Finance

Staff Expenses Travel Guidance

This web-page contains guidance on the process for reclaiming travel costs on a staff expenses claim.

Travel

General

Travel should normally be by the cheapest means of transport. Normally this will mean standard class rail travel, economy class air travel and public transport within Edinburgh and other cities.

The University will meet the cost of railcards and Oyster cards to reduce the cost of travel.

In Edinburgh and other cities public transport should be used. Where public transport is not available, or convenient, a taxi may be used. Whenever practical, the University contract should be used for taxis within Edinburgh.

All travel outside Europe should be booked through the university travel agent, unless less expensive travel arrangements can be made online.

Train

Standard class tickets should normally be purchased. Where journeys of over 3 hours are being made and urgent University work has to be done which could not be carried out in a crowded standard class seat first class travel may be used. Staff should be aware of any restrictions on travel arrangements imposed by any organisation funding their travel.

Where a sleeper compartment is required, first class accommodation will be allowable.

Staff should book early and take advantage of cheaper advance tickets to travel on specific trains where practical. This can be done using the University travel agents or by booking online with the train company you are travelling with.

Air Travel

Air travel within the UK and Europe should always be by the lowest cost option. Staff should book early to obtain the lowest price.

For flights outside Europe business class travel may be allowable, if there is a need to be able to work immediately after travel and no other cost effective alternative is available (e.g. travelling earlier and staying overnight).

UK travel can either be booked with the approved travel agents or online directly with the airline.

The University approved travel agents should be used for international travel unless it can be demonstrated that that there is a substantial saving to be made by booking directly or with an alternative agent.

Vouchers and receipts must be obtained and submitted with the claim for all travel not booked through the University's travel agent.

It is not acceptable to buy fully flexible fares, so as to maximise personal air miles.

Mileage Rates

The University reimburses employees who use their private car for business purposes at the rates approved by the Inland Revenue under the Fixed Profit Car Scheme.  Please check that  your car is adequately insured for travel on employer's business. The mileage rate is paid on the understanding that private vehicles are insured for use on employers' business. Vehicles without this cover should not be used as they may not be insured.

Approved mileage rate for expenses claims can be found on the HMRC website.

 

Reimbursement at these rates will not give rise to any tax liability for the employee.

Travelling alone by car is an expensive option and should only be used if no reasonable alternative is available. If a member of staff chooses to travel by car when there is a reasonable alternative means of public transport then the total to be claimed is restricted to the equivalent standard class rail fare or other public transport cost as appropriate.

Mileage should be recorded on the expenses' claim form. Members of staff should also maintain a separate mileage log or record containing the following information:

  • The date and reason for the journey
  • The starting point, places visited en route and the point at which the journey ended including situations where there is an element of home to office travel.
  • Names and addresses of persons visited.
  • Mileage claimed for each trip and and cumulative mileage for the tax year to date.

Car Hire

The car hire bookings should be made using University Category A suppliers at http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/procurement/buying/commodity/travel/car-hire (for UK bookings only ) or approved travel agency BTI, Ben Lawries and Key Travel (booking for abroad only ), wherever possible, and fuel costs will be reimbursed where necessary. Petrol receipts should be retained.  The Parking Office also offers  a pool cars for short hire needs contact telephone number is  650 2086.

Mileage is not payable unless it is an additional part of the car hire charge.

Travel from home

Under normal circumstances expenses incurred in home to office and office to home travel will not be reimbursed. There may be situations where employees are required to attend for work, outwith normal office hours. In these circumstances, and with the prior approval of the Head of School, the University will refund expenditure incurred on home to office travel. The relevant expense claims should clearly state the purpose of the call out and confirm that the claim includes an element of home to office travel, as reimbursement will normally give rise to a personal tax liability.

