University of Abertay Dundee. Travel Procedure

Transcription

1 University of Abertay Dundee Travel Procedure Introduction 1 Prior to travel 2 Post travel claims 4 Mileage & subsistence rates 4 Advances 7 Insurance 8 Authorised travel providers 9 Miscellaneous 9 Finance Contacts 11 Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Flow chart Indicative mileages Suppliers Effective for travel commencing on or after 1 December 2004

2 Introduction Under the rules laid down within the University s Financial Regulations, expenses are paid to staff members and other persons authorised to travel on University business to reimburse the individual for actual expenses incurred. These procedures are designed to protect the individual and to ensure that claims are processed in line with University regulations. The basic principles are: Local procedures in each School/Service must be followed prior to home travel. For overseas travel, a Pre Travel Form must always be completed and sent to Finance prior to expenses being committed. The University supplier should normally be used for booking travel. If this causes a problem, please contact the Head of Finance for advice before making alternative arrangements. For local travel, the most cost-effective form of transport appropriate to the circumstances must be used. For those travelling on their own, this will generally be public transport. Home to work mileage is a taxable expense and should not be claimed except in exceptional circumstances. Accommodation, transport, fees etc should be ordered and paid for by the University direct, rather than by the traveller personally, other than incidental expenditure incurred during the trip, for instance buses and taxis. If this not possible, please contact the Head of Finance for advice. If accommodation, transport or fees are paid direct by the traveller, they will only be claimable after the travel is completed. All Pre and Post Travel Forms must be signed by the traveller and by the appropriate budget holder. If the traveller is the budget holder, forms should be signed by their line manager. 1

3 Other than Personal Incidental Expenses, all claims for reimbursement must be supported by receipts. Any staff member who commits expenditure prior to approval runs the risk of being personally liable for expenditure. The post travel form must only be used for items relating to a trip which cannot be paid for in advance by the University. All other purchases must follow normal University purchasing procedures. e.g. Any staff member claiming for a book purchase must follow the normal procurement procedure and check the details with the Library who will ensure that the best price is obtained. 1 Prior to travel 1.1 Claims within UK, no advance required If the travel is within the UK and no advance is required, please do not send a Pre Travel Form to Finance. Individual Schools/Services are responsible for their own procedures regarding approval to travel and you should familiarise yourself with these. These procedures are designed to maintain control of expenses and staff absences. 1.2 Claims within UK, advance required If an advance is required, the traveller must complete a Pre Travel Form, get it signed by the authorised signatory, and submit it to Finance at least 7 days before the advance is required. A copy of the Pre Travel Form can be found on the Finance Intranet site and hyperlinked to Appendix 1. Advances are normally only paid on subsistence expenses. If an advance is required for other expenses, please contact the Head of Finance. 2

4 1.3 Overseas Travel For travel outwith the UK, the traveller must complete a Pre Travel Form, get it signed by the authorised signatory, and submit it to Finance. This form can be found on the Finance Intranet site. The traveller is responsible for organising foreign currency for their trip. Any commission charges can be reclaimed on the Post Travel Form. 1.4 Taxis The University has an account with TeleTaxis for local journeys in the Dundee area and a TeleTaxi slip should be collected from the School/Service office. The yellow copy of this slip must be marked with an account code and sent to Finance after travel has been completed. This allows reconciliation of invoices from TeleTaxis and correct allocation of costs to the general ledger accounts. The University has an account with Centre Travel for airport transfers. The invoice from Centre Travel will be forwarded by Finance to the relevant School/Service for authorisation. Taxis should not be used for travel between UAD and your home address. For more details on home to work mileage, see under Car Mileage. 1.5 Accommodation Normally accommodation should be arranged by raising a purchase order (via PECOS, POM or a manual order), either through DP & L Travel or direct to the hotel. If you think this is not practicable or you need accommodation to be booked with the University credit card, please contact Finance. 3

5 1.6 Provision Of Hotel Services Hotel Services document which can be found under Procurement on the portal. Competitive rates have been obtained from Holiday Inn Express [APTOS supplier HOL006] from per night for Dundee stays. Tel: Post Travel Claims 2.1 Post Travel Form Travellers must complete a Post Travel Form to claim reimbursement of expenses for the trip. Claims for the reimbursement of expenses must be countersigned by an authorised signatory. 2.2 Cash advances Travellers who have received cash advances shall account fully for all actual expenditure, supported by appropriate receipts, as soon as possible and in any event within one month after the return to the University. Any advance which remains unspent must be repaid to the University immediately. 2.3 Payment of claims Expense claims will be paid weekly by Finance direct into your bank account. In normal circumstances, if a claim is received by mid-day on Friday, the amount will be in your bank account the following Friday. The traveller will receive a remittance advice which will enable them to track claims. Expenses will be paid into the bank account that we have on file for your salary payment. If you wish expenses to be paid into another bank account, please complete the request form, which you can find on the Finance website, and submit to Finance. See Appendix 1 for flow chart and hyperlinks to the claim forms and summary of rates. 4

6 3 Mileage/Subsistence Rates 3.1 Public Transport Travellers are normally expected to travel second/economy class and to take account of any saver fares that may be available. Wherever a journey by night is involved, travel by First Class Sleeper is permitted. 3.2 Car Mileage Generally, private cars should only be used where the cost would be lower than the most economic form of public transport or appropriate car hire. In addition, private cars can be used where public transport is genuinely not feasible, or equipment is being transported, or two or more staff are travelling together on University business. If any of these apply, they should be noted on the Post Travel Form. In other circumstances, if a car is used when public transport is available, the expenses claim will be restricted to the second class rail or bus fare. Individuals using their own car on UAD business must ensure that their personal car insurance includes business cover, as no cover is available on the UAD insurance policy. Standard mileages for the main Scottish cities are shown in Appendix 2. For other destinations, mileage should be calculated as the difference between the start and end mileage. The mileage rates currently in force within the University are as follows: For journeys within Scotland - 32p per mile 1 1 The HMRC allow mileage claims up to 45p per mile (for 2011/12) to be non taxable, therefore individuals have the right to request a tax return and claim tax relief on the difference between the max HMRC rate and the amount payable by the University. For individuals claiming 5,000 miles in a tax year, this would equate to 650 tax relief being claimable. 5

7 For Journeys outwith Scotland - The mileage claim is normally restricted to the appropriate second class rail fare for the driver and eligible passengers. Please note that home to work mileage will not normally be claimable. In exceptional circumstances, the budget holder / line manager may authorise reimbursement of home to work mileage. As home to work mileage is subject to deduction of tax/ni, reimbursement will be via Payroll. In order to ensure that we comply with the HMRC regulations regarding home to work mileage, travellers who are claiming personal mileage must claim the lower of the actual mileage travelled and the mileage from UAD to the place visited and back. 3.3 Subsistence Subsistence covers the cost of meals/drinks consumed while away on University business. No one is permitted to claim more than the actual expenditure incurred. The following rates are the maximum amounts that can be claimed. All claims must be supported by receipts. Full receipts must be produced for subsistence, a visa slip will not be accepted. Maximum rates for subsistence were approved by FP&GP for use from August 2002 (which also apply to Members of Court). These are as follows: Between 5-10 hours 4.75 > 10 hours Overseas In exceptional circumstances, these maximum amounts can be exceeded with the explicit approval of the budget holder / line manager, who may seek advice from the Head of Finance. All expenditure on subsistence must be detailed on a Post Travel form and must be supported by receipts. See below for separate rules regarding Personal Incidental Expenses. Where a traveller was unable to obtain a receipt for an item of expenditure, for instance a taxi fare in a non-english-speaking 6

8 country, they must get specific permission from their budget holder / line manager to include these expenses on a Post Travel Claim and they will probably need to be paid via payroll in order to deduct Tax/NI. 3.4 Accommodation Maximum rates for accommodation payable by the University. These are as follows: Overnight or 24 hours 55 London/Overseas 85 Friends/Relatives 30 night up to a maximum of 60 per trip 3.5 Personal Incidental Expenses This is an HMRC term covering expenses which arise as a consequence of working away from home but which are not incurred in the performance of work duties, for instance newspapers, laundry, phone calls home. These would normally be regarded as non-allowable expenses and therefore subject to deduction of tax. However, where an employee is away from home overnight, then a special HMRC exemption allows the employer to reimburse these personal incidental expenses up to a certain limit without deduction of tax. Actual expenses incurred should be detailed on a Post Travel Form in the same way as subsistence expenses. They must not exceed the following: 5 per night for overnight stays in the UK 10 per night for overnight stays outwith the UK If the expenses detailed exceed the above maxima, the whole claim becomes taxable so please be careful! Please note that receipts are not required to support claims for personal incidental expenses. 7

9 4 Advances Advances are paid to protect the employee from financial hardship whilst on University business. To reduce the administrative burden and processing costs the minimum levels of advance payable are as follows: a) Staff Members 50 b) Students on UAD business 25 Advances are payable as follows: a) For UK travel, 75% of estimated cost of subsistence. b) For Overseas travel, 90% of estimated cost of subsistence. Advances are only paid on subsistence, as all other areas of expenditure should be paid using standard UAD purchasing procedures. Any balance on an advance must be repaid immediately on the traveller s return to the University by cash or cheque at the Cash Desk. 5 Insurance 5.1 Insurance Cover The University s block travel policy protects travellers during all trips outside the United Kingdom and during trips within the UK involving a domestic flight or an overnight stay. The insurance policy provides cover for loss, illness and delays. Please contact Estates & Campus Services for more information. If you do not already have an insurance card, please request one from Estates & Campus Services before travelling overseas. Cards provide details of the cover and give contact numbers to be used in the event of an emergency. Cards last for one calendar year. 8

