£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?

Would you think it reasonable to eat like that five days a week? London is one of the easier places to manage if its the odd day here and there and you are happy with junk food for a day, simply because of the number of outlets within walking distance.

Different story if you have to do this several days a week, week in and week out and a pain if you have further dietary restrictions. I've also found myself in locations where the only place to eat is the one hotel in the area and the hotel food is very expensive.

Comparing the reality of regular weekly travel with the odd day here and there is comparing apples and pears (and maybe should attract different tax allowances)

For those in the public sector saying 'I get nothing' can I just point out:

1. job security
2. sick pay
3. defined benefits pension

All of which are worth far more than £30 for dinner when travelling for work.

I'm in the process of being recruited as an external examiner at another university. Expense limits are breakfast £10, lunch £10, dinner £20 (including service and VAT; absolutely no alcohol). Fairly standard, I think. I've rarely claimed expenses in previous roles as lunch is always provided and dinner is only an issue if staying overnight. In any case, I've never had any difficulty in getting a decent curry or similar for well under £20.

^^This

Plus we have been told that wherever possible not to travel at all - use TEams for meetings because we can't afford the travel.

30 quid is pretty generous and a lot more than we get.

How on earth can you not find dinner for £30?!

You obviously don't work for the public sector. Redundancy notices out every year for the last 13 years, massive cuts in staffing and no cut in workload. Pay worth at least 25% less than it was worth 10 years ago. Pension losses since 2016 for many. And I wonder how you know that the OP doesn't have job security, sick pay and a pension?

Nope….my team has been ‘restructured’ 3 times in the last 5 years. We have reduced from 120 staff to 17.

There is another £5.5 million to save this year (again) in Children’s Services in my LA, due to Tory cuts.

Another ‘restructure’!

Most of us fund ourselves fully for Xmas meals. I get half that allowance for food when away and quite often have to find my own training course expenses.

Public sector here, no tea,coffee,milk provided, 25p per mile travel allowance after relocation. Costs £3.30 a day to park as office car places are very limited, with a very long waiting list. Thank goodness for hybrid working 😁

Oh and the £15 is for the whole day!

Not me thinking about my job in the public sector where I’d drop down dead of shock if I even got a cup of tea paid for 😂

That was the exact scale rate although it was increased to £25 per day in January 2023 If you use the £25 per day you don't have to keep records for HMRC

Breakfast Rate £5

One meal rate (if working over 5 hours) £5

Two meal rate (if working over 10 hours) £10

Late evening meal rate (only if working after 8pm or staying overnight £15

Maximum of £25 per 24 hours

Mine is £30 but that cannot include alcohol.

Work Christmas lunch is provided in London. No idea what it costs them. Probably £30 would cover it as people don’t tend to drink at the lunch itself. It’s all very professional with most not drinking or having one glass of wine.

Then we all go off with our groups of mates and people get rat arsed, but obviously pay for themselves.

The 45ppm is shit. Quite a few employers in SE have increased to 65 or 67ppm. You do have to pay tax on the extra 20p but that’s fine. HMRC really need to increase the rate.

"Would you think it reasonable to eat like that five days a week?"

But the OP doesn't ask about allowances for working away all week; where have you even got the idea that this is some pour soul spending days and days and days a month away from home?

They ask about an evening meal allowance - a short-term thing for a night away - and £30 for a meal allowance is perfectly reasonable.

£30 is more than adequate for 1 evening meal whilst working away.

Presumably the Christmas party is optional, if you really can't face topping up the £30 if needed then don't go?

"Would you think it reasonable to eat like that five days a week?"

But the OP doesn't ask about allowances for working away all week; where have you even got the idea that this is some poor soul spending days and days and days a month away from home?

They ask about an evening meal allowance - a short-term thing for a night away - and £30 for a meal allowance is perfectly reasonable.

Well my company knew if I was in Switzerland they’d have to do an exception. £30 in Switzerland doesn’t get you more than a crap burger and still water 🤷🏼‍♀️
id just claim for the decent meal (no pud, 1 course but something with some actual vegetables and a sparkling water) and add the receipt with a copy of the menu prices so they could see I wasn’t ordering expensive stuff
they didn’t quibble aftermfist time when someone form accounts called me to ask why I was staying in Switzerland 🤦‍♀️🤣. Agree Japan is expensive too.
id be going back to your company with evidence from menus and names of places you ate at to show you aren’t frazzling funds away and you ate form moderately priced place and moderately priced food. I refuse point blank to eat crap high processed fast food when business travel. I as away form my own bed over 200 nights of th year over multiple years, and I need to have a healthy diet.

Petrol/mileage allowance isn’t for travel to and from work - it’s for travel while working

I work for a civil service arms length body - we only get £15 for an evening meal and nothing for a Christmas party so £30 sounds like a good deal!
I agree it is unfair that none of the expenses have gone up for decades though.

We don’t get an Xmas do paid for but get £30 for dinner when away on expenses. It isn’t the massive amount people seem to think it is. Stayed in bogstandard chain hotel in the North of England last year and a pasta dish plus 1 drink was £26. Was on my own not in city centre so I’m sure there were cheaper options but not close by.

And I'd add to that by pointing out that lots of private sector workers don't get generous allowances for meals, don't get a xmas meal, etc., either.

I worked in one place who were "generous" enough to pay for the staff's Xmas set meal (but staff's partners had to pay if they came along), which didn't include drinks (you had to buy them yourself). Even better (!) was that the owners sat themselves on a different table and ordered their meals from the menu - so the mere workers had to watch them enjoy the a-la-carte menu, as we ate our basic/cheap set menu!

Nice! Not all private sector employers are as generous as public sector workers seem to think!! And, yes, no gold plated pensions, no sick day allowances, just SSP when sick etc.

In all the companies I’ve worked for , you don’t just claim £30 for a meal . You have to absolutely provide a VAT /tax receipt and claim your actual expense back. The £30 is the ceiling they’ll pay.
so if you only spend £10 on crap food that’s all you can claim
i really don’t understand why some people in public sector think private sector is throwing gifts of money to their employees
HMRC gives tax allowances to companies for costs their employees have had to make whilst carrying out their duties. To make that claim the companies have to have copies of the receipts if HMRC ever want to audit. And they have to do annual audits anyway where these costs on expenses are recorded. I was never given money without proof of spend by my companies in a 45 year career. and that applies to all companies hence why companies have the limits for spends- they’d set by HMRC.

Isn't Flatiron famous for being cheap (but still yummy) steak though? It's the exception not the norm and the queues are always impossible

Another public sector worker here who has never had a meal paid for. But as long as it covers a Wagamama meal that would be good enough for me. £30 is plenty!

We are in the north, £30 for food for Christmas do and whatever they put behind the bar. Usually £1000 or so