The Inland Revenue accepts that no tax liability will arise on such reimbursement so long as the trip is significantly different to the normal home to place of work journey. Examples of the effect of this can be:

  • A business trip by car from home in Edinburgh to (say) Glasgow will be fully allowable, even if the journey involves passing the normal place of work en route.
  • A trip to a location only a short distance from the normal place of work, e.g. 500 yards away would not be allowed by the Inland Revenue.

University-owned Vehicles

Record Maintenance

Where an employee is provided with a University-owned vehicle for use in the performance of his duties, he must maintain a logbook or similar containing the following information covering business trips and mileage claimed:

  • date of any business trip
  • reason for trip and details of persons visited
  • starting point, destinations visited and finishing point
  • mileage claimed for each trip
  • cumulative business mileage claimed in the tax year
  • dates and details of when the vehicle is not available for use by the employee, e.g. it is under repair for six weeks and is not capable of being driven.

Where a vehicle provided is available for private use the employee will be subject to tax on the scale charge benefit as dictated by the Inland Revenue. The above information is required to allow us to correctly compute this taxable benefit. This applies whether the vehicle is owned by the University or is provided under any leasing, hire purchase etc arrangements.

Other Travel Costs

Other reasonable costs incurred at the time of travel will be reimbursed if agreed by the budget holder or authorised signatory and all items of expenditure should normally be receipted. This would include taxi fares, bus tickets, underground fares etc. Where public transport is convenient staff are expected to use it rather than incur taxi fares.  Regular travellers on public transport in London are encouraged to obtain an Oyster card to access cheaper fares.

Travel by spouses / partners

There may be (rare) occasions when it is deemed necessary or appropriate for a spouse or partner to accompany the Court or Committee Member on an overseas trip.  Where the cost of spouse or partner travel is to be met from University funds, a full explanation and justification will require to be prepared, including a full analysis of the extra costs involved. This explanation will require to be submitted to Court or the appropriate Committee who will consider its justification as a University cost and minute their decision. To obtain authorisation on this basis, there will require to be some specific role to be performed by the spouse or partner.

Where the person travelling wishes to be accompanied by their spouse/partner at their own cost, then a statement has to be submitted in advance to the budget holder. This statement will have to show the costs involved for both parties and the cost which would be incurred if only the University member were travelling. It must be clear that only those costs which would necessarily be incurred on the University's business can be so charged or reimbursed. When an expenses claim is being prepared on return, the claimant must ensure that only an appropriate portion of joint costs is claimed.

Extension of Overseas Trips

The traveller may wish to extend the period of his stay at the overseas location for personal purposes. This should be made clear in the pre-trip submission to court or appropriate Committee authorising the trip as being for the purpose of the business of the University. No costs relative to the extension to the trip can be suffered by the University. When an expenses claim is being prepared on return, the claimant must ensure that only those costs related to the business element of the trip are claimed.

It is necessary for whoever is approving any expenses claim for such trips that the appropriate adjustment is made to the leave entitlement records for the traveller when any additional days abroad cover normal working days.

Accounting for Overseas Travel and Expenditure

Expenditure incurred overseas in foreign currencies requires to be accounted for in sterling on the expense claim form in very similar format to expenses incurred in the UK, using Form AP004.

Basically, foreign currency expenditure should be converted to sterling at the rate obtained when the currency was purchased. To confirm this the employee must attach proof of the rate obtained to the expense claim. This is most likely to be the transaction confirmation from the bank or Bureau de Change.

Claims for reimbursement of foreign currency expenditure require to be supported by receipts, invoices etc in the same way as sterling costs. Also, the approval process is identical to that for sterling expense claims, i.e. approval by the budget holder or his authorised signatory.

In completing expense claims employees can detail his foreign currency expenditure on the form in the "Analysis of Expenditure" section, sub-total it, show the conversion rate from his transaction confirmation documentation and so arrive at the sterling cost. Alternatively - and possibly more easily - a separate schedule showing the calculations as described above, can be prepared and attached to the claim form, the claim form itself then being completed in sterling only.