Staffordshire University Employee Business Expense Claims Policy and Procedures

Staffordshire University Employee Business Expense Claims Policy and Procedures 1. Introduction This Employee Business and Expense Claims Policy and Procedures document is issued on 17th October 2005. It supersedes all other policies, procedures and manuals relating to employee business expenses currently in issue. It should be read in conjunction with the University’s Financial Regulations and the University’s Travel Policy and Procedures. This Policy and Procedures document is applicable to all employees of the University. It does not apply to self employed persons or non-University employees. In the event that an expense claim is contemplated in respect of an item not included in this manual, or an employee has a query relating to the payment of expenses under this policy, the matter should be referred in the first instance to their Faculty Pro Vice Chancellor or Service Director, who may thereafter refer to the Financial Director for guidance if required. 2. Policy The University will reimburse to employees the actual cost of allowable, business expenses incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of their employment. For the purposes of business expense reimbursement, allowable expenses are as described in section 7 of this document. Business travel is as described in section 6. When incurring business expenses, employees are expected to i) ii) minimise costs without impairing the efficiency of the University; and avoid unnecessary cost In general, reimbursement of allowable business expenses will only be made on the production of receipts or invoices. 3. Procedure Allowable business expenses incurred on behalf of the University by employees must be recorded in detail on a FIN2 expense claim form. Original receipts or invoices must be attached to the claim form for all individual items claimed, other than mileage and subsistence allowances (see section 7.5 and 7.6) Where expenses are incurred in foreign currency, the amounts incurred should be translated using the sterling exchange rate in force on the date of the transaction or when currency was purchased. The amount claimed, in both the underlying currency and in sterling, should be clearly shown on the claim form. Evidence of the exchange rate used (such as a copy credit card statement or 1 currency purchase receipt) must be attached to the claim form in addition to the receipt or invoice for the related transaction. It is the responsibility of the claimant to perform and support this translation exercise. Incomplete claim forms received by Financial Services will be returned to the originator without payment. Following authorisation (see section 4) the original claim form and supporting receipts, invoices and other information must be sent to Financial Services by the authorising signatory. Authorised claim forms must not be returned to the claimant prior to payment. Claim forms received by Financial Services within required deadlines (see section 5) will be checked. Incomplete claims or claims for non-allowable expenditure will be returned to the originator. Materially inaccurate claims will also be returned to the originator and notified to the Financial Director. Minor inaccuracies (totalling less than £10 per claim form) will be amended by Financial Services staff prior to being passed for payment. Employees will be notified by email of any such changes made. Expense claims passed for payment will be paid by BACS. Employees must, when requested, provide appropriate bank account details to Financial Services to allow claims to be processed. Any attempt to submit a false expense claim will be treated as a serious offence and will be dealt with in accordance with the University’s Disciplinary Procedures and Rules for the Conduct of Employees. 4. Authorisation Once complete the claimant employee must sign the declaration on the FIN2 claim form. The expense claim form together with supporting receipts, invoices and other information must be forwarded for authorisation to an authorised signatory. Authorised signatories are members of the Executive, Faculty Pro Vice Chancellors, Service Directors or, in their absence, an appointed nominee. Faculty Pro Vice Chancellors and Service Directors may delegate their powers of authorisation. Such delegated authority must be notified to Financial Services, in writing, in advance. Any amendments made to expense claim forms must be initialled by the claimant and the authorised signatory. Claims must not be authorised by an authorised signatory who is a close relative of the claimant; alternative authorisation must be obtained. Faculty Pro Vice Chancellors and Service Directors must have their expense claims authorised by the member of Executive responsible for their Faculty or Service. Members of the Executive must have their expense claim forms authorised by the Vice Chancellor; the Vice Chancellor’s expenses must be authorised by the University Secretary. 