Work refusing to pay expenses

[birdinatree]

I could do with some perspective as genuinely not sure if I am being unreasonable (name changed for this).
I work in a large city - my base office is one side of it and my travel card gets me from where I live to my work base. All good so far.

However, work has really ramped up in recent months and I'm regularly travelling across town to another building, as my travel card doesn't cover the rest of the city I have to pay for this travel. I'm also often either having to get to mtgs at the other location for first thing, or at the other location at the end of the day.

If I travel via my usual route and then travel across town this is cheaper but adds another hour or so to my day, means I can't get my child to nursery in the mornings or gets me home past their bedtime in the evening.
Or I can go a direct route and leave/get home around a similar time as when going to my base - but this costs money.

I'm currently owed £250 in unpaid expenses to cover this, policy says we can claim for travel to places that aren't our usuals place of work, management keep refusing to pay it. Their comments so far have been you need to plan better, we all have to pay for it, nobody else claims this.

I'm so stressed over this, they're making feel like I'm on the fiddle when I'm just trying to do a really full on job to the best of my abilities.

Sorry it's long, just need to vent!!

What does your contract say? If you are based at multiple locations then you can't claim

Usually the requirement is to travel via the cheapest route. If that means you then personally choose a different one which is more convenient for you then you should pay.

Is the other base closer to home or further than your usual base? You normally deduct your normal commute. So if usual base is 10 miles away but you go to B which is 8 miles away you get nothing. If it’s 15 miles away you get 5 miles worth of the public transport rate.

Thanks guys, my contract marks just the single base - and yep, I only claim for the difference as my ticket gets me halfway - although that's the difference in cost rather than miles...

Interesting perspective on the convenience to me, although seems really unfair to add huge amounts of travel time to my day for what's a drop in the ocean to them but a couple of weeks worth of food to me and that have a huge impact on my work/life balance and childcare costs.

it's also only a cheaper option because I've already paid for that route - but that probably doesn't mean anything.

It's all pretty depressing really...

My office relocated in London. I could walk to the original office, but had to get the tube to the new office, so had to buy a underground season ticket. Can't remember how much it was, but was a few hundred each month. Had no choice, as the employer gets round it by saying you chose where to live.

Talk to your union - they are being unreasonable

I work all over the county - I never claim travel from home to my office but I always claim from my office to a meeting, from that meeting to the next (and if I go directly from home I claim travel from the office or home whichever is nearer) some months I claim over £300

If the policy says you can claim then save it as a pdf where your work can’t alter it and then reference that.

If you can’t get these expenses from employer - and you should seek union ot acas advice - then you can claim these against your tax liability even if PAYE

My employer would expect me to take the cheapest route of travel, but I would be allowed to deduct the travel time from my working day in excess of my usual commute.

Thanks for your replies, yep I'll go armed with the policy tomorrow- it's just worded in such a way that it seems really simple but could be open to different interpretations.

Londongirl that sucks - they should have renegotiated your contracts surely?

Just hate that I'm being viewed as the bad guy here, and know that by pushing it I'm marking my card....

What does your finance department say when you attempt to claim the costs? There should be a written travel policy that will tell you exactly what expenses are permitted, and what evidence you need to support your claim. If you don’t have a copy I recommend you ask finance/accounting for it.

Thanks senior good to know!

Are you working at both bases in the same working day?

Definitely take the extra travel time within work hours.

So travel from home to base 1 time is your time. Travel from base 1 to base 2 and back is in work hours. Then travel from base 1 to home in your time.

You can take any extra hours worked as time in lieu if your contract allows?

Also who else is in the same situation? Ask around. Better if a few of you group together to raise this as a concern.

Thanks everyone again, great advice!
The policy states that:
Journeys between work and home - expected to cover full costs between home and normal place of work
If you can show that a journey between home and a temporary base incurs excess costs then these will be reimbursed.

So I take that as covering what o've asked for!!
This has boosted me for tomorrow, and also given some great advice if they still won't stump up.
Thanks again.