£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?

£25 and I don’t struggle, even in London.

30 quid is ok surely for an evening meal.

the expectation is not that you have 3 courses and wine!

£35 a head (London) My boss is clueless in terms of getting anywhere decent and that you've not booked months in advance.

Christmas meal is £75 for London based employees (not sure if this changes for other offices). It is usually a meal with half a bottle of wine per person

We have £25. Causes some grumbling but I think it's pretty fair. You can spend more and still submit the receipt but only claim back the first £25 which I think is reasonable.

There are other things about our expenses policy that are infuriating though.

IMG @caringcarer - You're giving me flashbacks.

I used to get 12ppm and the faff to claim the other 33p through self assessment...

Just pay people the full mileage allowance!!!

Having always been a teacher we were never given anything towards any Christmas festivities, the Head would maybe personally buy the first round, so I would have envied your mere £30!

Our overnight evening meal allowance has just (last month) gone from £23 to £30!!!

I was in London for the night last month. Has a fantastic curry and a beer, several sides for £20. Ethiopian restaurant off Caledonian Rd.

Public sector - Christmas party is at our own expense.

£30 is fine for an evening meal and Christmas party should be a bonus not an expectation

Surely when planning the Christmas party you book at £40 per head (for example), use the £30 from the company and everyone buys a ticket for £10 for a damn good Christmas do that they'd never be able to get for £10 usually? This also means the head count will be easier to nail down and that means less chance of paying for empty seats.

£25 for evening meal

Our expenses policy states nebulously states “reasonable” - and I assume most people must approach this in a broadly reasonable fashion and not take the piss, because it’s never been qualified. If most claims are anything like mine and that of colleagues I’ve travelled with, £30 seems at the upper end of just about right: a main course and a glass of wine, maybe two if it’s been a very long day, in a mid-range place, is standard.

Christmas the company pays whatever the price, is standard for the industry.

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

Your employer is allowed to pay more than this, you just get taxed on anything over 45p/m.

Whilst I imagine that £30 is not actually going to get you very much for a meal in London (it cost me £17 just for a coffee and pancakes at Kings Cross the other week) HMRC words all this as subsistence. It's supposed to be extra to reflect the fact you are travelling, not to completely replace all the food you eat (because you presumably would also pay to eat food at home).

Why do you need a main and a starter and a side for dinner though? What’s wrong with the main itself? Why isn’t that filling enough?

I just checked London Pizza Express prices - a margarita is £11.75, then the rest range in price from £13.95 to £15.50. Soft drinks cost £1.70-£3.95. I don’t see why after eating a whole pizza of around 1000 calories at a work meal, why you’d need a side too. Even if you did, there’s still budget left over!

£25 here for a meal

Xmas party is at a hotel in london. Nibbles, unlimited wine, beer and soft drinks, and hotel if out of area.

Is that specifically London pricing or just train station pricing though? The chain shops tend to charge the same in London vs nationally, but train station locations always hike the prices up as a convenience tax

When away exam marking (Scotland) we get £20. This is often not quite enough for a main course in some places they put us to stay. Only soft drinks and they come off the £20 total.

As a teacher, we get the kids' Xmas school dinner.......if we volunteer to serve it to them!

You expense your Xmas party meal? Surely it's voluntary participation? If you don't want to pay for it, don't go.

Leadenhall Market Pizza Express, as an example of a location you’d actually be for work, is about £18 a pizza.

Most people like a salad or equivalent with their pizza so I can’t see why you’d think it unreasonable.

We can’t claim any food / drinks so not sure on that but we are still on 45p per mile. Which is rubbish - I rarely bother making the claim now ( which I’m sure is what they want!)

You can get a steak with 2 sides, a soft drink and ice cream dessert in Flatiron for £30

Yeah the difference is usually restaurants will charge more for a set menu so whilst £30 may well be fine if you're working away, this is entirely different when you're trying to book a table for twenty in a restaurant.

OP I don't think it's mean per se, but you're right in that it won't cover the full celebration. Hopefully people will still be keen to have the meal subsidised!

I went out earlier in the week to a place that has been covered in a national paper and has various awards. I had dessert, a small main course, and a glass of wine and it was just over £27.