Expenses Guidelines

This document sets out guidelines and parameters for all colleagues of The Midcounties Co-operative to enable them to complete expenses claims, as well as provide guidance for approvers about the authorisation of those expenses. 

This policy is to be read in conjunction with the Travel & Bookings Policy, which is attached at Appendix A. The Travel & Bookings Policy sets out rules for booking rail travel, air travel, hotels, conferencing, and ground transportation (eg car hire and coaches).

If colleagues have any questions relating to expenses that are not answered by these guidelines, please refer the query to your immediate line manager who, in turn, may need to refer to either the Reward & Benefits Manager or Treasurer for guidance.

The Society takes any breach of these guidelines very seriously and breaches may, depending on the circumstances, result in disciplinary action being taken.

We reserve the right to make changes to these guidelines from time to time and will advise of any amendments either directly or on the Intranet.

 

General Rules

Reimbursement of Expense

The Society will reimburse any expenses that you reasonably incur which are wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of your duties. The Society will not reimburse your personal expenditure.

Under no circumstances are you permitted to claim expenses on behalf of another colleague. Expenses must be claimed by the individual who has incurred the expenditure. Any attempt to submit a false claim will be treated as a disciplinary offence.

 

Expenses Forms

All expense claims should be submitted on a standard expenses form. There are a number of forms for different circumstances and copies may be obtained on the Intranet (Society / Finance/ Forms / Expenses). You can also look at sample expenses forms on the Intranet for guidance on how to complete them.

Alternatively if you are an IFS User you must complete an electronic expenses form through the system, guidance on how to complete expenses through IFS can also be obtained on the Intranet (IFS/ User Guides/ Manager User Guides/ IFS Help Guide).

For each completed form you are responsible for ensuring that:

• your claim relates to expenditure incurred on Midcounties’ business;

• you attach original receipts (or scanned receipts on IFS) to support each item claimed, unless a receipt is specifically not required under this policy or where the supplier cannot reasonably be expected to provide a receipt. Credit Card vouchers or statements alone are not sufficient;

• there is sufficient narrative to identify the nature and purpose of the expenditure;

• you complete the form correctly and sign the declaration (not required through IFS);

• after completing the form, you pass it to your line manager for signature and submission to the Accounts Payable Department for payment (electronic submission through IFS).

 

Submission of Expenses Forms

Expense claim forms, detailing all expenses for the previous calendar month, should be submitted to your line manager for authorisation. Any claims received by Accounts Payable after 3pm on Thursday each week might not be processed for payment until the following week.

Reimbursement is currently made through Accounts Payable via BACs, direct to your bank account.

 

Midcounties Credit Cards

The Midcounties Co-operative issue certain colleagues with a credit card in line with relevant procedures. You may only use The Midcounties’ credit card for business purposes.

 

Travel

The Midcounties Co-operative will reimburse colleagues for the reasonable cost of any business journey made while working for the Society.  The definition of business travel, with regard to home to work commuting, is dependent on the tax rules applicable to where colleagues are based.

 

Business Journeys

'Business Journey' means a journey that involves necessary travel between your permanent workplace and a temporary workplace, between temporary workplaces or, in certain circumstances, between your home and a temporary work place. This does not include journeys that form part of an ordinary commuting journey to or from your permanent workplace.

 

Permanent workplace and temporary workplace explained:

HMRC define a permanent workplace as the place where the colleague attends regularly for the performance of the duties of the employment and it is not a temporary workplace.

A colleague attends a workplace regularly if their attendance is frequent, follows a pattern and is for all or almost all of the periods for which they hold or are likely to hold that employment.  Even if the colleague attends the workplace only on one or two days a week, if it is on a regular basis the workplace is likely to be a permanent workplace.

HMRC has cited indicators of a second permanent workplace as the place where the colleague regularly performs a significant part of their duties, where people would expect to be able to contact the colleague at the second location, the colleague has a desk and support services at the second location which he or she regularly uses, the colleague performs similar tasks at each workplace and does not attend the workplace solely to do specific tasks such as attend specially arranged meeting.

Colleagues may have two or more permanent workplaces and colleagues will not be able to claim travel from home to any of these permanent workplaces. Colleagues are able to claim travel expenses for journeys to a temporary workplace where they spend 40% or more of their working time for up to 24 months.  After 24 months the workplace becomes a permanent workplace and travel expenses from home to work can no longer be claimed.

A temporary workplace is somewhere the colleague goes only to perform a task of limited duration or for a temporary purpose.

 

Colleagues with one permanent workplace

All journeys from your permanent workplace to another place of work (a 'temporary workplace') on business may be regarded as a business journey for the purpose of this policy. Where you travel to a temporary workplace on business straight from home or return directly to your home after such a trip, the journey will be a business journey provided that:

• the temporary workplace is one which you have to attend in the performance of your duties of employment; and

• the purpose of the journey is work related.

In the case of such journeys, you may claim for the lesser of the distance actually travelled and the distance that would have been travelled if the journey had started and finished at your permanent workplace.

You must provide sufficient detail on your expenses claim so that your line manager and HMRC can satisfy themselves that you have complied with these requirements.

 

Colleagues with duties defined by a particular geographical area and who do not have a permanent place of work

This only applies if colleagues have no other permanent workplace and travel is an integral part of their role.  For colleagues who have an area treated as their permanent workplace, the journey from home, if they live outside the geographical area and the edge of the geographical area is ordinary commuting and travel expenses cannot be claimed.

 

Colleagues who work from Home

There are only a few colleagues that work from home and HMRC will only accept that the place of work is home if the colleague requires certain facilities to perform their duties, which are only practically available from home. HMRC will NOT accept colleagues as working from home if the colleague works from home as a matter of choice.

Colleagues identified as Home Workers may claim expenses when travelling in the performance of their duties.

 

Other

Where your travel arrangements do not correspond with the categories above, you should contact the Treasurer, who will advise you and agree the expenses you may claim and their tax treatment before you incur any costs. This arrangement will then be confirmed with your line manager who is responsible for authorising your expenses.

 

Means of Travel

You are required to travel by the most cost effective means, bearing in mind the nature and purpose of the business journey. It is not acceptable for colleagues to claim the highest cost of transport over a given route if they could have travelled by some less costly method.   

For the avoidance of doubt, we will not reimburse or pay for the cost of travel for spouses, partners or others who are not employed by The Midcounties Co-operative, accompanying colleagues on business journeys.

 

Rail Fares

All rail travel must be booked through Coop Travel Management in accordance with the Travel & Bookings Policy. A copy is set out at Appendix A and can be viewed on Colleague Connect website.

 

Business Journey Details

For every business journey, you must provide the following information on your expenses claim:

• Date of journey

• Starting point, destination and end point

• Mileage details (for journeys in a motor vehicle)

• Reasons for the journey and the name of the company or place visited

 

Business Journeys in Midcounties Vehicles

Drivers of Midcounties’ vehicles should refer to The Midcounties Co-operative Vehicle and Driver Policy document.

Colleagues will initially pay for all fuel and reclaim the fuel for business journeys via an expenses claim. You must provide details of the journey, along with sufficient fuel receipts to cover the amount you are claiming business mileage for, in order to allow The Midcounties Co-operative to reclaim VAT.  For example, if you are claiming £90 for business mileage in a month, you would need to provide fuel receipts for your vehicle from that month that add up to at least £90.

Colleagues will be reimbursed for business miles on submission of an authorised Expenses Claim.  Fuel will be paid at the HMRC Company Cars: Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs). 

 

HMRC company cars advisory fuel rates from 1 June 2016: 

Advisory fuel rates are updated by HMRC quarterly (March, June, September, December). Updated rates can be found on the HMRC website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advisory-fuel-rates

Please note: vehicles leased through the Salary Sacrifice Scheme are classed as a company car and therefore are subject to the HMRC Company Cars: Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs) as above. Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for this purpose also.

 

Business journeys in privately owned vehicles

You may, subject to your line manager’s approval, use your own vehicle on Midcounties’ business. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the vehicle is taxed, has a current MOT (where applicable) and is in a safe and roadworthy condition.  It will also need to be adequately insured for business, the carriage of passengers and business equipment. If necessary, you should ask the insurer to endorse the certificate to confirm that driving in performance of your employment duties is covered by the policy.

If you do use your own vehicle, colleagues will initially pay for all fuel and then reclaim the fuel for business miles via an expenses claim.  Colleagues are not required to submit receipts for fuel to cover business journeys in their own vehicles unless specifically requested to do so.

The Society will reimburse colleagues for business miles on submission of an authorised expenses claim.  Business miles will be reimbursed at the HMRC Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs) ‘approved amount’. There are currently two rates (first 10,000 business miles then after 10,000 business miles):

HMRC mileage allowance payments:

Type of vehicle	Rate per business mile
Car	45 pence for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 25 pence for each subsequent miles

 

Once you have claimed for 10,000 miles in a fiscal year (April to March), any further miles will be reimbursed at the lower rate, in accordance with HMRC rules.  You should keep a record of the total miles for which you claim from 1st April each year so that you can ensure that you claim at the correct rate when your total miles exceed 10,000.

In addition to the above mileage rates (and to encourage car sharing), colleagues using their own vehicle may claim an additional 5p per passenger per mile when they carry other colleagues as passengers on that business journey. You should record the names of those passengers on your expenses claim.

Reimbursement for the use of your own vehicle is generally made through Accounts Payable (via BACs) direct to your bank account.  However, it is subject to specific Group agreements, which will be separately notified.

 

Rates for business journeys in own vehicles (not salary sacrifice vehicles) when receiving car cash alternative allowance

As it is expected that you will use this vehicle for work purposes as and when required, it is your responsibility to ensure that the vehicle is taxed, has a current MOT (where applicable) and is in a safe and roadworthy condition.  It will also need to be adequately insured for business, the carriage of passengers and business equipment. If necessary, you should ask the insurer to endorse the certificate to confirm that driving in performance of your employment duties is covered by the policy.

You should initially pay for all fuel and then reclaim back your business miles via an expenses claim. Colleagues are not required to provide receipts for fuel to cover Business Journeys in their own vehicles.

We will reimburse you for business miles on submission of an authorised expenses claim.  Business miles for colleagues receiving the car cash alternative allowance will be reimbursed at the following rates: 

Car cash alternative allowance fuel rates:

Type of vehicle	Rate per business mile
Car	23 pence for the first 10,000 business miles in a tax year, then 14 pence for each subsequent miles *

 

*these rates are subject to change from time to time to reflect the price of fuel

Drivers in receipt of a car allowance are able to claim 3p per mile per colleague passenger travelling on a business journey.

 

Air Travel

All air travel must be booked through Coop Travel Management in accordance with the Travel & Bookings Policy. A copy is set out at Appendix A and can be viewed on Colleague Connect website.

 

Business travel insurance

When booking flights for overseas business trips there is no need to get separate travel insurance, as the Society maintains business travel insurance for all colleagues through our main insurers. However, to activate this cover you are required to notify the Insurance Team in advance insurance.team@midcounties.coop  if you are making a business trip overseas, so that they can issue you with the relevant documentation.

 

Home to Work / Private Travel

Midcounties will only pay such costs as part of a formal relocation arrangement, which will be agreed on an individual basis in conjunction with PSG and confirmed in writing.

 

Other Travel Costs

You may claim parking costs incurred when using a vehicle in the course of Midcounties’ business. You should obtain a receipt wherever possible to support the claim. Toll fees and tunnel fees may be claimed if incurred in the course of Midcounties’ business but must be part of a Business Journey. They must not be claimed for private journeys.

 

Subsistence

For the purposes of this section, subsistence expenditure means sums spent on food, drink or accommodation when absent from the normal place of work on a genuine business journey.

 

Hotel Accommodation

All hotel rooms must be booked through Coop Travel Management in accordance with the Travel & Bookings Policy. A copy is set out at Appendix A and can be viewed on Colleague Connect website. 

 

Meals

When you stay away overnight on business you may claim the cost of evening meals up to the value of £20 per day. You may also claim for lunches when you are working at least five miles away from your permanent place of work for at least five hours, up to the value of £6 per day. This does not apply to field-based colleagues.

Please note that the costs of hotels or meals taken near to your permanent workplace or your home (generally within 5 miles) are not subsistence. If authorised by your line manager, they would come under the heading ‘staff entertainment’ but may constitute a taxable benefit, depending upon the circumstances.

Subsistence costs incurred in the course of Midcounties’ business may be claimed in accordance with the following rules:

• All claims must show the business purpose; the place visited and is accompanied by the appropriate VAT invoices or receipts.

• The cost of bed and breakfast accommodation, where possible, should be invoiced directly to the Society. Where this is not possible the hotel bill must be settled at the time of departure. The actual costs of bed and breakfast may be reclaimed if supported by a VAT receipts.

• When staying away overnight due to business, including business-related training, HMRC generally allows the cost of a drink with a meal to be reclaimed if supported by a VAT receipt.

• The costs of alcoholic drinks without a meal cannot be reclaimed unless entertaining a third party (see the section on entertaining below).

 

Personal Incidental Expenses 

When you stay overnight on business you may claim the cost of personal incidental expenses of up to £5 per night for overnight stays anywhere within the UK and £10 per night for overnight stays outside the UK. Examples of incidental expenses include personal telephone calls, newspapers and laundry expenses.  

Where you exceed the £5 or £10 limit (as appropriate) you must bear the excess yourself. Where the excess is included in the bill you should deduct the excess from the bill prior to its submission for reimbursement. Where the bill is to be paid by Midcounties direct, you must pay the cost of the personal items back to the Society when submitting your next expenses claim. We reserve the right to recover any unpaid personal expenses from any amounts owed to you.

 

Entertaining

Business entertaining

Business entertaining involves the entertaining of, or provision of hospitality to, suppliers or customers (existing or prospective) and other business contacts. An occasion is only regarded as business entertaining where a third party is present. Business entertaining does not include events where only colleagues of Midcounties are present. Business entertaining also includes the provision of gifts to third parties.

Midcounties will normally meet genuine business entertaining expenditure subject to prior approval by a member of the Executive (a Group General Manager). Expense claims must detail the business purpose, the event, names of all Midcounties’ colleagues involved, the names of third parties involved and the organisation they represent.  The cost of travel to and from entertaining events and accommodation, if an overnight stay takes place, should also be detailed under this heading.

 

Colleague entertaining

The provision of entertainment, accommodation, food or alcohol to colleagues that is neither genuine subsistence (i.e. colleagues are away from their permanent workplace on a genuine Business Journey), nor business entertaining (i.e. there are third parties present) is classed as colleague entertaining and will normally be taxable in full on the recipients. The only exception to this is where nominated events have been agreed by a member of the Executive.

 

Provision of lunches

Food may also occasionally be provided in the course of an internal meeting that continues through lunchtime, in the form of a working lunch. No tax liability should be incurred in these circumstances.

 

Mobile Phones

Society mobile phones are made available to colleagues who have a business need and the phone provider bills the Society centrally for the cost of these mobile phones.

It is accepted that individuals may need to make personal calls unrelated to work on their Society mobile phones. In these circumstances the individual is expected to reimburse the Society for the cost of these call in accordance with the following procedure:

Reimbursement to the Society - Most colleagues with Society mobile phones will also be claiming expenses on a regular basis. In this case they must deduct the value of their personal calls from their next expenses claim. This is done by entering the number of calls made in the relevant field ('Repayment of personal calls made on company telephones') on the expenses claim form. This must be entered as a negative amount and will reduce the amount of the claim on the expenses form. 

If the reimbursement of personal calls on a Society mobile phone results in the colleague owing the Society more than they are claiming, a cheque for the net amount owed to the Society must also be attached to the expenses form prior to submission to the colleague's line manager for authorisation. The cheque should be made payable to 'The Midcounties Cooperative Ltd'.

Colleagues who do not regularly make expense claims should nevertheless complete an expenses claim form each period and reimburse the Society by cheque (as above) for their personal calls.

 

Miscellaneous Expenses

Telephone Calls from Home

Home workers should have a dedicated work line set up, for which all expenses will be paid by the Society. The contract and the bills for this line should be in the name of The Midcounties Co-operative Limited. Other workers, who are not based at home, may occasionally need to make business calls from their home telephones. Colleagues will be reimbursed for the cost of calls on society business from their home telephone on production of itemised bills, highlighting the business calls and providing brief details of the reason for the call.

 

Value Added Tax (VAT)

All aspects of VAT relating to expenses claims will be calculated by the Finance Group. The information below is included to help colleagues ensure that they obtain valid VAT receipts and invoices in support of the expenses they claim.

 

Reminder to colleagues

All colleagues are reminded of the particular importance of the need to provide VAT invoices with their claims, in order to ensure that The Midcounties recovers the full amount of VAT to which it is entitled.

 

General Rule

As a general rule VAT invoices must be obtained for all expenses on which VAT has been paid. However, VAT invoices are not required for the following:

• Telephone calls from public or private telephones (other than the colleague's own home telephone);

• Purchases through coin-operated machines;

• Car park charges (on-street parking meters are not subject to VAT), provided that the total expenditure for each item is less than £25 (including VAT).

 
APPENDIX A

 

Travel & Bookings Policy

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish clear guidelines to assist colleagues when making bookings for business related travel and conferences. This policy is to be read in conjunction with the Expenses Policy which it supplements.

Scope

The policy applies to all colleagues of the Society who travel on Society business either domestically or internationally. This policy applies to all colleagues, consultants, and agency workers who travel on Society business.

Responsibility

All Colleagues are responsible for ensuring that they book travel in accordance with this policy. All colleagues making bookings in accordance with this policy are responsible for ensuring they have budget authority to do so. Incurring expenses via Click Travel Ltd without the appropriate authority or in breach of the Expenses Policy may result in disciplinary action.
Line managers are responsible for ensuring that expenses are approved in accordance with this policy and the Expenses Policy. Where a line manager authorises an exception to this policy, it should be documented in writing. 
The Society is committed to seeking value for money in travel bookings. To assist with this, colleagues should ensure that booking requests are made in good time in advance of travel to help ensure best rates are obtained.

 How to Book

All travel requirements must be booked through Click Travel Ltd or via their online booking platform.

To obtain login details for the booking platform please email: iteam@clicktravel.com.

CLICK TRAVEL CAN BE CONTACTED AT:
Email	res@clicktravel.com	Additional support
Online Booking Platform	http://my.clicktravel.com	Air Travel, Rail & Hotel reservations
Telephone	0844 745 2121	For ground transportation, conference, meetings and group bookings
Office opening hours	9.00am to 5pm Monday to Friday	Call 08447452121
Online Chat Service with Click Travel Team	https://www.clicktravel.com Service available: Monday to Friday 08:00 – 19:00	Click the speech bubble at the bottom right of the page to start a conversation with the travel team
Emergency Service	0844 745 2121 (or +44 121 510 2269 from outside the UK)	Available outside of office hours 365 days per year This service should be use for a genuine emergency only and not for new non-urgent bookings

Rail Travel

Rail travel must be booked online via the Click Travel Ltd platform and this service is available 24 hours a day.

It is recommended that all rail travel is booked as far in advance as possible to obtain the best available fare for your journey. Where first class travel is available at a lower overall cost than standard class, or where a single continuous train journey is 2 hours or more (i.e. not including connecting journeys) and a table can be secured, first class travel is permitted. In these instances, approval from your line manager will be required.

EMPLOYEE TYPE	CLASS ALLOWED
All Colleagues	All colleagues standard class (except where 1st class is less expensive or if the train journey exceeds 2 hours and a table is secured)

 Hotels

Hotels must be booked online via the Click Travel Ltd platform and this service is available 24 hours a day.

The Click Travel Ltd system will provide the best hotel rates including any negotiated Society rates where we book as a Society a significant number of room nights. If any of the rates you would normally book are not displayed please email iteam@clicktravel.com and these will be added for you, where appropriate.

The table below details the maximum available allowance for your colleagues by area/region. It is recognised that there may be occasions (e.g. London Fashion Week, Wimbledon in London) where it will not be possible to find suitable accommodation within these rates caps and in such cases an exception will be permitted provided that you have prior written authority from your line manager. Click Travel Ltd can assist with bookings during these times.

AREA/REGION	All Colleagues
London (within M25)	£140
City Rate	£100
Provinces	£75

All hotels booked via the Click Travel Ltd system will be billed back to the selected cost centre for Bed and Breakfast and Evening meal up to a value of £20. You will not be required to pay this and reclaim on expenses. Where booking a room only rate you can add breakfast and/or dinner as appropriate.

If you prefer to eat dinner outside of the hotel then you should book Bed and Breakfast only and reclaim for dinner via expenses, in accordance with the Expenses Guidelines.

Conference, Meetings and Group Bookings

Meetings, conferences and group bookings should be placed through Click Travel Ltd between 9am and 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.

When booking a meeting or conference, consideration should always be given to internal meeting facilities, availability can be checked on Tavern.

Click Travel Ltd will source and book the following external facilities:

• Venues

• Room Hire

• Accommodation

• Equipment Hire

• Catering

All venue bookings, both internal and external, should be made as early as possible to maximise the range of options available and in the case of external bookings, maximise the potential to secure preferential rates.

Dinner, Bed and Breakfast can be arranged by Click Travel Ltd for a conference, meeting and group bookings that include an overnight stay, where appropriate and required.

Please note that Click Travel Ltd will not manage the event.

Air Travel

Air travel must be booked online via the Click Travel Ltd platform and this service is available 24 hours a day.

It is recommended that all air travel is booked as far in advance as possible to obtain the best available fare for your journey. Discount and budget fares will always be recommended when available and should be taken.

Line manager authority is required for domestic flights, they should only be considered where they compare favourably with the equivalent cost of the journey by standard class rail at the lowest available fare. Associated costs of airport parking, taxi and rail shuttle transfers should also be considered when comparing costs.

If a situation arises that prevents the lowest priced option to be taken, approval will be required from your line manager.

Air Travel	Applicable to	Travel Entitlement
Under 6 hours	All colleagues	Entitles to travel economy class only
Over 6 hours or overnight	All colleagues	The lowest business class fare, or premium economy where applicable

Ground Transportation

If there is a requirement for coaches, transfers or car hire this can be booked using the phone number or email address above. Click Travel Ltd will source and book the most cost effective and appropriate option for the enquiry.

Additional Support

If you require any additional support, you can speak to Click Travel Ltd on 0844 745 2121 or res@clicktravel.com.