Evening meal allowance - London

[Countdown]

StevieBee said:

There are different rules relating to international work. When working overseas (also for myself), the most important documents to retain are the boarding cards. These prove you left and returned according to the dates of any per-diem claim. Obviously without a receipt you cannot claim back any VAT but when you go to paces like Sierra Leone, the idea of a receipt for anything is somewhat optimistic, hence the higher tax free allowance.

Cheers - every day's a school day!

[NomadicTurbo]

Expenses when travelling alone or with staff:

£10 for breakfast
£15 for lunch
£35 for dinner outside of London
£45 for dinner inside of London

Also able to expense two drinks during the day (outside of meals) - coffee between breakfast and lunch, coffee between lunch and dinner etc

Staff and customer 'entertainment' falls under a different expenses guideline and is just discretionary

[borcy]

I think ours is £25 for 2 meals, they always book breakfast with hotel. Same allowance inside or outside London.
No tips or alcohol allowed to be claimed.

Edited by borcy on Thursday 25th April 16:49

[Simbu]

We get £10 for breakfast (unless it's in the hotel rate), £10 lunch, £30 dinner. We can choose to spend above the limit and have a subsidised pricy meal. It's plenty to have an acceptable meal, but the limits haven't moved in years, so it doesn't go as far as it used to.

[craigjm]

We dont have a limit its just down to the person to decide what is reasonable depending on location. £50-60 in London is not unreasonable

[fat80b]

I would say £35 is tight.

Sure you *can* find somewhere to eat at that price but now you have to spend your time checking whether or not you will blow the budget by having just a burger and a pint plus a tip.

In my experience, companies with miserly expenses policies are not much fun to travel for and people tend to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary.

If that’s what they want to achieve then fine but I’d imagine the actual goal is different. If the company wants people to travel because it helps the business, then a few quid extra on the per diem is a necessary to make it work for all parties.

You can bet your bottom dollar the boss isn’t worrying about the per diem when they travel….

[RayDonovan]

Global FMCG and it's £30 for evening meal.

I personally think it's fine but I've got colleagues who disagree. I've been away last couple of nights, £25 in Wagamama and £20 at Five Guys (but had a code).

Usually stay in the Wembley area so it's either chain restaurants or risk getting stabbed in a local Curry place

[Countdown]

fat80b said:

I would say £35 is tight.

Sure you *can* find somewhere to eat at that price but now you have to spend your time checking whether or not you will blow the budget by having just a burger and a pint plus a tip.

In my experience, companies with miserly expenses policies are not much fun to travel for and people tend to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary.

If that’s what they want to achieve then fine but I’d imagine the actual goal is different. If the company wants people to travel because it helps the business, then a few quid extra on the per diem is a necessary to make it work for all parties.

You can bet your bottom dollar the boss isn’t worrying about the per diem when they travel….

Double post

re: the boss not worrying - if he's the owner or major shareholder that's absolutely fine. If he isn't then he should comply with the Policy or the FD should report him to the Board.

[21TonyK]

I get 25 allowance on hotels in or out of London but that can be food and/or drink. Just charge everything to the room and pay any extra at the end. Seems to balance out. Quite often if its somewhere decent I will eat lunch work (chef) each day and rack up 100 credit with the hotel then have a nice meal on the last night.

If its a premier inn or something I ask them to not book any meals or allowance and I just go elsewhere and claim back up to 25 a night.

I'm sure if it went over because there was no alternative then it wouldn't be an issue, last hotel was borderline 25 for a main course.

[Panamax]

NomadicTurbo said:

Expenses when travelling alone or with staff:

£10 for breakfast
£15 for lunch
£35 for dinner outside of London
£45 for dinner inside of London

Also able to expense two drinks during the day (outside of meals) - coffee between breakfast and lunch, coffee between lunch and dinner etc

That sounds fairly sensible to me. It's not going to be one long party but at least the basics are covered. Companies who pay less must surely be in danger of losing good staff, which is highly counter-productive.

[LosingGrip]

Our policy is 'reasonable' when out of force. Reasonable has been decided as £24. Not too bad when popping to the local trauma hospital following a crash. I can get a subway and a drink with no issues.

I've got a week's course coming up. £24 is also expected to get me breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast maybe included in the hotel (which is a whole other issue...they want us to stay in police accommodation 45 minutes away. I'd have spent the day in a police station I don't really want to spend my evening in one!).

[h0b0]

We are treated well.

London is £115/meal. (not per day)


I checked and this is not based on level so is for everyone.

[loskie]

Civil Service is £33 for 24 hrs subsistence. In reality Lunch and dinner as breakfast will be covered. No alcoholic drinks.

Need recpts too.

[Countdown]

Panamax said:

That sounds fairly sensible to me. It's not going to be one long party but at least the basics are covered. Companies who pay less must surely be in danger of losing good staff, which is highly counter-productive.

It's an interesting question and probably one for another thread i.e how important is the expenses policy in relation to other job-reated perks? For example rank the following in order of importance

Pay
Bonus
Pension
Car allowance
Annual Leave
Quality of office
Quality of IT equipment (new Laptops, Ipads, and mobile phone every year)
Free car parking
expenses policy

I guess my point is there are lots of hygiene factors that impact on job satisfaction. Expenses might be important to some but it's going to be way down the list IME

[TwigtheWonderkid]

MrBig said:

QuartzDad said:

Our global policy is batst crazy, there is a 100 page pdf listing random towns/cities/regions with max hotel rates such as

Berkshire £66
Coventry £106
Edgware £110
England £88
Heathrow £87
London £125
Salford £144
Wembley £155
Milton Keynes £181
Rotherham £38
Middlesex £42

I have so many questions...

Me too. £42 for Middlesex that hasn't existed since 1965, could have probably bought you the deeds for the restaurant in 1964.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Countdown said:

She also said King's Cross was a dodgy area full of prostitutes .

Indeed, and only half a crown for a blow job.

Ffs, what century is she living in. The area behind Kings Cross station that was a red light district is now Coal Drops Yard, where you probably can't eat for £35. But for most of London, £35 is fine.

[Slowboathome]

Self employed so when I'm on London it's an M&S salad in the hotel room or Pret if I fancy eating out.

£20 tops.

If I was employed I'd be happy with a £35 per night meal allowance if I could keep the money I didn't spend.

[Radec]

£95 hotel w breakfast outside London.
£140 hotel w breakfast in London.
£30 evening meal outside London
£35 evening meal in London.
Can claim £10 for drinks/snacks during the day if traveling for more than 4 hours.

Hotels/travel have to be booked via our provider so guess they get some sort of preferential rates.

[loskie]

Ours HAVE to be booked through appointed agent too. It costs more than you or I would pay as normos.

That's Civil Service for you.

[Ken_Code]

I’d never thought to check, someone books flights and hotels for me but it never occurred to me to claim for meals.