Moving NHS Trusts: What Actually Transfers

This is about a voluntary move, not a TUPE service transfer

It's worth being precise about scope before anything else. This guide is about a voluntary job change — you've applied for, and accepted, a role at a different NHS trust, of your own choosing, the same way you'd change any other job. It is not about a TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings) service transfer, where an entire service or contract moves from one employer to another (for example, a community service moving from one trust to a different NHS or non-NHS provider) and staff are transferred as a group with their own specific statutory protections. TUPE transfers work under different rules entirely, with protections around terms and conditions that don't apply in the same way to an individual, voluntary move between employers — if that's your situation, this page isn't the right one for you.

What genuinely carries over

Two things are worth stating clearly and confidently upfront, because they're commonly misunderstood in the more anxious direction — plenty of staff assume, wrongly, that changing trust resets far more than it actually does.

• ✓ Continuous NHS service — your accumulated service across any NHS employer, not just your current trust, provided there isn't a disqualifying break between jobs. This underpins your annual leave entitlement tier, your sick pay entitlement tier, maternity/paternity pay qualifying periods, and your NHS redundancy pay calculation
• ✓ NHS Pension Scheme membership — designed to link automatically between NHS employers rather than treating you as having left and rejoined the scheme, though the administrative confirmation between employers' systems can sometimes lag behind your actual start date

Both of these are covered in much greater mechanical detail — including exactly what counts as a disqualifying break in service, and how the Inter-Authority Transfer (IAT) process actually works — in our dedicated Moving Between NHS Trusts: Pay and Pension guide. This page assumes that background and focuses on the things that genuinely reset, which get far less attention.

What resets: annual leave accrual in-year

This is arguably the most practically disruptive thing people overlook when planning a move, precisely because it sits right next to continuous service — a concept that does carry over — and it's easy to assume annual leave works the same way. It doesn't, quite.

In practice, this means your old trust should calculate and pay you for any leave you've accrued but not taken up to your leaving date (rather than it simply disappearing), while your new trust calculates your entitlement for the remainder of its own leave year from your actual start date. If your move happens partway through a leave year, it's genuinely worth confirming both sides of this — what you're owed for untaken leave from your old trust, and what your pro-rated entitlement looks like at your new one — rather than assuming a seamless, continuous leave balance that simply follows you across.

What resets: probation in your new post

This one is genuinely near-universal, and worth stating plainly: moving to a new NHS trust is, legally, taking up employment with a new employer, even if the role, band and clinical area are almost identical to what you were doing before. New employers commonly apply a fresh probationary period — often around six months, though the exact length varies by trust and by role — regardless of how many years of NHS experience you bring with you.

It's worth being clear that this is a genuinely different thing from your continuous NHS service for entitlement purposes, which does carry over. Probation is specifically your new employer's own process for assessing your suitability and performance in the new post, and it's applied fresh with each new employer almost without exception, however experienced or long-serving you were elsewhere. If you're not sure how your specific new trust applies probation, or whether any element of it can be shortened given your experience, it's a reasonable question to ask HR directly before you start, rather than assuming a standard national exemption exists — it generally doesn't.

What resets: local flexible working arrangements

If you'd built up an informal or formal flexible working arrangement with your previous line manager — a specific shift pattern, working from a particular base, adjusted hours around childcare or another commitment — it's important to understand that this generally doesn't transfer automatically to your new trust. An arrangement like this is typically specific to the agreement between you and your previous manager and employer, not a portable entitlement that moves with you.

• • Raise any working pattern that matters significantly to you as part of your new job offer discussion, ideally before you formally accept, rather than assuming it will simply continue
• • If it isn't agreed upfront, you'll generally need to submit a fresh flexible working request once you're in post at your new trust, under the current statutory framework — see ACAS and gov.uk for the current position on eligibility and process
• • A formal reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010 works similarly: your new employer has its own independent duty to consider adjustments, but you'll generally need to raise your situation afresh — often via occupational health — rather than assuming a previous arrangement transfers unchanged
• • Don't assume a verbal understanding with your old manager carries any weight with a new employer who wasn't part of that original conversation — get anything that matters to you confirmed in writing at the new trust

A quick reference table

What to actually check before you move

• ✓ Confirm your accrued, untaken annual leave position with your old trust before your leaving date, and your pro-rated entitlement for the remainder of the leave year at your new one
• ✓ Ask your new trust directly about its probationary period and whether any element flexes for experienced movers, rather than assuming a national exemption
• ✓ Raise any flexible working pattern or reasonable adjustment that matters to you as part of your new job offer discussion, before you formally accept, rather than after you start
• ✓ Check whether your DBS Update Service subscription (if you have one) can speed up your new trust's check
• ✓ Get your pay point, continuous service recognition, and any pay protection confirmed in writing before you resign your current post — see our Moving Between NHS Trusts: Pay and Pension guide for the full detail on that side
• ✓ If you're a union member, let your rep know you're moving — they can often flag trust-specific quirks in advance, particularly around probation and local flexible working practice

This guide is provided for general information only, is not affiliated with the NHS or the Department of Health and Social Care, and is not legal or HR advice — for decisions about your own move between NHS employers, confirm your specific position with your old and new trust's HR/payroll teams, NHS Pensions, and your union if you're a member, before you resign your current post.