£30 - surely no longer enough for work expenses and Xmas party!

[Thursday5pmisginoclock]

For those in corporate roles where you can claim expenses…what are you company policy amounts for an evening meal when working away? Our £30 allowance feels so mean, and it’s the same amount for Christmas party! I mean what do you get for that nowadays??? Especially if we were to meet in London?

also why is the personal car payment still £0.45ppm - I am pretty sure it was that 10 maybe even 15/20 years ago!

inflation has not caught up surely…?

Is this commonplace?

How many nights did you spend away from home in hotels last year?

This thread is mad and its screamingly obvious who actually travels regularly for work and who gets to sleep in their own bed most nights.

This is mumsnet where:

• inhale two lettuce leaves in one day and you are the cause of the obesity crisis
• even think about letting a UPF across the threshold and you are single handedly responsible for the destruction of the NHS
• being asked to work in your own base office instead from home is akin to a human rights abuse

Unless you are woman travelling frequently for work. Then apparently its just fine for employers to benefit from:

• hours of our free time whilst traveling
• hours of evenings or overnights without our families
• no reimbursement for any increased child or other ancillary costs
• various incidental out of pocket expenses because you don't "have a spare at home"
• women wandering the street(s) of wherever they may be looking for cheap food at night to keep the expenses bill down
• often the additional load on the non traveling partner

And all through this - we should be "grateful" for a tesco meal deal or junk food every night.

Try traveling 4/5 nights a week living on chain restaurant junk (even if you have a chain restaurant near you) and cheap quality sandwiches (again even if you have a supermarket near you).

Try traveling as someone who might be halal, kosher, vegetarian, diabetic or other health related diet or simply trying to keep to a mumsnet approved "normal weight" and living on that diet for any length of time in the HMRC approved allowances which are 20 years old.

Last hotel I stayed in for work wanted 28 Euros for a plate of tomato pasta plus 10 Euro room service charge. No protein, no salad just a small portion of tomato pasta. That was the only hotel in the area.

Even if you are happy to live on cheap crap, crap is not necessarily available.

I don't eat crap at home, I don't see why I should eat crap away from home.

£100 pp for an evening meal in London (more in other cities) and still some people complain that it's not enough!

@C8H10N4O2

I do understand what you’re getting at. I travel a lot for work and what I try to consider is that for many, a meal deal is a treat, and that I did choose to do this job. If I was at home I would be buying food and possibly my lunch anyway.

A Tesco meal deal has many options and isn’t necessarily unhealthy.

Our limit is £100 per person, and we struggle with that tbh including alcohol etc.

£30 wouldn’t even get you a meal at the harvester!

This is getting ridiculous now 😂

@McIntire what's ridiculous?

starter, main and desert at the harvester is over £30 for most options. And that’s a cheap place to eat.

The Tesco meal deal isn't great though for daily nutrition and the point really is that its not necessarily even available.

The fact that someone else thinks eating at Pizza Hut or Wagamama or Nando's is a treat is irrelevant to my body and my health. None of these things are a treat or good if you are stuck with them all the time. Honestly if people think this kind of travel is a perk they are welcome to it. My treat is a month without travel.

I rarely drink when traveling, I just want simple healthy food and drink and I really struggle to find it in many locations at any price - esp late at night after leaving the client office.

There’s a strange parallel argument going on here about people wanting healthy food and those talking about starter, main and dessert.
Do you have 3 courses every night at home because I can’t remember the last time I even had 3 courses out.

As for expecting your alcohol to be paid for …..

Would you have a three course meal at home?

@C8H10N4O2

I know business travel isn’t as glamorous as people expect it to be and agree availability can also be a challenge. I disagree that there aren’t healthy meal deal options though. I always manage it

As long as you can top up the amounts. When my DH worked away, up until the 90's, the only thing available was greasy spoon type places and chippies, for his work budget, as said, really bad for health.
The Christmas allowance is low, I've just had a look, a three course meal in double tree hilton with tea/coffee is about it. Although the factories etc of times gone by would put on a buffet in a pub, but only the first drink would be free. So again as long as you can put towards it. Here, further north, we'd have quite a few choices for £30.

But you don't need a starter and a dessert! Or, if you do, there's no reason for your employer to pay for it. A main and a non-alcoholic drink is fine. If you want more, you pay for it.

And people keep going on about needing a bigger budget so they don't need to eat crap, but I find cafes are usually pretty good, you can get a panini and salad, or a jacket potato and salad. Or a home-made soup. That only really works at lunchtime though. In the evenings you are going to be hard pushed to find anything really healthy. Although give Pizza Express has come up a few times, they do salads. Prezzo used to as well but are sadly no more, at least in my area. I am obviously talking about the UK. If you spend much time in Switzerland on business you'll need £30 to get a coffee and a pastry (slight exaggeration but not that much).

We’ve been given a £75pp allowance for Xmas and I think it’s ridiculous, we’re a charity and I think it’s a massive waste of money.

@user1497207191 this is an Xmas party

Some people really do have piss poor standards

@enchantedsquirrelwood imagine going to pizza express for a work party

your bar is looow

I rarely drink when traveling, I just want simple healthy food and drink and I really struggle to find it in many locations at any price - esp late at night after leaving the client office

But that's the point - you say at any price. Having a bigger budget doesn't help you find something healthy if it's not there.

@McIntire this is a work Christmas party

imagine alcohol not being covered

some of you must work for some shitty employers

I wasn't talking about parties.

As far as my bar being low - Christmas parties are usually rubbish regardless of what you pay as they are seen as a cash cow and it's also quite difficult to do quality for large numbers.

@enchantedsquirrelwood then why post?

this post is about a work Christmas PARTY

There are two different things being discussed - the budget for usual meals away from home, and Christmas parties. They are not the same, obviously.

The thread has discussed both! Can people please read the opening post at least?

For those in corporate roles where you can claim expenses…what are you company policy amounts for an evening meal when working away? Our £30 allowance feels so mean, and it’s the same amount for Christmas party!

@LauraFlex

You’re talking about a Christmas Party, everyone else is talking about a quick bit to eat on a work night

Maybe imagine that in many cases people have to pay for their own Christmas party ......

I also think Pizza Express is ok - both for a run of the bill dinner and a work do. People rave about the independent Italian places in my town but I often wonder if we are talking about the same places. They are style over substance. At least you know what you are getting with PE.