Hertfordshire County Council s Business Travel and Subsistence Policy Version date: January 2013

Transcription

1 Hertfordshire County Council s Business Travel and Subsistence Policy Version date: January 2013 Summary The principle of these allowances is the reimbursement of expenses incurred in the course of an employee s official duties. They are non taxable. Any payments made which are in excess of reimbursement of actual expenses, are deemed to be a taxable benefit. HM Revenue and Customs imposes stringent guidelines in this area and employers are legally bound to supply details to them. Introduction Hertfordshire County Council is committed to reducing the environmental, financial and social impacts of its business travel. This means looking at ways to: reduce miles travelled; identify methods of transport with lower carbon emissions per mile; reduce business travel costs; and improve the safety of employees and those around them when travelling on business. Hertfordshire County Council reimburses approved expenses incurred in the course of employees official duties. HCC respect and value the diversity of individuals and embrace Equality and Diversity in everything we do in line with HCC s values and behaviours and policies which apply to all staff regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, faith or belief. Key Points The allowances are a combination of nationally agreed rates and locally agreed rates. These rates are reviewed and updated, where appropriate, annually by Herts HR. Subsistence claims will be paid on the basis of actual expenditure up to the maximum set out in section five. Payment for subsistence will normally be made only where an out of county trip is made or an overnight stay is involved. In exceptional circumstances, Chief Officers can agree to the reimbursement of expenditure above the normal allowances. If necessary, further guidance can be obtained from your Herts HR Business Partner team. Employees using their cars on County Council business and claiming expenses must have an insurance policy that covers business use and third party claims, including passengers. All employees should ensure

2 the car they are driving is taxed and has a valid MOT certificate, and the car is fit to drive. Travel and subsistence allowances can also be claimed when undertaking work in relation to associated organisations, for example a District or Borough Council or a professional body where it is relevant to the job and has been approved beforehand by the Chief Officer. HCC monitor and report on business mileage and have set an annual target of 1.5% carbon reduction to reduce business mileage in the organisation. All employees should make a travel assessment prior to undertaking each business journey to ensure the most effective use of resources. Managers are responsible for ensuring their employees are aware of the policy and challenge employees, as necessary, to review their travel plans to make sure it is the best use of time and resources. When dealing with any practices listed in the Business Travel and Subsistence Policy employees must comply with the Bribery Act A person may be guilty of an offence of bribery under the act if they offer, promise or give financial advantage or other advantage to someone; or if they request, agree or accept, or receive a bribe from another person. If you believe that a person has failed to comply with the Bribery Act, you should notify your line manager immediately, or refer to the Whistle Blowing Policy. Scope This policy applies to all Hertfordshire County Council employees who undertake business travel. Business travel is defined as attending official meetings, conferences, training courses, to carry out site work or visits or to work with clients etc. The allowances in this policy apply to employees covered by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (Green Book), Chief Officers, Soulbury, JNC, Fire & Rescue and all non-teaching staff. Business travelling principles Business journeys should only be made where necessary. Alternatives, such as contact by telephone, or telephone conferencing should always be considered. Because the principle is reimbursement, under no circumstances may an employee claim for expenditure not actually incurred or mileage not actually travelled. Travelling when part of an employee s job (excluding normal home to work journey) or travelling between locations/meetings (excluding normal home to work journey) can be claimed as working time. Claims for business travel must be claimed on a monthly basis to avoid a large amount of extra NI contributions being deducted in any one month and VAT receipts must be provided. All claims over 2 months old will be referred to a line manager for authorisation.

3 When considering business journeys, employees and managers should ensure their decided option of travel is time and cost effective. Managers are responsible for challenging employees travel to ensure they are making the best use of their time and resources. Where visits to other HCC sites are required, employees should seek to arrange meetings in similar locations on the same days, to share lifts or to use public transport. Employees should make use of the touchdown areas when working from different bases between meetings. Employees should share journeys with others as this not only reduces carbon emissions, but eases car parking issues. Employees are encouraged to make use of public transport when travelling out of the County. Journeys to London should usually be by train. Subsistence allowances Purpose of allowance The intention is to ensure that employees are compensated when they incur expenditure which is additional to their normal outlay as a result of being on Hertfordshire County Council or related business. Eligibility Payment for subsistence will normally be made only where an out of county trip is made or an overnight stay is involved. In addition, an employee becomes eligible for subsistence allowance when a suitable meal is not provided, and: Note: When prevented by their official duties from taking a meal at their home, administrative centre or establishment where meals are normally taken; or When expenditure is incurred additional to that incurred when following normal meal arrangements. If subsistence allowance is claimed within a 5-mile radius of their normal place of work, then an income tax liability is incurred on the amount claimed. Basis of allowance Subsistence claims for meals and beverages should reflect the actual expenditure incurred up to the maximum. The council is not able to cover the cost of alcoholic beverages in any circumstance. Receipts are required to provide evidence of proof of expenditure.

