Expenses

The company will reimburse all approved and reasonable expenditure incurred in undertaking company duties. All expense claims (except mileage claims) must be supported by copies of original receipts, invoices or similar showing the date and time of the transaction. Personal credit/debit card statements will not be accepted. To meet HMRC requirements, each receipt or invoice should list: VAT registration number, description of goods/services supplied, the total charge - including VAT, name and address of supplier and the date of supply. Expense claims must be submitted within 90 days of the expense being incurred. If this is not practical, written approval for any extension will be required from your line manager via email to the Finance Director. The Company may delay payment of an expenses claim if it is completed incorrectly or lacks the correct supporting evidence.

Overnight Accommodation

Hotel stays should be in Kew Green owned or managed hotels only. The cost per night for business travel across the Kew Green estate is £35 per night including breakfast. Exceptions are any London properties at £100 per night including breakfast.

Where possible hotel costs should be paid by an Area General Manager or Director’s Company Credit Card. If the costs are paid by you, receipts and invoices must be provided to support the claim.

Meetings and Room Hire

Meetings should be held in Kew Green owned or managed hotels only. The Colleague Business Day Delegate Rate of £25 per person includes provision of:

- Arrival, mid-morning and afternoon refreshments
- Buffet lunch served in the meeting room or the restaurant.
- All AV equipment required unless an additional hire charge will be incurred by the hotel.

Meeting room costs should be paid by your Area General Manager or Director using their Company credit card.

Meals and Other Refreshments

The cost of breakfast will be included in the room rate if you're staying in a Kew Green owned or managed hotel on Colleague Business Rate.

Breakfast claims are limited to £9.50 per day unless purchased in a Kew Green owned or managed hotel. If you are an office and hotel based colleague, you may claim breakfast only when travelling away from your normal place of work for business purposes and the journey commences before 7am.

The cost of lunch will usually be included in day delegate rate if attending a meeting or training course in a Kew Green owned or managed hotel on Colleague Business Day Delegate Rate.

Dinner should be taken in a Kew Green owned or managed hotel whenever possible. If you are a hotel based colleague, you may only claim dinner when staying away from your normal place of work for business purposes. Claims should be for a maximum of 3 courses plus soft drinks.

The cost of soft drinks may be claimed if you are a hotel colleague travelling for business purposes to a maximum of £10 per day.

All claims for meals and other refreshments must be supported by receipts.

Air and Rail Travel

You may claim for standard class rail fares only. Where possible, rail journeys should be booked well in advance to benefit from any discounts for early booking.

You may claim for underground travel. Original receipts must be provided, or a copy of an Oyster card statement if a receipt is not available.

Air travel will be reimbursed where this is a more efficient form of travel in terms of time and/or cost. Air travel must be approved in advance by the relevant Director. Flights should, whenever possible, be booked sufficiently in advance to obtain the best possible prices. Air travel should be by economy class only.

All bookings for overseas travel, including tickets for transportation, hotel reservations and any other reservations should be made through the Office Manager at Head Office.

Car Travel

It may be appropriate and cost-effective to use your own car when travelling in connection with your job role. Any use of your own car on business is subject to you:

- holding a full UK driving licence;
- ensuring that your car is roadworthy and fully registered; and
- holding comprehensive motor insurance that provides adequate cover for the purpose of travel

Prior authorisation should be sought from your Area General Manager/Director before using your own car on business.

If you use your own car for business purposes (whether or not you receive a Car Allowance) you will be required to submit the documents below for checking before any mileage claims can be made:

- Driving licence
- Car Insurance Certificate showing that the colleague has appropriate cover in place
- MOT Certificate

Copies of these documents must be checked by the Area General Manager/Director and retained for future reference.

The Company accepts no liability for any accident, loss, damage or claim arising out of any journey that you make in connection with your work. The Company will not pay for the cost of any insurance policy on your own car.

It is your responsibility to verify with your insurer that you are covered for any type of travel connected with your work to avoid invalidating your insurance or being fined in the event of an accident.

The Company will reimburse mileage for car travel on business at the following rates:

- Company car drivers 15p per mile
- Car allowance recipients 15p per mile
- Use of own car 39p per mile

We will continue to review our company car mileage rates on a quarterly basis in line with the HMRC’s schedule for updating their advisory rates. The next review will commence around 1st December 2022. Mileage rates may fluctuate depending on the HMRC advisory rates

Payment of mileage claims for use of your own car is conditional upon this information being provided before the first claim is submitted. Copies of the documents will be held on file. Colleagues will be required to submit replacement documents on expiry of any of the above.

Colleagues who use their own car for Company business may be able to claim Mileage Allowance Tax Relief from HMRC. See the Government website for further details.

Parking costs may be reclaimed for business purposes only. Claims must be supported by receipts.

Road/bridge tolls and congestion charges may be reclaimed. Receipts should be submitted where possible; if no receipt is available details of the location of the toll and time of use and Congestion Charge Number where applicable must be provided.

The Company will not pay any fines in connection with Road Traffic Act offences nor will the Company reimburse car wash or valet costs.

Taxis

Taxis should only be taken if there is no suitable alternative public transport, or if there is more than 1 passenger and a taxi is a cheaper alternative to public transport.

Training Courses

Accommodation and transport in conjunction with training courses is subject to the same rules as for other business-related travel. Claims for training course fees must be approved in advance by a senior manager.

Membership of Professional Bodies

The Company will pay subscriptions to approved professional bodies if it is a condition of your job role and in the interests of the Company. Claims for professional memberships must be approved in advance by your relevant Director. In some cases, subscriptions paid may be taxable and you need to be aware that you may bear the additional cost.

Expenses that will not be reimbursed

The Company will not reimburse you for:

Cost of any travel between colleague home and usual place of work
Cost of any travel undertaken for personal reasons
Cost of any travel for colleague partner or spouse
Any fines or penalties incurred while on company business for whatever reason, including penalties for not paying for a rail ticket in advance of boarding the train and penalties or fines associated with motoring offences, including speeding or parking fines, clamping or vehicle recovery charges
Any expenses incurred for personal benefit or to improperly influence or reward a business contact
Cash advances or withdrawals from an ATM machine

False Claims

If the Company considers that any expenditure claimed was not legitimately incurred on behalf of the Company, it may request further details from you. The Company will thoroughly investigate and check any expenses claim as it sees fit. It may withhold payment where insufficient supporting documents have not been provided.

Where payment has been made to a colleague prior to the discovery that the claim was not legitimate or correct, it may deduct the value of that claim from the colleague’s salary.

Any abuse of the Company’s expenses policy will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to:

False expenses claims;
Claims for expenses that were not legitimately incurred;
Claims for personal gain;
Claims for hospitality and/or gifts to induce client or other business contact to take improper action; and
Receipt by the colleague of hospitality and/or gifts from business contacts that may be perceived to influence colleague judgement.

The Company will take disciplinary action where appropriate and, in certain circumstances, may treat a breach of this policy as gross misconduct, which may result in summary dismissal. In addition, the Company may report the matter to the police for investigation and criminal prosecution.

How to Claim Expenses - Hotel Colleagues

You are entitled to claim reimbursement of expenses, including travel and subsistence related items, you should complete details of your claim on the Expenses Claim Form.

On the electronic form there are two forms, Form 1- Mileage Claims Only and Form 2 - Other Expenses, please select accordingly. You may only claim expenses which are defined as allowable within the Kew Green Expense Policy (see above).

If you are in doubt whether an expense may be allowable, please contact your Line Manager for guidance. Expense claims should be submitted within 3 months of incurring the expenses. Claims submitted after this will not be paid. Claims should always be accompanied by original receipts or documents. If any supporting documentation is lost your expense will not be reimbursed.

The completed Expenses Claim form(s) should be sent via email to the relevant Management Accountant in the Head Office Finance Team, together with scanned copies of all necessary receipts.

Claims can be submitted at any point during the month and payment will be made by cheque to the home address on the EPS system within 21 days of receipt of the claim at Head Office.

Copy of Expenses Claim Form 2018.xls

How to Claim Expenses - Remote Workers

Remote Workers and other frequent claimants should submit their expense claims via the online Expenses system. If you are a new user, you should register here. Online claims should be submitted on a monthly basis in line with the Expenses Cut-Off Dates. Authorised expense claim payments will be made by BACS transfer to your nominated bank account.