2 5. Deadlines Individual items of expense being claimed must be received by Financial Services (recorded on form FIN2) by the end of the month following that in which the transaction occurred. For example, for an item of expenditure incurred on 12th February, the FIN2 form on which the claim for reimbursement is made must be received by Financial Services on or before 30th March of the same year. The only exception to this is for low value claims. Expense claims may be accumulated over longer periods provided the total amount claimed is less than £20. Accumulated claims must be received by Financial Services no later than 4 weeks after the last transaction date. Complete and accurate claims for allowable business expenses received within the above deadlines will normally be paid by the end of the week following the date of receipt in Financial Services. In exceptional circumstances, such as illness, extended periods of overseas business travel, late availability of supporting information or holidays of more than two weeks duration, expense claims may be submitted within a reasonable period of time after the deadlines above have expired. Such claims must be submitted to the Financial Director for additional authorisation with a brief description of the relevant circumstances. Workload issues are not considered to be exceptional circumstances for these purposes. 6. Business Travel Business travel occurs when an employee is required to travel in the performance of the duties of their employment. For example, where an employee normally works at one location but occasionally travels to other University premises, all journeys between home and the normal location are regarded as private. This is because such journeys merely put an employee in a position to perform their duties and are not part of actually doing the job. Travel to locations other than the normal location is considered to be in the performance of the duties of employment and so is regarded as business travel. 7. Allowable Business Expenses Allowable business expenses, for the purposes of employee business expense claims are as described below. 7.1 Air Travel and international travel costs Employees are expected to book air travel through the University’s Travel Partner (Key Travel Ltd) in accordance with the University’s Travel Policy and Procedures. In exceptional circumstances reimbursement of air travel booked directly by an employee may be claimed on a FIN2 expense claim form subject to the following: • • Travel is in tourist/economy or equivalent class. Upgrades to business or equivalent class may only be made if available at no additional cost. 3 • In exceptional circumstances employees may travel in business class or equivalent provided prior approval is granted by a member of Executive in writing. Trading down (i.e., travelling by a lower class in order to claim an extra ticket for an employee’s guest) is not permitted and is considered to be a serious offence. • See also the University’s Travel Policy and Procedures. 7.1.1 Visas Employees are expected to obtain visas via the University’s Travel Partner. In exceptional circumstances, the University will reimburse employees for the cost of travel visas associated with business travel. 7.1.2 Excess baggage Excess baggage charges may only be reclaimed where they arise wholly due to the necessity of taking items for business reasons. 7.1.3 Inoculations and medication required due to overseas travel Charges associated with inoculations in respect of overseas travel, where recommended by a medical practitioner or GP and other travel related medication may be claimed via a FIN2 on the production of receipts. 7.1.4 Currency exchange costs Reasonable charges associated with currency exchange via cash transactions or travellers cheques may be reclaimed if supported by receipts. 7.2 Rail Travel Employees are expected to book rail travel through the University’s Travel Partner in accordance with the University’s Travel Policy and Procedures. In exceptional circumstances reimbursement of rail travel booked directly by an employee may be claimed on a FIN2 expense claim form subject to the following: • • • All employees will travel standard or equivalent class. Lowest cost alternatives of day return or saver tickets should be used whenever possible. In exceptional circumstances staff may travel first class provided prior approval is given by a member of Executive in writing. See also the University’s Travel Policy and Procedures. 7.3 Taxis Travelling employees should avoid the use of taxis unless alternatives are not available or are impractical. The use of cost effective public transport or 4 airport/hotel courtesy buses is encouraged whenever possible. Where alternatives are not available, the cost of taxis may be claimed on a FIN2 expense claim. Claims must be supported by receipts. 