NHS Fleet Travel & Expenses Policy

NHS Fleet Travel & Expenses Policy January 2009

Contents Section 1 Travel Policy Paragraph Introduction 1.00 Scope 1.30 General Principles 2.00 Health & Safety at Work 2.10 Drivers responsibility 2.30 Agenda for Change 2.40 Public Transport 2.70 Lease Car Scheme 3.00 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Travel Expenses Policy Mileage Allowances 4.00 Assessment of Entitlement Home to Base Travel 4.18 Excess Travel 4.21 Business Journeys commencing or ending at home 4.30 Geographically based staff 4.33 Lease Car Policy Definitions and Guidance Notes Driving at Work Policy Policy Rules for other Expenses Section 7 Information and Governance Policy Driver Registration Scheme Section 8 Health & Safety Policy Section 9 Extract from NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Section 17 Appendix A: Mileage Allowances General Appendix B: Mileage Allowances Clinical Staff Appendix C: Transitional Arrangements Appendix D: Implementation Plan Appendix E: Appendix F: Lease Car Terms and Conditions Travel and Subsistence Claim Form No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 2 of 9

Section 1 Travel Policy 1.0 INTRODUCTION As part of the Trusts standardisation of policies and procedures a number of proposals have been put forward by the Trust management to the staff side representatives in respect of travel policies currently operated by the Trust. This is to ensure that a single policy applicable to all staff throughout the Trust is in place within reasonable time frames. 1.1 This policy sets out the rules and guidance to be followed in respect of travel undertaken in the course of employment. 1.2 The policy should be read in conjunction with other policies as follows: Leased Car Policy Health and Safety Policy - Driving on Trust Business Travel Expenses Policy Scope 1.3 This policy does not apply to Directors of the Trust whose remuneration and lease car scheme is determined by the Remuneration and Terms of Service Committee. 1.4 This policy applies to all other staff who are required to travel to undertake their work. In practice some of the conditions are not applicable equally to all types of staff and this is highlighted where appropriate. However, all staff should comply with the general principles of this policy. 1.5 The new policies will apply from the 1 st June 2008. Transitional arrangements have been established and these are detailed in Annex B. 2.0 GENERAL PRINCIPLES 2.1 The Trust will reimburse all reasonable expenses incurred during the course of normal business travel. Business travel is considered to be all travel undertaken during the course of the working day but excluding normal commuting. Health and Safety at Work 2.1 The Health and Safety Executive has issued specific guidance in respect of the management of work-related road safety. The Trust has a duty of care to ensure that all employees undertaking travel in the course of their work are suitably qualified to do so and that their vehicle is appropriate and well maintained. The details of the requirements are set out in the Driving on Trust Business Policy quoted above. 2.2 In order to meet the Trust s Health and Safety duties and minimise risk, this process will be managed by Knowles Associates. All drivers are required to register their vehicle before using that vehicle for official business travel and to co-operate fully with the provision of information in this respect. No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 3 of 9

Driver Responsibility 2.3 Although the Trust will actively manage at work road risks, drivers remain responsible for their own and others safety on the road. Drivers must be aware of their responsibility to drive safely and to comply with Road Traffic Acts and the Highway Code at all times. Agenda for Change 2.4 The Trust abides by the rules of the Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions. These rules deal with the conditions of service of employees in the NHS and are updated from time to time. Sections 17 and 18 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook refer to Mileage Allowances and Subsistence Allowances payable to staff. Extracts of these rules are reproduced as part of this Policy where appropriate. 2.5 Agenda for Change is not applicable to Medical Staff, whose terms and conditions are set out in their Consultant Contract. The entitlement to mileage allowances is broadly the same as for non medical staff although alternative rates are payable. 2.6 Terms and Conditions for all groups of staff are supplemented by the Trust s policy on Leased Vehicles. Public Transport 2.7 Wherever appropriate, public transport should be used. Where any employee chooses to use their own vehicle for any journeys where public transport is readily accessible, they shall be paid at public transport rate only unless the needs of the service require them to use their car or a hire car. 2.8 In all cases, public transport should be used at the economy tariff. There is no entitlement to travel by first class for any employee. 3.0 LEASE CAR SCHEME 3.1 The Trust operates a lease car scheme and all employees who are required to travel for the Trust may be eligible to join the scheme. Under the scheme cars are provided on a contract hire agreement, normally for a period of 3 years. Cars are covered by fully comprehensive insurance, breakdown and recovery services and accident management. Routine servicing, maintenance and repairs are also covered. 3.2 Cars may be provided for business and private use or for NHS business use only. All employees who meet the criteria for regular car user status will be offered a lease car. Full details of the lease car scheme are contained in the Leased Vehicles policy. 3.3 For those staff acquiring a leased car for the first time, the new policy will be applied immediately. For those staff that currently have a lease car, the new policy will be applied upon replacement. The Allowances are set out in paragraph 1 of Annex A. 3.4 The Trust s Lease Car Scheme and GreyFleet Scheme will be administered by Knowles Associates TFM Ltd telephone 01206 252300. For further information about how the new lease car scheme operates please contact Knowles Associates or you can download a question and answer booklet and quotation request form from the lease car website www.greyfleet.com No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 4 of 9

Section 2 Travel Expenses Policy 4.0 MILEAGE ALLOWANCES Lease Cars 4.1 The Trust may offer lease cars to employees who are required to be mobile and where it is deemed to be in the interest of the service to do so. This is in accordance with Agenda for Change Section 17 (17.2) and the Consultant Contract Schedule 21 (33). 4.2 Employees, excluding consultants (see section 4.4), who prefer to use their own car rather than accept the offer of a lease car shall be reimbursed at public transport rate (23p per mile) for all journeys (17.4) 4.3 This policy will apply immediately to all new staff. Existing employees that meet the agreed criteria will be given protection of existing terms for a period of time as set out in Annex A. 4.4 In the case of consultant medical staff employed after 1 April 2003, those who refuse the offer of a lease car shall be reimbursed at the special rate, this being equivalent to the current 9,001 to 15,000 miles rate for over 2,000cc regardless of engine size (25.5p per mile) for all journeys (304d) 4.5 If a member of staff meets the regular car user status but it is not in the interest of the Trust to offer a lease car all official journeys will be paid at the rate set out in paragraph 9 of Annex A. Public Transport Rate 4.6 This will apply to all journeys undertaken by staff in privately owned vehicles where the journey relates to excess travel, attendance at a course or conference (including induction training) or where the Trust pays the full miles travelled between home to the work place for planned or emergency returns to base. Regular User Rate 4.7 Regular Car User Rates will no longer apply as from 1 st April 2008 to employees of the Trust except in 4.8 below in respect to Consultant medical staff and 4.9 in respect to staff with protected rights following the 1992 GWC agreement. 4.8 Consultant medical staff employed before 31 st March 2003 shall remain entitled to the regular car user allowance if they fulfil one of those conditions listed in 4.9.1 below. This shall remain in place for so long as they remain in the same post or voluntarily accept the offer of a lease car. 4.9 Other staff employed before 15 th June 1992 who where claiming Regular User Allowances and have been claiming the allowance consistently from that date may continue to receive the allowance for so long as they have remained in the same post or until they voluntarily accept a lease car. In addition they must meet the criteria set out below: No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 5 of 9

4.9.1 Regular User Allowances shall be paid to those employees in 4.8 and 4.9 above who travel on NHS business and; a. Travel in excess of 3,500 business miles per annum or b. Travel an average of at least 1,250 miles per year and necessarily use their car an average of three days per week or c. Travel an average of at least 1,000 miles per year and necessarily use their car an average of four days per week Standard User Rate 4.10 Standard user allowances shall be paid to all staff who undertake official business journeys and who do not meet the criteria for a lease car and public transport rate is not applicable. Hire Cars 4.11 Hire cars will be made available to all staff using their own vehicles where they plan to exceed 120 business miles on any one day. Hire cars will be procured by the Trust s fleet administrators and can be delivered to site, home or base as required. 4.12 Where an employee chooses not to make use of a hire car, this will result in all travel for that day being paid at public transport rate. The payroll department will automatically process all claims of 120 miles and over at the rate of 23p per mile for the total miles claimed on that particular day. 4.13 This does not apply to consultant medical staff. Passenger Allowances 4.14 Where staff are conveyed in the same vehicle, the driver will be entitled to claim the rate of 2p per passenger provided that passenger would otherwise have been entitled to make an expense claim for their journey. 4.15 Passenger allowances do not apply to leased vehicles. Bi-Annual Assessment of Entitlement 4.16 Reviews of travel payments will be undertaken by the Finance Department at the end of September and March each year. 4.17 Staff who has travelled in excess of 3,500 business miles will be offered a lease car in accordance with 4.1 above, provided that this is expected to be a continuous pattern and is not due to short term circumstances. In such circumstances, staff may remain on standard user allowances. 4.18 For the purpose of assessment, any periods spent absent from work due to long term sickness or maternity leave shall be disregarded. No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 6 of 9

Home to Base Travel 4.19 There is no entitlement in general to claim for home to base travel, except in the circumstances set out in paragraphs 4.20 to 4.28 below. 4.20 Consultant medical staff may claim mileage allowance for one return journey from home to base, up to a maximum of 10 miles in each direction, on days when they subsequently use their car for an official journey. These journeys are treated as private journeys by the Inland Revenue and are subject to tax at source. 4.21 Employees who are required to return to or to attend their place of employment outside their normal hours of duty (additional hours and on-call). This will be in circumstances where they would be entitled to overtime or time off in lieu. In these circumstances any expenses in excess of the expenses they incur as a result of their normal attendance at work and which are actually and necessarily incurred in travelling to and from home shall be reimbursed. Such travel will be paid at public transport rate; these journeys are treated as private journeys by the Inland Revenue and are subject to tax at source. Any addition attendance to the normal attendance will qualify; for example if the employee is part-time and works an extra day, or if an employee works five days and attends an extra day the will qualify. If it is necessary for the employee to go home (for domestic reasons) and then return on the same day they will also qualify. However, if an employee is already at work and completes their normal hours then simply working longer will not qualify. This is because they did not incur any additional travelling expense. Excess Travel 4.22 Employees who are required to change their place of work due to organisational change or their acceptance of another post as an alternative to redundancy may be reimbursed their extra daily travelling expenses. If the employee does not move they may claim expenses for a period of four years from the date of transfer or for a maximum of two years whilst they are actively seeking a new home. 4.23 The excess is the additional distance travelled between the employee s home and their old base and the employee s home and their new base multiplied by the number of journeys travelled and calculated at public transport rate; these journeys are treated as private journeys by the Inland Revenue and are subject to tax at source. 4.24 In cases where employees temporarily change their base e.g. on secondment, no additional excess allowances shall be payable. However, if the temporary change is required by the Trust, excess travel may be authorised by the Human Resources department. The excess shall be calculated at public transport rate; these journeys are treated as private journeys by the Inland Revenue and are taxable subject to the HMRC 24 month rule. 4.25 In cases where an employee has two workplaces (split site) as a result of 4.21 above it will be necessary to determine their extra mileage travelled (between home and the second workplace) based on the frequency that site is visited. However, travel between the two workplaces is travel in the performance of the employee s duty and will be treated as a business journey by the Inland Revenue so relief is available for the full cost of travel. No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 7 of 9

The principle is the same as for employees who have permanently changed their workplace (and qualify for excess travel) but for less days. Employees, whose employment requires regular attendance at more than one workplace, may have more than one permanent workplace during the same period. These employees are not entitled to relief for the cost of travel from home to any of the sites. This is because they travel regularly to each site and their work is neither of limited duration nor for a temporary purpose. The test to determine if a workplace is a second permanent workplace is: the employee performs a significant part of his or her duties there people would expect to be able to contact the employee at the second location the employee has an office, or desk, and support services at the second workplace which he or she regularly uses Employees with two work bases must treat their journey from home to each base as private travel. Therefore if an employee is paid a mileage allowance for using their private car the allowance will be taxed in full and the Authorised Mileage Rate (AMR) scheme will not apply. Lease car drivers will receive an enhanced allowance towards the cost, which excludes fuel, for the journey from home to the additional workplace(s). The method used for the calculation is set out in appendix A paragraph 12. 4.26 Lease car drivers may only claim home to base travel (excess travel) under paragraph 4.22 above. 4.27 Excess mileage will be calculated and recorded completely separate from business mileage to avoid any confusion with fuel payments for private use. 4.28 The excess travel allowance for lease cars covers the additional private motoring cost but does not include any payment for fuel. All fuel for private use will be purchased at the expense of the employee. In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary for an employee to have part of the excess mileage allowance paid through payroll rather than being set against the car cost; in this case income tax and national insurance will be applied to the full allowance. 4.29 The excess mileage allowance is based on the AA Motoring Costs for 2008 for a car with a purchase price between 13,000.00 and 20,000.00 at 20,000 miles per annum. 4.30 The current rate for excess travel in a lease car is set out in appendix A paragraph 8 4.31 Business journeys commencing or ending at home will be treated as follows: No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 8 of 9

Employees that have a designated permanent workplace 4.32 Employees that are required to attend one or more temporary work places and have no requirement to visit their normal place of work at all during that day can claim the full return journey as business mileage. It is the employee s responsibility to provide justification for not attending their normal place of work during the day. All such journeys must be agreed with line managers in advance or on the next working day when a full day away is not planned. 4.33 In all other circumstances where an employee visits their normal place of work at some point during the day: a. If the first journey of the day starts from home; the full distance travelled into the workplace will be recorded and the home to base mileage will be deducted. b. If the last journey of the day finishes at home; the full distance from the workplace travelled to home will be recorded and the base to home mileage will be deducted. 4.34 Employees who claim excess travel and who visits a temporary workplace will record their journey as in 4.33 above to calculate the business mileage. However the excess mileage from home to base will still be paid at the current rate; Example 1 Home to base excess miles agreed 15 Distance from home to temporary workplace 12 Distance from temporary workplace to base 10 Deduct the home to base mileage from the total journey (12 + 10)-15 = 7 The business mileage claimed will be 7 miles and the excess mileage will be 15 miles Employees that have no permanent workplace and work in a Geographic area 4.35 Employees who are designated geographically based for mileage purposes shall be paid the appropriate rate for all journeys by the most direct route from their home to all places necessarily visited on duty and back to their home within the geographic location. 4.36 If the employee lives outside the Geographic area the journey from home to the geographic area will be a private journey and the full return distance travelled into the area will be deducted from the total journey. 4.37 Income tax will be charged on the full amount that the mileage allowance, paid for business journeys, exceeds the Inland Revenue Approved Mileage Rate. Income Tax will be charged on the full amount of the allowance where the journey is classed by the Inland Revenue as ordinary commuting. These journeys will include excess travel, Training and induction courses and any journeys where the employee returns to work outside normal working hours. No: TP 1-1 Rev3 03102007 Page 9 of 9