031/PERS/ISSUE2/DEC2005Agreed at Full Council December 2005

Issue 2

1.General Issues2

2.Travel2

3.Subsistence 3

4.Car Allowances3

5.Essential Car Allowance4

6.Casual Car Allowance5

7.Mileage Rights 5

8.Motorcycle Allowances 6

9.Travel by Public Transport 6

10.Use of Air Travel6

11.Training Mileage 7

Appendices

Appendix OneCar User Allowances - Criteria for Determining Designation8

PROCEDURE FOR CLAIMING & CERTIFICATION OF TRAVEL & SUBSISTENCE CLAIMS
Preamble

This policy results from an Agreement made in November 2002 between Unison and Allerdale Borough Council. The policy was reviewed in November 2005. In line with the NJC car allowances scheme and relates to all matters pertaining to car use in this policy.

1GENERAL ISSUES

1.1All claimants must submit their claim forms to Payroll Section on a monthly basis. Failure to submit a claim within three months of incurring the expenditure will normally result in loss of the right to reimbursement.

1.2All claims must be certified by an authorised signatory, usually your line manager. Under no circumstances will uncertified claims be accepted for payment.

1.3Supporting documentation, such as receipts, must be submitted with claim forms. Any claim submitted without a supporting receipt will normally be subject to deduction of income tax.

1.4The following points should always be considered in respect of journeys:

  1. Is the journey necessary – could it be avoided with a telephone call or letter?
  2. Is another employee undertaking the same journey – can travel costs be shared?
  3. Can a council-owned vehicle be used for the journey?
  4. Is it cheaper to hire a vehicle than to pay for mileage?
  5. Can the destination be reached easily by public transport? Would it be cheaper?

1.5It is the responsibility of the authorising officer to ensure the claim is completed fully and correctly.

2TRAVEL

2.1The Council will only reimburse legitimate business travel costs free of tax. “Business travel” is defined as any journey you make as a requirement of your duties of employment and the costs can include tolls, parking, ferries and subsistence (see below), but not parking, speeding or other fines which remain the responsibility of the driver. Anyone using a hire car, where the car is hired by the Council for that persons use, and the vehicle is recorded speeding, must accept responsibility for any fine which is notified to the Council as the hirer.

2.2Any travel between your home and your normal place of work, is ordinary commuting and not a business journey. The Council therefore requires you to deduct your ordinary commuting mileage from any business mileage claim made unless 2.3, below, applies.

2.3Claims in respect of journeys which start/finish at home, but which are shorter than if the journey had commenced from work, can be claimed as a non-taxable journey.

2.4For journey’s outside the County boundary which start and finish on the same day, a hire car should be used

3SUBSISTENCE

3.1Under normal circumstances subsistence allowance can only be claimed where the officer is away from their normal base for a significant part of the working day. This should be no less than 5 hours and should also be a minimum of 5 miles from base. Special rates will apply to post-entry training.

3.2Authorised signatories may approve the payment of a lunch allowance where it would be embarrassing or unreasonable for the employee not to have taken the meal

3.3Breakfast allowance can only be claimed when the journey commences prior to 7.00 a.m.

3.4Lunch may be claimed when a non-routine journey results in the employee being away from their base, not engaged in their usual day to day duties, and this involves the period when a lunch would normally be taken.

3.5Dinner allowance can only be claimed when the journey terminates after 8.00 p.m.

3.6In all cases, the maximum that can be claimed is as from time to time agreed by the Authority. These payments are not taxable, and will require the production of receipts. In exceptional circumstances, reimbursement may be authorised where a receipt could not be obtained, but such a payment may be subject to tax.

Officers should be reminded, however, that the payment is meant to reflect necessary expenditure, and should not be seen as an allowance or a “perk”.

3.7Anyone attending a university, college or other educational establishment will be expected to use the refectory facilities provided and any claim for subsistence must reflect this. Failure to observe this request would result in fewer resources being available to support training and development activities.

3.8Hotel accommodation should be pre arranged and the cost must be reasonable in the circumstances.

Accommodation for training events must be authorised and arranged by Personnel.

4CAR ALLOWANCES

4.1Car allowances may be paid to employees where there is a genuine operational need for them to use their own motor vehicle on official Council business. Managers should ensure that all travel on official business is undertaken in the most effective/efficient way including the use of public transport or hire car, particularly for journeys outside the District.

4.2In order to keep travel costs to a minimum, employee entitlement should be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis, which will normally be annually. Employees should also be made aware that such allowances are attached to the post they occupy and are not a personal entitlement. Allowances may therefore be reduced or withdrawn should the needs of the service or duties of the post change.