4 In instances where employees have long term absences from the place where meals are normally taken, or where such absences are the norm, then it is open to the Chief Officer to determine special arrangements in order to reflect working practices. Employees can also use an HCC purchasing card to pay for overnight stays if they are an authorised purchasing card holder. Current local rates of subsistence Current local rates Local subsistence rates from 1st April These rates apply to all employees. Employees can claim up to the following; Local Subsistence Rates: Breakfast Up to 5.44 Lunch Up to 7.49 Tea Up to 2.96 Dinner Up to 9.28 Overnight stay (Bed and Breakfast) Up to If, in exceptional circumstances, an employee necessarily incurs additional expenditure, they should notify their manager immediately; where possible this should be before any payment is made. Car mileage and travelling allowances Home to work mileage Mileage from home to the workplace is considered normal commuting and will not be reimbursed; this includes use of public transport. When an employee uses a different method of transport to their normal home to work commute, they should still deduct the usual cost of their home to work commute from any journey claimed. Business travel mileage Business travelling expenses are travelling expenses which involve two types of business journey: Journeys which employees have to make in the performance of their duties, and Journeys which employees make to or from a place they have to attend in the performance of their duties but not journeys which are ordinary commuting to and from the place of work or private travel. Some examples of what can be claimed are detailed in Appendix 1

5 Travelling by taxi Employees are expected to use taxis only when strictly necessary and where it is cost effective to do so. Receipts should be obtained and submitted for all journeys. Examples include: Where a significant proportion of the journey is carried out via public transport, and where any form of public transport does not terminate within reasonable walking distance of the destination; or If the cost of parking congestion charge and/or road toll outweigh the cost of a taxi, and no public transport is available. Car parking Car parking charges incurred at train stations and car parks where the purpose is in the performance of the employee s duties will be reimbursed. Employees may not claim for any parking charges in relation to their normal home to work commute. Car milage rate (applicable from 6 April 2012) Car Milage Car Milage rate per mile Up to and including 10,000 miles 45p Over 10,000 miles 25p VAT in petrol element 2.33p Note: Employees' car insurance must cover business travel to claim these rates. Training, passenger and pedal cycle rate (applicable from 1st April 2012) Rates per mile Training milage 31.30p Passenger allowance 3.17p* VAT in petrol element 2.33p Pedal Cycle 9.98p *Per passenger, per mile and only payable when claiming training mileage. Single lease car mileage rate (applicable from 6th April 2012) Lease Car Rates per mile Single lease car 14p VAT in petrol element 2.33p

6 Rates for motorcycles and three wheeled cars (applicable from 1st April 2012) Per mile VAT on petrol element included Motorcycle with Side Car 24.41p With Side Car = 1.67p and Three Wheeler Three Wheelers = 2.25p Solo M/C under 150cc 13.16p 1.67p Solo M/c Over 150cc 18.74p 1.67p Working at home allowance This allowance applies to designated home workers. These are individuals who have had an assessment by their manager and it has been agreed that they may operate using their home as a main administrative base. This allowance is not intended for mobile workers whose administrative base is a County Council office but who may work in a variety of other locations including their own home should they chose to do so. Amounts up to 104 p.a. are not subject to income tax. Working at Home Alllowance (Applicable from 1st April 2012) 1.64 per whole day 83 pence per half day First aiders allowance The First Aiders allowance from designated/qualifying individuals is (Applicable from 1 April 2012) This is paid monthly with pay and attracts Tax and NI. Booking tickets for travel and accommodation The County Council works with Redfern Travel Management (from August 2011) to manage all travel and accommodation bookings, including bookings for train journeys, overnight accommodation and conferences. All bookings, including train fares, should be made via using their. Redfern will find the best available travel rates guarantee that their prices cannot be beaten. If you find a cheaper ticket elsewhere you must ensure that the criteria are exactly the same. If this is the case, contact in Strategic Procurement, who will discuss this with Redfern. If you are a frequent traveller and usually make your own travel arrangements, you will be trained to be a Booker. However, if your department Support Officer usually books your travel, they will be trained as a Super Booker and they will continue to make your travel arrangements as normal. It is recommended that each department has a number of Super- Bookers. Please contact ( or ext. ) to book a training session.

