Expenses

Students undertaking 'real world reporting' as part of their degree programme may be entitled to claim travel expenses in certain circumstances. Please consult the School of Journalism, Media and Communication's Travel Expenses for Student Fieldwork Policy  for the full details on this process. 

Approval by your module leader must be provided prior to travel.

Parameters for reimbursement

 Students can be reimbursed for their travel expenses in the following circumstances:

• Newsdays

  • Where the module leader decides that taxi travel is required for the newsday (i.e. immediate travel is necessary for coverage), the member of staff will book via the school’s taxi account

  • Travel from The Wave to a location of a story

• Non-newsday fieldwork

  • For H&S reasons - The fieldwork has been deemed high-risk, has a high-risk risk assessment performed and requires travel after 9pm.

  • Accessibility - The student declares there is an accessibility reason for the travel that matches the details in their LSP

  • Widening participation - The student self-identifies as a widening participation student and would like financial support for any travel for their fieldwork. These requests can be cross-referenced with a WP report from uReports. 

  • Costs for fieldwork taxis cannot be recovered without prior approval, nor will approval be given retroactively. This includes occasions where students are late leaving, eg. due to an event over running. If students suspect that an event will run over, they should gain approval for taxis before leaving for the event.

  • There are no limits on what taxi firm a student should use, however Veezu (formerly known as Sheffield City Taxis) are the University’s preferred company (0114 239 3939). Uber can also be used, but it is not recommended.

• Any individual claim for travel must be at most £30

• The maximum any one student can claim in a year is £70

The school cannot provide reimbursement of expenses for students to use their own vehicles 

Process for claiming

• The student must obtain a receipt from the taxi driver (or retain receipt of public transport tickets)F. This may be a hand-written note. If the student has taken an Uber, a hard copy proof of payment must be given. This can be a confirmation of payment email, but it must include the student’s name and the amount paid;

• The student must complete the Student Expenses Claim Form, which can be found here and also in appendix 2;

• Once completed, the form should be submitted via the School Office/Student Enquiries Desk (Wave C floor);

• The student will be paid their expenses directly into their bank account. Students will have to enter their bank details on MUSE in order to be reimbursed. Details on how to do this are on the student claim form.

Please note, claims are assessed case by case and may not always be approved.