Choosing the right recruitment system for your NHS organisation is a significant decision. We've put together an honest, feature-by-feature comparison of Jobtrain and Civica Trac -so you can make a well-informed choice that's right for your trust.
| 30+ | 22 days | 10+ | #1 |
| NHS organisations using Jobtrain |
Average time to hire for trusts using Jobtrain |
Years supporting NHS recruitment teams across the UK | Only ATS offering real-time, two-way ESR integration (outside NHS Jobs) |
We know how much pressure NHS recruitment teams are under. Whether you're managing high-volume hiring across multiple trusts, trying to reduce your time to hire or looking to reduce administration and increase effciciencies for hiring teams, your recruitment system is the engine room of everything you do.
Both Jobtrain and Civica Trac are established platforms with a track record in the NHS. But we believe transparency matters - and that NHS recruitment leaders need a clear, factual picture of what's on offer before committing to a long-term contract.
That's why we've created this comparison checklist. Not to talk down the competition, but to give you the full picture across the areas that matter most: candidate experience, onboarding and compliance, ESR integration, data insights, NHSE reporting and support. Download it, share it with your team and use it to structure your evaluation.
"Overall, having everything be electronic forms has been a game-changer already. Consolidating multiple systems and bringing recruitment online into one system has been revolutionary so far. We're seeing true transformation happening in real-time and Jobtrain is allowing us to do that."
Jay Patel, Strategic Resourcing Manager — NHS Leicestershire Partnership Trust
Download the comparison checklist
The checklist covers over 80 features across six core areas. Here's a snapshot of where Jobtrain offers capabilities that go beyond what Civica Trac currently provides.
We are the only ATS (outside of NHS Jobs) to offer real-time, two-way ESR integration. Data flows both ways, instantly. Civica Trac's integration is one-way only and not real-time - which can add time and manual effort to your workflows.
Fully integrated Right to Work and DBS checks through TrustID, e-signatures, online offer approval, online referencing, pre-employment checklists and a Candidate Welcome Hub - all in one platform. Time to onboard can be reduced to as little as 24 hours.
WRES, WDES and NHSE time to hire reporting as standard -alongside diversity analytics and regional analytics by trust. The tools NHS organisations need to meet their statutory EDI obligations without building workarounds.
Beyond NHS Jobs: programmatic advertising, a job board marketplace with AI recommendations, direct integrations to over 3,000 job boards and AI-assisted advert creation and image generation - to reach candidates where they actually are.
Internal, external and redeployee candidate portals, mobile-first experience, 2-stage flexible application forms, apply without registration, CV parsing, Shaw Trust Certified Accessibility and Recite Me - for a truly inclusive candidate experience.
Unlimited support for users, hiring managers, agencies and candidates. A dedicated NHS specialist Account Manager, regular check-ins, a UK-based Talent Intelligence team, free market reports, and an innovtive roadmap of future improvements. Not just a platform - a true partnership.
For ICBs and shared service teams
If you're responsible for recruitment across multiple NHS trusts - or you're building towards an ICB-wide or shared service model - a single-trust ATS simply won't give you the visibility, flexibility or reporting capability you need.
Jobtrain is designed for exactly this. A single platform that can support multiple trusts simultaneously, each with their own branded careers site and local configuration. We support multiple ESR VPDs - separate data environments within ESR for different organisations - meaning each trust's data stays accurate and separate, while your regional team retains full oversight. Consolidated reporting across the patch, without the spreadsheets.
Multi-trust support
One platform, multiple trusts - each with local branding and configuration
Multiple ESR VPDs
Separate ESR data environments per trust, all managed from a single instance
Regional analytics
Comprehensive reporting across trusts, including EDI and Time to Hire
"We felt we needed to balance the capability of the system we chose with the capability to work effectively with NHSS in delivering our specific needs. The time to hire dropped by 31%. That saved nearly a month per hire."
Neil Warbrick, Programme Director - NHS Scotland
Get a clear, factual view of how Jobtrain and Civica Trac compare across over 80 features - so you can go into any procurement conversation fully informed.
We work with NHS trusts, ICBs, local authorities and shared service recruitment teams across the UK. Our clients use Jobtrain to reduce Time to Hire, improve the candidate experience, and meet their EDI reporting obligations — all from one platform. We're also a proud partner of HPMA (Healthcare People Management Association), reflecting our shared commitment to improving workforce experiences across health and care.
See our NHS clients ›
Common questions from NHS recruitment teams comparing ATS platforms.
Download the checklist to compare over 80 features side-by-side.
A good NHS recruitment system should do six things well: integrate directly with ESR, handle Right to Work and DBS compliance in one place, automate statutory EDI reporting, give candidates a modern mobile-first experience, support regional and multi-trust models and come with genuine NHS support behind it. Many applicant tracking systems (ATS) cover the basics of posting to NHS Jobs and little else. The gap usually shows up later, in the manual workarounds your team ends up building. Jobtrain was built around these six areas specifically, which is why NHS trusts using it reach an average time to hire of 22 days, against the NHS England target of 37.
ESR (the Electronic Staff Record) is the NHS's national system for HR and payroll. ESR integration means your recruitment software can pass new-starter data straight into ESR instead of your team rekeying it by hand. It matters because manual rekeying is slow, error-prone and a compliance risk on exactly the data you cannot afford to get wrong. Most recruitment systems offer a one-way link, if any. Jobtrain is the only applicant tracking system (ATS) outside NHS Jobs to offer real-time, two-way ESR integration, so data flows both ways instantly and your team stops double-keying.
NHS trusts can reduce time to hire by removing the manual handoffs between advertising, shortlisting, offers and pre-employment checks where days quietly disappear. NHS England sets a time to hire target of 37 days, but many trusts struggle to hit it. The trusts that consistently beat the target tend to have three things in common: automated compliance checks, a fast candidate experience and a recruitment system that talks to ESR directly. NHS trusts using Jobtrain average 22 days and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust cut its time to hire by 40%, hitting a green rating for the first time in years.
WRES (the Workforce Race Equality Standard) and WDES (the Workforce Disability Equality Standard) are mandatory NHS reporting standards covering race and disability equality across the workforce. Every trust has to produce them and for many resourcing teams that still means hours of manual data-pulling. A modern recruitment system should generate this reporting automatically from the data it already holds. Jobtrain includes WRES, WDES and NHS England time to hire reporting as standard, alongside diversity and regional analytics, so the statutory reports produce themselves rather than eating into your team's week.
NHS trusts are not limited to Civica Trac or NHS Jobs. Trusts must advertise roles on NHS Jobs, but are free to run a separate recruitment system alongside it - and many now do. The main Trac alternatives are full-featured platforms that add automation, AI-assisted advert creation, integrated onboarding and compliance and deeper reporting on top of the basics. Jobtrain is one such alternative, offering more than 40 features Trac does not, including real-time two-way ESR integration and a full onboarding and compliance suite. Over 30 NHS organisations now use it.
A modern NHS recruitment system does far more than post vacancies to NHS Jobs and connect to ESR. It adds intelligent automation, AI-assisted tools, in-depth reporting and a fully integrated onboarding and compliance suite, all of which older platforms like Civica Trac tend to lack. The practical difference shows up in time to hire, agency spend and how much manual work lands on your team. As a direct Trac alternative, Jobtrain offers more than 40 features Trac does not, including AI-powered advert creation, real-time two-way ESR integration, anonymous shortlisting and integrated Right to Work and DBS checks. NHS trusts using it average a time to hire of just 22 days.
Currently, only Jobtrain offers a 360° real-time bi-directional ESR integration as standard, alongside full NHS Jobs vacancy posting. Unlike Civica Trac, which offers only a one-way ESR connection that is not in real time, Jobtrain keeps data synchronised in both directions instantly - reducing manual rekeying, errors and compliance risk. It also supports multiple ESR VPDs (virtual private databases), meaning a single Jobtrain platform can serve multiple trusts in a regional model, something Civica Trac cannot do.
The results have been significant and measurable. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust switched from a legacy system to Jobtrain and achieved a 40% reduction in time-to-hire, bringing performance consistently below the NHSE 37 day SLA target, the first time they had achieved a green rating in years. The trust also delivered a £90,000 recurring annual saving on people and administration costs, saved 109 hours per month across the organisation and reduced contract processing time by 66%. Candidate satisfaction scores rose from 2 out of 5 to 4.4 out of 5 and resourcing team satisfaction improved from 2.2–3.5 to 4.1–4.8 out of 5. These results are repeatable; they reflect what a modern NHS ATS can deliver when combined with a structured recruitment transformation programme.
Jobtrain includes automated WRES (Workforce Race Equality Standard) and WDES (Workforce Disability Equality Standard) reporting, as well as NHSE Time to Hire reporting - all built in as standard. Civica Trac does not offer these. For NHS HR Directors and Heads of Resourcing who spend hours producing these reports manually, Jobtrain eliminates that burden entirely. The Advanced Insights platform also allows teams to build custom dashboards, set up scheduled automated reports and access comprehensive regional analytics across multiple trusts - giving both operational teams and ICB-level leaders the data they need without the manual effort.
Very few. Most applicant tracking systems are designed around single-trust deployments and cannot support a shared service or ICB-wide model without significant workarounds.
Jobtrain is one of the only NHS ATS platforms built specifically for this. It operates on a shared platform with a local autonomy model, meaning multiple NHS trusts can use a single implementation while each trust retains its own branding, workflows, careers site and local configuration. It supports multiple ESR VPD integrations (virtual private databases - separate data environments within ESR for different organisations) from a single platform, enabling true regional shared service recruitment. Civica Trac cannot support this model. For NHS ICBs seeking to unify fragmented recruitment across multiple trusts, reduce duplication and generate cross-trust workforce intelligence, Jobtrain provides the infrastructure to do so.
An NHS recruitment system should only use AI that is assistive, transparent and human-led, in line with NHS procurement and regulatory expectations. In practice that means AI to help write and de-bias job adverts, generate assessment questions and surface strong candidates from your existing talent pool, but never AI that makes hiring decisions on its own. Human oversight has to sit at every stage.
Jobtrain offers all of these as optional, fully auditable features, with an AI job advert generator that includes bias checking to support Equality Act 2010 compliance. Its approach is set out in a published AI Assurance Statement covering GDPR, EU AI Act readiness and ICO guidance. Civica Trac offers no AI features.
Jobtrain provides a fully integrated onboarding and compliance suite that is not available in Civica Trac. This includes fully integrated Right to Work and DBS checks; an onboarding and compliance portal with candidate self-service (including custom offer letters, contracts, document upload and e-signature); online referencing capture and tracking; automated gaps and concerns approval workflows and a Candidate Welcome Hub to engage new hires before their start date.
At Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, moving to Jobtrain's onboarding tools reduced contract processing time by 66%, saving 28 hours per month and saved a further 21 hours per month of clinical time through digitised inductions and handoffs. Trac provides none of these features.
Jobtrain delivers a significantly more modern and accessible candidate experience than Civica Trac. It offers mobile-first apply, interview booking and onboarding; apply without registration and CV parsing with full candidate control. Jobtrain is also Shaw Trust Certified for accessibility and includes the Recite Me accessibility and inclusion toolbar, features Trac does not offer.
At Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, candidate satisfaction scores improved from 2 out of 5 on the legacy system to 4.4 out of 5 on Jobtrain, with candidates describing the process as easy, efficient and simple.
NHS trusts, ICBs and health organisations can procure a new applicant tracking system through recognised NHS and public sector procurement routes, including G-Cloud.
Jobtrain is available through these frameworks, enabling compliant and efficient procurement without a full tender process in many cases. If you're unsure which route is most appropriate for your organisation, our team can guide you through the options and provide documentation to support your business case. We also offer an NHS ATS Business Case Blueprint - a practical guide to building a board-ready investment case - available to download from our resource hub.
Implementation timelines vary depending on the complexity of your organisation and integration requirements, but Jobtrain's implementation team works to a structured programme designed to minimise disruption and get your team up and running efficiently, typically in about 8-10 weeks.
At Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Jobtrain was implemented with a 360° real-time ESR integration and a fully bespoke process covering approvals; shortlisting; interviews; offers; compliance checks and onboarding. Over 500 hiring managers were trained, with training rated at 4.5 out of 5. Every Jobtrain client receives a dedicated NHS recruitment experienced Account Manager; unlimited support for users, hiring managers and candidates and access to free industry guides, webinars and events, none of which Civica Trac provides as standard.
Our honest advice is no. The NHS Future Workforce Solution remains years from full deployment and its recruitment capabilities have not yet been defined. NHS Trusts that continue using Civica Trac or outdated systems while waiting for FWS are absorbing real, measurable costs in the meantime: administration time; agency spend; slow time-to-hire and poor candidate experience.
Jobtrain-using Trusts are already demonstrating returns: 40% faster time-to-hire, £90,000+ annual savings and sustained NHSE SLA compliance. A modern ATS like Jobtrain can be implemented now, deliver immediate ROI and will integrate with whatever the NHS Future Workforce Solution ultimately delivers. Waiting is a cost in itself.
Want to see Jobtrain in action? Book a demo here.