What is 'reasonable' in terms of food expenses when travelling on business?

[irambo44]

I'm working for a start up company, there is an element of government funding involved.

Have to travel on the odd occasion, need lunch as it's a full day out and hours from home and on my feet so can't really be carrying stuff. Have only ever worked at big corporates before with proper expense policies.

Was told here to just be 'reasonable' as there is no policy yet. Is £12 for a bowl of noodles reasonable? I just got tap water as a not to be cheeky. But previous jobs have had everything from £15-20 a meal to just whatever you fancy.

What's 'reasonable' to you, and what's not?

Our is £3 lunch which I think really needs upping now meal deals aren't even £3 anymore!

£15 for tea which again with rising prices could maybe be increased a bit.

We get £25 a day. Usually breakfast is provided by the hotel too

I was going to say £25/30 , you'll need to get a couple of snacks too plus more than one drink

I work for a startup, lots of travel no policy as such I have to ask if it's over £100.00 like trains flights hotels which will be pain centrally and keep it under£1000 a month for personal expenditure

I'm not overnighting, but have had to travel 3-3.5 hours from my home each way.

I'll cover my own dinner. This is what I'd spend for lunch (usually with a drink), but I'm worried now they were expecting a supermarket meal deal 😅 which I never eat!

I don't get lunch paid unless I am taking a client out I would get my own if at home so that's not covered.

They confirmed I can claim lunch, as I've had to travel halfway up the uk from where I am. I've got a corporate card. Just worried they might see £12 as cheeky, when I see it as reasonable..

Last time I spent £7. It was more whatever was reasonable and close by at the time.

I'll admit I'm not used to ever having to worry about it in the past,

We don't get anything for lunch as it's something you are assumed to normally buy ( by the HMRC apparently)

I'd say up to £20-30 is probably reasonable for a lunch, taking account that you might want proper sit-down meal. Travelling for work usually comes with a degree of stress & inconvenience and so the trade off should be that you get a decent meal. Otherwise, well, you might be less willing to bother with it.

And £12 is not cheeky for lunch. A wrap and a bottle of water from Pret in London is £10 and that's hardly an extravagant feast

Really? Even if it was 3.5 hours from where you lived? I'm home/hybrid based and generally never buy lunches out in the working week.

Thank you, this is reassuring as I thought the exact same. Usually I'd have a drink or two, maybe a side 😅 so I'm trying to just get the bare minimum and it feels perfectly reasonable to me.

I'm just worried they expected a Boots meal deal or something. I guess I'll find out!

£12 is fine! I’d expect a reasonable lunch portion and drink from a local cafe or chain place e.g. sandwich, bottle of water, packet of crisps and a coffee from Pret which would probably be about £10-15. But most places I worked just had a £100-150 per day limit and as long as it was spent on consumables then that was fine. So clean out the mini bar but don’t eat, absolutely fine and approved. I’m not suggesting you do that though 🤣

Personally it seems a bit on the high side for lunch but depends where you are. Officially we get £6 for breakfast, £6 for lunch and £25 for dinner. The rates haven't changed since 2017 though and are considered a guide so they're not rigidly adhered to as long as it's not a million miles out or is for example a basic hotel breakfast in the place you're staying.

Our company policy is you can't claim for lunch if you start the day at home (because you could just take it with you if you didn't want to buy it) but you can claim if you stayed over the night before. We're also allowed to claim breakfast if we leave home before 6am.

Can you not just as your manager/colleagues/HR what 'they' believe reasonable is? I assume an amount isn't stipulated in a work handbook?

Unless you are taking a client out, I would think up to £20 would be reasonable for lunch. £12 certainly doesn't seem cheeky to me! If you can't ask anyone, put the receipt in and see if its gets paid.

I claim from a few organisations and it's so varied. I'd expect you to claim dinner too when you are travelling so far. Very few pay for alcohol, the most I can claim is £45 over the whole day.

£24 for lunch and dinner for government so I’d say that’s the absolute minimum

We also don’t get lunch as it’s seen as part of the working day (you could easily take a sandwich with you).

However, if staying overnight away from home (so you can’t feasibly make a sandwich) it’s £30 a day too (breakfast usually provided at hotel).

Ask.

Our allowance when we have to travel away from base - but still in the UK - is £7 for lunch and £18 for dinner. I think they assume people will have something like a quick sandwich or salad lunch from M&S or Tesco's and a sit down meal in a cafe or restaurant for dinner.

My policy is £40 a day in the uk.

£12 for lunch is absolutely fine!

at my organisation we have to provide a justification if lunch/dinner is over £150 per person. I accept we might be outliers!

Both DH and mine are around £15 for lunch and £30 for evening meal.

HMRC publishes guidelines on reasonable expenses, you can look it up