed cannot include the mileage that you would normally travel from your home to your primary base site.

For wider information about single lead employer and contacts, visit our designated webpage.