7.3.1 Taxis for late working The University will cover costs of taxis for late working subject to the following conditions: • • • • • The employee is required to work until after midnight. Late working is on an occasional basis only and is neither regular nor frequent. For these purposes regular means a predictable pattern e.g., every Friday night. For these purposes frequent means more than 60 occasions per year. Public transport is unavailable or it would not be reasonable to expect the employee to use it. 7.4 Hotel Accommodation Employees are expected to book hotel accommodation (other than when included in a conference or training package) through the University’s Travel Partner in accordance with the University’s Travel Policy and Procedures. In exceptional circumstances reimbursement of hotel accommodation costs may be claimed on a FIN2 expense claim form subject to the following: • • Accommodation should be limited to single standard rooms with ensuite facilities. Maximum UK hotel rates per night, inclusive of breakfast and VAT are London Other UK cities Other UK locations • £70 £65 £60 Maximum non UK hotel rates per night are Europe and USA Far East and Australia £80 £80 • ‘no show’ charges are not reimbursable except in exceptional circumstances See also the University’s Travel Policy and Procedures. 7.4.1 Allowable miscellaneous hotel expenses The University will reimburse employees for certain miscellaneous hotel expenses subject to an aggregate maximum level of £5 per night in the UK and £10 per night outside the UK. 5 Allowable miscellaneous hotel expenses are: • • • • Newspapers Reasonable laundry charges (for trips over 4 nights duration) Reasonable gratuities and service charges where not normally included in hotel or other bills The cost of one reasonable telephone call per day – collect calls and discount charge cards should be used wherever possible 7.5 Travel by car Employees who use their own car on University business must ensure that they hold a valid licence for the vehicle driven, the vehicle is licensed and that their insurance cover extends to business use. The insurer must be asked to endorse the certificate to confirm that driving in the performance of the employer’s business is covered by the insurance policy. The University reserves the right to inspect the employee’s insurance documentation. In addition employees who use their own car on University business must ensure that it is regularly maintained and undertake a basic safety check of the vehicle (tyres, windscreen etc) before undertaking each business journey. In relation to business travel (see section 6) employees may claim the lower of • • The distance actually travelled The distance which would have been travelled if the journey had started at the employees normal place of work Full details of each journey, including the date, starting point, destination, mileage claimed and reason for travel, should be recorded on the FIN2 claim form. Subject to the above, business travel will be reimbursed at the following rates: Category Employee’s car Essential car users Redeployment scheme Contract hire scheme Rate 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles; 23p per mile thereafter 29p per mile 29p per mile 11p per mile Standard mileages for commonly used routes are as follows: From/to; To/from Return mileage 36 38 38 Stafford Beaconside/Stoke on Trent Campus Stafford Blackheath Lane/Stoke on Trent Campus Stafford Beaconside/Lichfield Campus 6 Stafford Blackheath Lane/Lichfield Campus Stoke on Trent Campus/Lichfield Campus Blackheath Lane/Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Blackheath Lane/Princess Royal Hospital (Telford) Blackheath Lane/Stafford General Hospital Blackheath Lane/Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Trust (Oswestry) 7.5.1 Hire Cars 36 65 78 48 2 110 For road journeys exceeding 90 miles employees may, if they wish, use a hired car rather than a private one. Vehicles must be booked through the University’s approved car and van rental companies. In such circumstances employees may claim the cost of fuel actually purchased. Employees must ensure that the amount of fuel purchased is appropriate to the journey being undertaken. The University will not reimburse employees for any costs associated with accidents or damage to hire cars. For the avoidance of doubt this includes all costs associated with filling cars with the wrong type of fuel. 7.5.2 Part time hourly paid lecturers Special arrangements for mileage apply to part time hourly paid lecturers. Payments are made via the University’s payroll system and such employees should apply to Personnel Services for details. 7.5.3 Toll Charges Toll charges incurred in relation to business travel may be claimed when supported by a receipt. 7.5.4 University vans University vans are not permitted to be used privately. Any use of a van other than for business use will be regarded as a serious disciplinary offence. 7.5.5 Car Parking The University will reimburse parking costs for business travel away from home and the employee’s normal place of work when supported by a receipt/ticket. 