7 Oyster Cards Oyster cards will also be available for people travelling across London. Oyster is much cheaper than paying for a single or return journey by cash or credit/debit card. Furthermore for multiple journeys within one day, Oyster will never charge you more than the one day travel card ticket, so it will never be more expensive. If you are a regular traveller into London you can apply for your own Oyster card using a council purchasing card. Oyster Cards can be purchased online at Occasional travellers can ask a Super-Booker for one of the department Oyster cards which can be shared among team members. All Oyster cards must be linked to a purchasing card as they will be automatically topped up once they fall below 8. When you order your Oyster card, your Department will pay a 5 deposit. This is fully refundable if you decide that your Oyster card will never be used. In practice, a few Oyster cards should be held by Super-Bookers in each department for use by infrequent travellers across London. They are not personal and can be used by anyone. A signing in/out sheet will be provided for monitoring who has each card. If your Oyster card is lost or stolen you must report the loss as soon as possible, either by phone to your Super Booker or to Transport for London / station staff. The card will be cancelled and another issued. You should then buy a ticket at the ticket office or ticket machine using a purchasing card if you have one, or pay for the ticket yourself and reclaim the cost via expenses. Please note that you are required to touch in your Oyster card at the start of each journey and touch out again at the end of each journey. If you forget to touch in you are effectively travelling without a ticket and you may face a penalty fare or in some circumstances be prosecuted. If this does happen, speak to the ticket collector at the barrier and explain the problem. If you fail to touch out you will pay a maximum Oyster fare, which could be as much as You might have the opportunity to go back and touch out later that day if you haven t used the Oyster since. Procedures Before making a business journey employees should consider how they plan their journey and by what means of transport they use to travel. A travel decision tree has been introduced to assist with this process. Click on the link above to access. Employees who have access should submit their claims through the Employee Self-Service (ESS). There is more guidance on submitting a travel claim through ESS on the Travel and Expenses page on ESS. Employees without access to ESS should submit their claims through the expenses claims form TE003.

8 Manager authorisation All claims for business travel must be authorised by the individual s manager if they meet the criteria below. Claims through ESS will be sent for authorisation automatically and will appear on the line manager s universal worklist on MSS. One in six claims submitted must be authorised by the manager. All claims over 150 must be authorised by the manager. All claims made under a miscellaneous wage type of more than 100 must be authorised by the manager. All claims made under a miscellaneous wage type of 500 or more must be authorised by the budget holder. All claims over 2 months old will be referred to a line manager for authorisation and may not be approved Line managers are responsible for checking that all travel and subsistence claims have receipts. Travel Decision tree (PDF file 106KB) Example Mileage Scenarios Mileage from home to the workplace is considered normal commuting and will not be reimbursed; this includes use of public transport. Example: Where an employee uses a different method of transport to their normal home to work commute, they should still deduct the usual cost of their home to work journey from any amount claimed. For example, if an employee is claiming for a one-off train journey to a conference, and they usually travel to work in their car, they should deduct the cost of their petrol at the current HCC mileage rate. Business travelling expenses are travelling expenses which involve two types of business journey: Journeys which employees have to make in the performance of their duties, and Journeys which employees make to or from a place they have to attend in the performance of their duties but not journeys which are ordinary commuting to and from the place of work or private travel. Some examples of what can be claimed are shown below: Travel by the employee in performance of their duties

9 Example: Baljit travels from her permanent workplace to visit a client and back again. The full cost of travel can be reimbursed because it is in the performance of Baljit s duties. Travel to a place where attendance is in the performance of duties Example: Although Belinda has a permanent workplace in Stevenage, she has to spend several days each month visiting clients all over the county, often travelling directly to and from home. Belinda can claim the full cost of her business travel to clients, but not for her travel to her permanent workplace in Stevenage because that is ordinary commuting. If Belinda leaves her home and drives directly to a client she will still have deduct her normal home to work commute from any claim. Travel by the employee in performance of their duties outside of their normal working hours. Example: Dermot s job role occasionally requires him to attend his permanent workplace at Apsley outside normal working hours for example, at the weekend. This means he incurs extra costs on bus fares. Dermot cannot claim travel because all journeys between home and his permanent workplace are ordinary commuting. It makes no difference that HCC requires him to make the journeys or that they are made outside his normal working hours.