Forum menu
Here's a question the OP could ask his boss:
If somebody from the corporate office needed to visit the OP at his designated place of work (Mintyjim Towers 3 hours / 120 miles away) and maybe stay over, what expenses would they be eligible to claim?
How fast do you drive btw?
Good question BigJohn, but I’m going to contain my inner facetiousness given the pre existing culture difference with my boss!
I only drive at the speed limits. Of course.
Well, the way to phrase that is “What expenses can an office-based employee claim if they need to visit a different corporate office and stay over?”
Because that’s what Mintyjim is doing.
Equally bear in mind, as I think someone else pointed out, the expense policy in the US where Mintyjim’s boss is, may be different than in the UK and he may not know. We get this a lot as we’re a global org, and expense policies are different in different countries, mainly due to tax laws, but also there are some cultural differences in expectation.
I have a call later with him but for all you outraged keyboard warriors, disgusted that I would claim coffee and a sandwich, I’m probably not going to bother claiming those from now on
If you're allowed to under your company's expense policy then you'd be a fool not to - people like me are just saying I wouldn't expect lunch to be covered under an expense policy (unless it can be billed to a client).
A day out at corporate down south I’d claim for train coffee, lunch sandwich meal deal, train Earl grey (with milk) and mebbe some flapjack. Kings X Maccy-D / Leon if I was gonna be home after 9pm.
No one ever complained in 15 years.
Back in the good old days of having a job where the expenses were "subsistence" before moving to "actuals"
Day 1 leaving from home was travel, evening meal, accomodation.
Day 2 onwards there was also an "incidentals" payment for snacks, papers, phonecalls, lunch etc
But that was a long time ago.
Earl grey (with milk)
Now that should be banned under all expense policies.
I also wouldn't necessarily claim a coffee and a sandwich, especially if it was just a one-off or rare event. However to offset these minor losses I have often made a profit from per-diem rates, and/or augmented a business trip with a bit of holiday. Being in charge of my schedule to some extent opens opportunities...it's no surprise there are so many scientific conferences in nice locations.
In any case, if I put in a legitimate claim and someone tried to give me any grief I would give them an earful. It's good to set boundaries and ground rules early with a new boss.
I'm PAYE and it is a home based role. I'm not a contractor.