7.6 Subsistence/meals Employees may claim the reasonable costs of meals taken in the course of business travel (see section 6) provided they are more than 5 miles from any University site. Any University site is defined as: • • • Stafford – Beaconside and Blackheath Lane Stoke-on-Trent Campus Lichfield Campus 7 • • SURF member colleges NHS sites (with restaurant facilities) Subject to the above, employees may claim either: • • The reasonable cost of food and non-alcoholic drink (supported by receipts); or Scale subsistence expenses of £5 per meal taken away from any University site to a maximum of £10 (no receipt required) Subsistence allowances may not be claimed in respect of conferences or visits where meals are provided as part of the conference or visit. 7.7 Hospitality and Entertaining Employees are expected wherever possible to use ‘in house’ catering services as a cost effective first choice for hospitality and entertaining. Necessary and reasonable entertaining costs will however be reimbursed by the University on production of receipts. The following information must be shown on the FIN2 expense claim form (or Hospitality Booking Form): • • • Names of all attendees (internal and external) Organisations attendees represent Purpose of the entertainment The minimum ratio of Staffordshire University employees to external guests is 3:1. Under no circumstances can entertainment involve University employees only, except in the case of essential meetings or training which span a normal meal time. Such events must be kept to an absolute minimum and inhouse catering must be used whenever possible. Incidental costs associated with business entertainment (for example the cost of a taxi to a restaurant where a guest is to be entertained) should be categorised as business entertainment on the expense claim form rather than, for example, travel. Alcoholic drinks incidental to out of hours entertaining may by reclaimed, subject to the above requirements, but must be limited to a reasonable level. 7.8 Home and personal mobile telephone calls Employees required to make business calls using their home telephone or personal mobile phone should claim reimbursement of such call costs by entering the amount to be claimed on their FIN2 expense claim form. Supporting documentation, such as a copy statement with the claimed calls highlighted, must be attached. Allowable calls for the purposes of expense claims include the itemised costs of ‘dial-up’ calls to University systems. The University will not meet the cost of any part of rental costs, any private calls or any proportion of the cost of home Broadband facilities. 8 7.9 Spectacles, contact lenses and eye tests Claims for the costs of eye tests, spectacles and contact lenses may only be made via Personnel. The University will reimburse employees required to use VDUs up to a maximum of £55 for single lenses and contact lenses and £80 for bifocals/varifocals where spectacles or contact lenses are necessary for VDU work. The claim must be accompanied by a written statement from an optician indicating that they are necessary for VDU work. Costs of eye tests to a maximum of £17 may be reclaimed subject to certain conditions (contact Personnel for details). 7.10 Fax, photocopying and email/internet charges Fax, photocopying costs and internet/email charges, for business purposes only, may be reclaimed when supported by receipts. 8. Non-allowable expenditure Non-allowable expenditure as detailed below may not be claimed, charged to the University or reimbursed to employees in any circumstances or by any method. This includes by purchase order, direct invoice, employee expense claim, employee advance or petty cash. • • • • Travel club membership complimentary drinks etc. – giving access to airport lounges, Alcoholic drinks – unless while entertaining when costs should be kept to a reasonable level Leisure club treatments Miscellaneous hotel charges - Mini bar alcoholic drinks and snacks - Video / TV charges - ‘no show’ costs Spouses’ / Partners’ / Childrens’ travel costs Parking fines Floral gifts – other than on the death or serious illness of an employee or an employees partner or child Hospitality where staff only are in attendance (other than tea/coffee/milk which may be purchased with petty cash) except for essential meetings or training which span a normal meal time) Confectionary Prizes – other than as specifically authorised by the Vice Chancellor for academic or sporting achievement Gifts of a personal nature • • • • • • • 9 • • • • • Retirement / leaving gifts Christmas functions Christmas decorations – other than as supplied by Facilities Management to public areas Personal subscriptions to Professional Bodies Personal items – including toiletries, clothing, luggage, books, videos, CDs, magazines etc. Non-allowable expenditure as detailed below may not be claimed for reimbursement on an expense claim form. The appropriate methods of incurring such expenditure are detailed for each item. • • • • • Bookings for courses and conferences – necessary for the performance of an employee’s duties In-house catering services Publications / journals – necessary for the performance of an employee’s duties Uniforms and protective clothing – where specific operational need exists Casual employees incl. external examiners Purchase order Purchasing card / Hospitality booking form Purchase order Purchasing card Purchase order Purchasing card Payroll / / CL.hm.pol 13.10.05 10