4.3Designation of Essential and Casual Car Users will be based on the criteria contained in Appendix 1 below.

4.4Employees who use their vehicles on official business are required to maintain suitable insurance cover indemnifying the Council against all third party claims arising out of the use of the vehicle on Council business. The Council may from time to time request the employee to provide evidence of suitable cover, and allowances may be withheld until this has been verified.

The following allowances may be paid:

5ESSENTIAL USER ALLOWANCE

5.1An annual lump sum allowance is payable on a monthly basis to those employees where the duties of their post are such that it is essential to have a car at their disposal whenever required and without which they would be unable to work effectively. Essential car users are required to have their car available for work, insured for business use, in roadworthy condition and to maintain their driving licence. Loss of a driving licence by an essential user may have serious consequences for his or her employment depending upon whether or not alternative arrangements can be made for the employee to effectively carry out his or her duties.

5.2Essential car users who join or leave the Council’s service part way through a year should receive the allowance on a pro-rata basis. Where the employee’s car is out of use due to mechanical fault, or the employee is absent from work, then the lump sum should be paid for the remainder of the month the car first became unavailable, and for a further 3 months thereafter. For the subsequent three months the lump sum will be paid at half rate and, if the car is still out of use after this 3-month period, the allowance will then be withdrawn. Under no circumstances should an essential user allowance continue to be paid if the employee has been banned from driving, or if the employee ceases to have access to a vehicle for business use.

5.3It should be noted that the annual allowance is not taxed at source, but reported by the Council to the Inland Revenue at year-end. Essential users are responsible for declaring their allowance to the Inland Revenue for income tax purposes.

5.4In respect of one vehicle, only one lump sum will be payable. Where a vehicle is shared, each claimant is entitled to the business mileage claimed at essential user rate.

6CASUAL USER ALLOWANCE

6.1Any employee who is not designated as an essential user and who uses his or her car to carry out official duties will be paid at casual user rate.

7MILEAGE RATES

7.1Employees may claim at the appropriate essential or casual user rate for all business miles travelled

  • within Allerdale B.C.
  • within CumbriaCounty boundary.

7.2Mileage undertaken outside the County boundary will be reimbursed in accordance with thefollowing rules:

7.2.1Essential Users

  1. The first 100 miles of any round trip, or any mileage up to, and from, the County boundary (whichever is the greater) will be reimbursed at the claimant’s normal rate.
  2. The remainder of the journey will be reimbursed at the “petrol only rate” appropriate to the vehicle.

7.2.2.Casual Users

  1. The first 60 miles of any round trip, or any mileage up to, and from, the County boundary (whichever is the greater) will be reimbursed at the claimant’s normal rate.
  2. The remainder of the journey will be reimbursed at the ‘petrol only rate’’ appropriate to the vehicle.

7.3In the event of an employee travelling direct to (or from) a business appointment from (or to) home, only mileage in excess of that normally travelled to or from the employee’s permanent workplace may be claimed unless, the mileage from or to home is less than that which could have been claimed had the journey started or finished at the employee’s normal permanent place of work. In these circumstances the whole journey may be claimed.

Example 1:

Start from home at Maryport to site visit at Wigton (15 miles)

Return from Wigton to Allerdale House(20 miles)

Mileage claimed(35 miles)

35 miles is less than the distance from base (Allerdale House) to site (Wigton) and back to base (40 miles).

Example 2:

Start from home at Wigton to site visit at Maryport (15 miles)

Return from Maryport to Allerdale House(5 miles)

Mileage claimed(10 miles)

The 20 miles actually travelled is more than the distance that would be travelled if the journey had started from base (Allerdale House) and ended at base i.e. 10 miles.

7.4Training Mileage – All travelling, for training and development purposes, will be reimbursed at the Training Rateas applied under paragraph 11. below

7.5To enable managers to check and monitor claims, employees must maintain a record of all authorised journeys using log sheets. Details include:

  • Time and location journey(s) commenced
  • Time and location journey(s) completed
  • Purpose of journey(s)
  • Milometer readings of the journey(s)

7.6Claims should be made on a monthly basis using the appropriate form. These are to be checked and authorised by an appropriate authorised signatory and forwarded to Payroll Section. Payments will not be processed unless the forms are properly completed and authorised.

8MOTORCYCLE ALLOWANCES

8.1Employees who are authorised to use their motorcycles for travel on official business will be entitled to claim a mileage rate as determined from time to time. (Please contact Payroll Section forthe appropriate national rate).

9TRAVEL BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT

9.1Employees who are required to travel on Council business (including to/from training courses) by public transport may claim reimbursement of the full cost incurred, subject to production of receipts, tickets etc. Managers should ensure that the most cost-effective method is used for the journey to be undertaken, including journeys within the County. This should include taking advantage of “saver” and advance booking fares. Managers are responsible for checking and authorising claims and for maintaining suitable records to ensure that claims are not duplicated.

9.2Internet booking may be utilised as this can result in cheaper fares. Where this system has been utilised, reimbursement of costs will be made upon production of tickets and /or receipts.

10USE OF AIR TRAVEL

10.1For some journey’s it may be cost effective to use a low cost airline flight. The cost of travel to and from the airport (e.g. travel to Newcastle plus Stansted to London and return) must be taken into account.

10.2Air travel may have the advantage of removing the need for an overnight stay and this should also be taken into account.

11TRAINING MILEAGE

11.1Public transport should be used for travel to training events whenever practicable and cost effective.

11.2The Essential User rate will be applicable to all car journeys to and from training events.

The first 100 miles of any round trip, or any mileage up to, and from, the County boundary (whichever is the greater) will be reimbursed at the Essential User rate applicable to the trainee’s vehicle.

The remainder of the journey will be reimbursed at the “petrol only” rate appropriate to the vehicle.

11.3For journeys outside the County boundary which start and finish on the same day, a hire car should be used.

11.4Hire cars should only be used for travel to training events if it is clearly cost effective. For events lasting for more than one day it will rarely, if ever, be cost effective to use a hire car.

11.5When more than one person is travelling to the same venue, they will be expected to arrange for car share.

Appendix One

ALLERDALE BOROUGH COUNCIL

CAR USER ALLOWANCES - CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING DESIGNATION

INTRODUCTION

The Council is committed to the pursuit of sustainability objectives in accordance with its Local Agenda 21 Initiative. It is also seeking to maximise efficiency in the use of resources allocated to the provision of transport for official duties.

The Council wishes to encourage its staff to only own and use vehicles that run on “green” fuels, maximise the efficient use of such fuels, and minimise the effect on the environment. Unnecessary or non-essential use of cars by staff in the conduct of their work will be discouraged.

CAR MILEAGE BANDS

The Council will use the three bands contained in the NJC for Local Government Services Scheme. These are:

Band 1 – vehicles between 451 and 999c.c.

Band 2 – vehicles between 1000 and 1199c.c.

Band 3 – vehicles between 1200 and 1450c.c.

Vehicles with higher cubic capacity than 1450c.c. will be deemed to fall within Band 3.

CRITERIA

  1. An essential designation will be granted to a post which attains a minimum of 100 points using the formula outlined below:

(a) One point for each 30 miles of official business mileage, excluding training mileage, plus,

(b) Half a point for each official visit excluding training journeys.

N.B. An official visit may involve visiting more than one location during the journey. For example, visits to a number of properties in one street will be deemed to be one official journey.

The most recent 12 months travel records will normally be used to assess designation.

Part-time staff will be assessed on a pro-rata basis in respect of both mileage and official journeys.

A casual designation will apply to any post undertaking official business car mileage, excluding training, which fails to qualify as an essential user post.

  1. The designation of posts scoring 90 points or more will be reviewed by the Working Group as part of the initial review. Thereafter, the Chief Officer and Head of Personnel will carry out any review of individual cases.

In carrying out the review, the following factors will be considered:

(a)the designation of posts undertaking the same or similar duties,

(b)any factors that may have temporarily affected the mileage/journey record of the post,

(c)if there is cover with sufficient expertise to respond immediately, if necessary, from available designated essential users,

(d)any other factors relevant to the work and the use required of the car other than those listed above, if circumstances are special.

PROCESS

The Council will set up a Joint Working Group, which will :

(a)review each existing job designated as a car user,

(b)determine the designation of the post based on records of mileage and car usage.

Appeals against the initial designation must be registered with the Head of Personnel within 10 working days of official notification to the postholder. The issue should be resolved within 15 working days.

Appeals will be referred back to the Joint Working Group, and if agreement is not reached, to the Personnel Tribunal. That decision will be final.

CHANGES IN DESIGNATION

Where this review results in a change from Essential to Casual User, the employee will be given a compensatory payment of one years Essential User Allowance. This will apply from the date of official notification of the result of the review and will only apply to the initial review. Subsequent changes in designation will not involve any compensatory payment. Designation of posts will normally be reviewed annually using the above criteria.

A change in designation may occur when the need for travelling in an employee's existing job diminishes or where the employee transfers into a new post/role.

1

V:\A Policies\Agreed Policies\Travel and Subsistence Policy 031_PERS_ISSUE2_DEC2005.doc