10 5.2 Car Insurance Travellers are not covered by the University policy when booking car hire. Therefore, the car hire company s own insurance must always be taken out. 6 Authorised Travel Providers Owing to the high cost of expenditure on travel, the University has to ensure that the most cost-effective method of procuring travel is used. There is a balance between securing low price travel and the time taken to secure this price. The University has a contract with DP & L Travel for flights and other travel-related items (for instance, car hire abroad, accommodation, visas). Flights should always be booked via DP & L Travel. In exceptional circumstances payments can be made for flights using a UAD credit card by contacting the Head of Finance or the Accounts Manager. For other travel-related items, please contact Finance for advice as to whether to use DP & L Travel or some other booking method. Travellers should not book their own travel with a personal credit card. In all cases, orders must be placed using standard UAD ordering procedures. A listing of travel suppliers has been included in Appendix 3 for quick reference. 7 Miscellaneous 7.1 Trading of Travel Tickets Trading of airline or other travel tickets is forbidden. The University would always expect travellers to utilise the cheapest fare available. It would be considered a disciplinary manner if a traveller were to raise an order for a flight at a higher price and subsequently attempt to trade that ticket to obtain cash and to travel on a cheaper ticket booked by themselves. 9

11 7.2 Gratuities The University does not refund tips or gratuities. These should be excluded from any claims for meals, taxi fares etc. 7.3 Fines The University does not refund speeding fines or parking fines, or indeed any other penalty for illegal activity. These must be met personally. 7.4 Partner s travel and subsistence The University will only reimburse the cost of travel and subsistence for staff engaged on University business. 7.5 Personal Visits It is not uncommon for travellers to extend a trip for personal reasons. In these circumstances, this must be clearly indicated on the approval form. A baseline price must be obtained for the flight without the personal element for comparison purposes. In the event of the actual flight booked costing more than the baseline price, the excess cost will be recovered from the traveller. 10

12 8 Finance Contacts Administration of the travel expenses falls under remit of Finance. In case of queries or clarification, please contact the following: Name Ext. No Sandra Ross 8974 Accounts Assistant, Accounts Payable Pat Clark 8029 Accounts Assistant, Accounts Payable Lorraine Cook 8973 Accounts Manager Sally Hain 8023 Deputy Head of Finance Wendy Grant 8082 Head of Finance For queries regarding Insurance, please contact Estates & Campus Services. 11

13 APPENDIX 1 TRAVEL EXPENSES REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES PRE TRAVEL 32p per mile Mileage YES NO Are you travelling abroad, or do you require an advance*? Complete the Pre Travel Form (Hyperlink). Accommodation The following are the maximum amounts per night: UK (except London) 55 London & Overseas 85 Staying with friend or relatives - 30 per night up to a maximum of 60 Subsistence The following are the maximum amounts that can be claimed. All claims must be supported by receipts. YES NO Do you require travel, accommodation or fees to be paid for you? GO ON TRIP Travel and accommodation should be purchased through the university s authorised travel provider. If fees need to be paid by cheque or credit card, the application form must be sent to finance with an order attached signed by the person authorising the trip hours 4.75 >10 hours Overseas Subsistence is not available if meals etc are included in accommodation costs or conference fees. Personal Incidental Expenses The following are the maximum amounts which can be claimed (no receipts required): Per overnight stay in UK - 5 Per overnight outwith UK - 10 Advances* POST TRAVEL Fil in the Post Travel Form (Hyperlink), print it off, attach all receipts, sign it, get your budget holder / line manager to authorise it, and send it to Finance. We aim to pay all expenses by BACS within 14 days. You will receive a remittance advice when your payment is sent to your account Advances are only paid on estimated subsistence. Minimum Level 50 Maximum UK 75% of estimate Maximum Overseas 90% of estimate Finance Contacts Sandra Ross, ext Pat Clark, ext Lorraine Cook, ext Sally Hain, ext Wendy Grant, ext 8082

14 APPENDIX 2 INDICATIVE MILEAGES TO: Aberdeen City Centre 135 Dunfermline 95 Edinburgh Airport 120 Edinburgh City Centre 130 Glasgow City Centre 170 Stirling 115 Perth 45 St Andrews 25 Return Journey Source: AA Route Planner March

15 APPENDIX 3 QUICK TRAVEL CONTACTS Company Telephone Number How? Taxis Tele Taxis Car Hire (There is an APUC contract for car hire) Flights, Rail, Hotels, Visas Airport Parking Edinburgh Airport Parking Glasgow Nationwide uk Arnold Clark DP & L Travel OR FREEPHONE Scot Park Air Park Ask for slip in your School/Service Office and phone the taxi company to make a booking. After the journey, return the yellow slip to Finance, coded with appropriate cost centre. School/Service staff will book using UAD credit card. Orders for car hire abroad or for areas not covered by Arnold Clark should be place via DP & L Travel. Orders should be placed via your School/Service Office using PECOS. These are only suggestions. The University does not have accounts with any airport car parks. Travellers should use the cheapest parking available and reclaim on a Post Travel Form. 1