Student Midwife and car insurance.
Discussion
Hi.
My step daughter is in her final year as a student Midwife (NHS) and part of her training now consists of making home visits, on her own, in a rural area.
She has been informed by the powers that be that she must use her own car and have Business insurance. There is obviously a cost implication to both change her insurance (admin fee of £30) plus a big increase in her insurance. She is 20 years of age.
The kick in the teeth is that she's been told, again by the powers that be, that she cannot claim this back. Bearing in mind that she's not paid anything anyway, do any users here have first hand knowledge of this?
Thanks,
Andy.
My step daughter is in her final year as a student Midwife (NHS) and part of her training now consists of making home visits, on her own, in a rural area.
She has been informed by the powers that be that she must use her own car and have Business insurance. There is obviously a cost implication to both change her insurance (admin fee of £30) plus a big increase in her insurance. She is 20 years of age.
The kick in the teeth is that she's been told, again by the powers that be, that she cannot claim this back. Bearing in mind that she's not paid anything anyway, do any users here have first hand knowledge of this?
Thanks,
Andy.
Ask them what they do for the students that don’t have their own car?
My wife was a student nurse a couple of years ago - they covered extra cost and paid mileage because she was still a student and not an employee. Also they made allowances for students without a car i.e. public transport, taxi or paid member of staff did the driving.
My wife was a student nurse a couple of years ago - they covered extra cost and paid mileage because she was still a student and not an employee. Also they made allowances for students without a car i.e. public transport, taxi or paid member of staff did the driving.
AndyWiltshire said:
Hi.
My step daughter is in her final year as a student Midwife (NHS) and part of her training now consists of making home visits, on her own, in a rural area.
She has been informed by the powers that be that she must use her own car and have Business insurance. There is obviously a cost implication to both change her insurance (admin fee of £30) plus a big increase in her insurance. She is 20 years of age.
The kick in the teeth is that she's been told, again by the powers that be, that she cannot claim this back. Bearing in mind that she's not paid anything anyway, do any users here have first hand knowledge of this?
Thanks,
Andy.
She should be paid mileage at the very least? This will include an element of reimbursement of the cost of insurance. Adding business use to a policy rarely costs much these days.My step daughter is in her final year as a student Midwife (NHS) and part of her training now consists of making home visits, on her own, in a rural area.
She has been informed by the powers that be that she must use her own car and have Business insurance. There is obviously a cost implication to both change her insurance (admin fee of £30) plus a big increase in her insurance. She is 20 years of age.
The kick in the teeth is that she's been told, again by the powers that be, that she cannot claim this back. Bearing in mind that she's not paid anything anyway, do any users here have first hand knowledge of this?
Thanks,
Andy.
Doesn't sound reasonable. Can't say that I was ever obliged to use my car when I was a student nurse. I know student nurses doing community placements now who don't drive, in pretty rural parts of Norfolk.
As mentioned by someone, as a bare minimum she should be able to claim for mileage, if not from the NHS trust, then the uni.
It's a dodgy option, but if all else fails, social media might be worth a try, particularly twitter. Tag the uni, NHS trust, chief Exec etc. Best not coming from her/keep it anonymous but seems worth a shout if they want to be difficult about it.
As mentioned by someone, as a bare minimum she should be able to claim for mileage, if not from the NHS trust, then the uni.
It's a dodgy option, but if all else fails, social media might be worth a try, particularly twitter. Tag the uni, NHS trust, chief Exec etc. Best not coming from her/keep it anonymous but seems worth a shout if they want to be difficult about it.
I’ve never heard of anyone in the public or private sector being able to claim back business insurance so that’s perfectly normal.
Is she able to claim mileage, this is what normally prompts the question from the employer for proof of business insurance. If she is claiming mileage then that’s what the 45p is supposed to contribute towards. If she can’t claim mileage then how many miles are they asking her to do? Seems very unreasonable if so.
Is she able to claim mileage, this is what normally prompts the question from the employer for proof of business insurance. If she is claiming mileage then that’s what the 45p is supposed to contribute towards. If she can’t claim mileage then how many miles are they asking her to do? Seems very unreasonable if so.
This is from memory from the 1990s and 2000s when I used to make mileage claims for the MOD...
Because she has zero earnings, this may not be true, but...
If she isn't paid 45p per mile, she can reclaim the tax on the difference between that and what she is paid (upto 10,000 miles, 25ppm after that).
Tell her to keep accurate records of mileage. Submit the records to HMRC, along with proof that she was told to do those journeys by her employer and proof of business use insurance.
Worst case scenario is that she will be able to reclaim 9ppm (20% of 45p).
There is a possibility that if she can't claim in this tax year, she may be able to carry forward to future years, but you would need to look up the details on the HMRC website.
Hopefully, an accountant will pop up and correct my errors, or confirm I'm right
Because she has zero earnings, this may not be true, but...
If she isn't paid 45p per mile, she can reclaim the tax on the difference between that and what she is paid (upto 10,000 miles, 25ppm after that).
Tell her to keep accurate records of mileage. Submit the records to HMRC, along with proof that she was told to do those journeys by her employer and proof of business use insurance.
Worst case scenario is that she will be able to reclaim 9ppm (20% of 45p).
There is a possibility that if she can't claim in this tax year, she may be able to carry forward to future years, but you would need to look up the details on the HMRC website.
Hopefully, an accountant will pop up and correct my errors, or confirm I'm right
Chris32345 said:
Surely as she's not being paid for this it's not a job therefore not business use?
If her current insurance covers "Social, Domestic and Pleasure" then the correct question is not "is it a job?" but rather "Is it (a) social, (b) domestic, (c) pleasure or (d) something else?". If the answer is (d) something else then it won't be covered, regardless of precisely what that something else is.As has been suggested above, she is unlikely to be able to claim back the cost of the insurance directly, but she should check whether she can claim a mileage allowance from the university or from the NHS trust. If she can then the 45p/mile (or whatever it is) is intended to cover all the costs of using her car for work, including the extra insurance costs, and to be fair it's certainly a lot more than the bare petrol cost would be.
If she can't claim mileage then she should ask her current insurer first whether they'd regard this use as being covered by her current policy. The answer may well be no (certainly travelling to university/college is typically classed as commuting rather than SDP, despite the fact that you don't get paid for it) - but if you don't ask you don't get.
If neither aproach works, she may have little option but to upgrade/change her policy, and treat it as another of the costs of being a student.
Remember when shopping around that some insurers (DIrect Line spring to mind) include business use as standard for most professions, so there is not necessarily an extra cost, other than the cost of switching.AndyWiltshire said:
She has been informed by the powers that be that she must use her own car and have Business insurance. There is obviously a cost implication to both change her insurance (admin fee of £30) plus a big increase in her insurance. She is 20 years of age.
In the random way insurance works, one of my daughters did it at 21 when she was a trainee teacher - she added business cover mid-year and got a £15 rebate!Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff