Guides / Code of Practice notice
Guide · rotations
Code of Practice notice periods: 12, 8 and 6 weeks
Before a resident doctor starts a placement in England, the deanery and the employer each have deadlines for telling them what they need to know. Here is what is due, when, and from whom.
The three deadlines
| Before the start | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| 12 weeks | The deanery (NHS England's local office) | Placement details to the doctor and the employer: post name and level, employer, site, start date and duration (s9.1). For a new starter, the application information goes to the employer (s7.3, 8.1). |
| 8 weeks | The employer | Post-specific information: hours and pattern including on-call, basic pay and supplements, pension, leave, and educational and clinical supervisors (s8.2). Also the generic work schedule, meaning the rota pattern (s8.3). |
| 6 weeks | The employer | The duty roster: the doctor's actual slot on the rota (s8.3). |
The contract itself is due at the start of the post, and no later than eight weeks after it (s8.4). The doctor's side: they should submit any leave they already know about within one week of the offer (s10.2).
Work out the deadlines for the coming changeovers with the free changeover and notice dates tool, which also adds them to your calendar.
If 12 weeks is not possible
When the deanery cannot meet the 12-week point, the doctor and the employer must be told why, and when the information will come. Some late changes are expected: the Code's monitoring allows for placements decided by an ARCP outcome and for late returns from maternity or sick leave, among others.
Is it contractual?
The Code is part of the 2016 terms and conditions for doctors in training (version 14, June 2026) as Annex C, and the eight-week generic work schedule is contractual (Schedule 4, paragraph 10). If the deanery misses its 12-week deadline, the employer must still take reasonable steps to meet its own. Changing the timeframes needs agreement between NHS Employers and the BMA.
When a deadline is missed
There is no exception-reporting route for a missed notice. The doctor raises it first with the organisation responsible (the deanery or the employer), which should reply within 10 working days, with an appeal to the national team after that (s12). Local offices report their 12-week performance quarterly.
The 10 Point Plan
NHS England's 10 Point Plan to improve resident doctors' working lives (August 2025, updated April 2026) restates the same points: work schedules at least eight weeks ahead, detailed rotas no later than six weeks before rotation, and the deanery to give trusts at least 90% of trainee information 12 weeks before rotation. Trusts' performance is now part of the NHS Oversight Framework, and NHS England publishes compliance data.
What this means for a programme director
- Placement decisions must be final well before the 12-week point, so allocation for an August changeover is done by early May.
- Keep a record of when each trust and each doctor was told. That is the evidence a quality visit or the dean's report will ask for.
- Joiners, transfers and returners are where the deadline slips; track them separately.
Last reviewed 12 October 2026. Applies to England; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements.