[Closed] NHS Employee Travel Expenses

It's usually a contribution over and above the distance of your usual commute to work iirc. This was 3 years ago though so may have changed

Depends- we have to get these things approved in advance- you complete a ‘study leave’ application, which details the course/event fee, travel expenses etc, and this is then sent to line manager for approval. Some things- eg identified jointly at annual appraisal as essential, are easily passed, but where it’s a bit grey you might negotiate on fee, time paid, expenses etc.

– Fuel and parking charges
– Return train fare
– Overnight accomodation
– Taxi transfers
– Food and drinK

Only a mere civil servant here but FTS. why would you pay all that to attend a conference that might be good for cpd and you’re asked to attend. Sounds like the employer trying to get a presence there on the cheap

My wife is a Nurse has attends conferences a few times a year.

They’re all on a case by case basis, I think partly because the fuel rates are petty high at 60p a mile or so and they don’t always (or even often) offer new skills to staff.

‘Conferences’ are often held by suppliers to ‘educate’ staff on the correct use of their goods, the IT world is much the same (were I work) it’s a sales pitch that usually comes with a Gala Dinner, free booze and nice hotel rooms, most of the time they’re in the UK but my wife’s been to Denmark and there’s another in Barca next year I think.

Managers will usually know which are beneficial for the team as they teach, those that are beneficial for the staff member as they offer a chance to network and those that are just a jolly.

But if the manager has asked you to go it would expensed, most of the time Wife has to asked and make a business case for it.

Working for as a state employee, courses/conferences are for the benefit of the organisation as well as the employee and the organisation pays all expenses, be they fuel, additional hours, parking, fares and hotels.

If the employers deems it acceptable for the employee to attend a conference / training course then all business expenses qualify under the "necessary and exclusively" HMRC policy so there's no reason why they can't claim.

rOcKeTdOg

Subscriber

It’s usually a contribution over and above the distance of your usual commute to work iirc. This was 3 years ago though so may have changed

Still this for our trust.

Blackburn hospital has just scrapped the concessionary parking rate for staff. Was £1.50 a day, now £3.80.

Nice to know we're appreciated.

Need more details.

If it’s an admin person being asked by their manager then I’d expect the Trust to pick it up. If it’s a Doc or a Nurse, and they are wanting to progress their career then contributing is the way forward as their CV will benefit.

Mrs FD has been to many conferences, roughly paid 50/50.

I work for an NHS trust and in my previous role was responsible for my departments education allocation and applications. E&T budgets for the NHS these days are next to nothing. Our Trusts worked at £15 per head per year!

So it was rationed on case by case basis with a panel assessing. Basically if it was essential to role it would be 100% funded inc expenses. Identified in PDP it would generally be 50-75% funded from the E&T budget and the other 25-50% either from the departments own budget or from the individual. Purely CPD would be pretty much unfunded unless you were lucky at the end of the financial year and there was a pot with some budget left that could be moved around.

It depends. If the person wants to go for their CPD they pay - and work is generous in giving the time. If the employer sends the person to the conference the employer pays.

As above decided on a case by case basis

Fuel and parking charges - I would get Mileage and parking
– Return train fare - yep but has to be pre booked thru 3rd party provider
– Overnight - Only got this once in 11 years
– Taxi transfers - nope
– Food and drink - subsidence amount pre agreed

If they are asked to go, all expenses should be paid. Simples

Re. blitz's example...

I hope that the Trust putting together a panel of - probably senior - people to assess things did the sums on the cost of that commitment! The less visible but considerable costs of running these sorts of panels often outweigh the "savings" in my experience.

The NHS has always done the smaller post it notes and no sandwiches thing really well, because its very hard to control the other costs without impacting clinical care.

Generally, professional development mileage is paid at "public transport" rates of c.40% the full mileage rate. Personally, given that it would be a tiny fraction of mist Divisional budgets, I would want the colleague to feel positive about work and have no trouble authorising it at full rates.

The situation appears to be that as it’s optional, the Trust will only pay for the Conference fees and provide time to attend.

Optional so not essential then the employee pays, the employer may pay for the conference cost but even that isn’t compulsory.