Can I claim meal expenses when travelling for work all day

[SeekingCivil]

I’m a few weeks into a new job and I am due to travel to see a client next week. I will be out of the house for about 12hours.
No one has mentioned anything about what expenses I can claim and there is no policy (I’ve checked). I know I can claim for fuel.

I looked on the YouGov website and it says one can claim for up to £10 if working away for 10hours or more.

I will be doing more trips like this and I don’t want to be out pocket.

I will ask HR if I know I can claim but want to check first.

Just ask for the subsistence and travel expenses policy.

You need to ask your manager as every company is different.

At my company now its a meal per overnight. So i dont claim for lunch but i will claim for evening meal. My last company was £30 per day to spend as you wish. So youll need to clairify with your managet

Yeah you need to ask your manager. Ours doesn’t allow for lunch generally. Breakfast in certain circumstances and dinner has a limit of about £35 - no alcohol!

Its employer dependent so you need to ask.

Some won't pay for lunch as they'll argue you need to buy it anyway, oblivious to the difference in cost between home made and bought, while others will pay a few pounds and the most generous will pay not just for a nice lunch but coffee throughout the day too.

When I was self employed we were never given an allowance for lunch, just dinner. So if you are home in time for dinner you might not get anything. There is no universal policy, it's up to your employer.

There's government advice but I'm surprised that your employer doesn't have a policy (if only so they claim back the tax). I'd double check.

If you’re only away during the day you can still take a home made lunch.

I travel a lot for work and am away for several nights at a time. I just book hotels with fridges or mini kitchens.

It will depend on your policy. IMO most employers' policies do allow it, but managers are weirdly tight about telling people they can claim, considering it's not their money.

If you’re self employed you make your own rules, surely?

There's no subsistence policy, but there is a fuel one? Seems odd.

We get an allowance for breakfast if there is an overnight stay - can't recall how much it is as I always stay somewhere where breakfast is included in the room rate. Lunch is a tenner if you are out for 5+ hours and dinner is £30 including a medium-sized alcoholic beverage if you wish!

Depending on your role and company you may need to declare any hospitality provided by the client, for example if they took you out to lunch. This would obviously impact on what you could claim too. What do you normally do for lunch in the office?

No, the companies I worked for decided what they would give me over and above my fee.

I have to stay overnight to get any subsistence. Used to be more generous with lunch allowance

As everyone has said, ask your HR for the subsistence policy.

But to add to the general convo, I've found I tend to get an allowance if I don't have access to a kitchen.

So previous field base role, I got £2.50 a day (it was tight even then!) because I was out all day visiting clients premises.
Next role, nothing because I was visiting my employers premises and I could use the staff canteen.
Current role £5 over 5h, £10 over 10h etc. when on visits.

As PP have said, you must ask your manager. If a/he says yes, ask about amount, and you are covered. But just spending £10 a claiming it afterwards looks like you are at best very naive and at worst trying to bludgeon them into paying. As PP have said, lots of companies won’t pay for lunch because you would buy your own if you were in the office anyway.

I work for an Arm’s Reach Body - we get:

£5 for over 7 hours away from base office or home.
£33 for an evening meal, if away more than £24 hours.
We are meant to book hotels that include breakfast.

You need to check with your manager. Ours is £5 lunch £10 dinner!

We don't have a strict policy as long as nobody takes the piss. If I am travelling for work, whether that a day or an overnight, all food, refreshments etc goes on expenses.

As others have said it depends on the employer, they certainly don’t have to give you anything. The HMRC website you noted is a tax allowance not a mandatory benefit - payments of up to £10 for travel of at least 10 hours is xpet from being treated as earnings.

what do you normally do for lunch? If you’d normally bring something in or buy a sandwich I can’t see them being very sympathetic, no reason you can’t do exactly the same when travelling. If there’s a free lunch on site I’d expect them to give you an allowance.

I can't see why it would cost you more though? Wouldn't you just make a couple of sandwiches and take them with you? Just the same as if you were working in the office.

But that aside, in general it's up to the employer what they offer. They don't have to offer anything at all.

I guess the idea is at work you have a rest area to prepare and store food safely (although having seen many, many canteens 🤢)
Out and about you either have a warm sandwich or you buy something.

I do agree IRL, it makes no odds in reality. But I always assumed it's based a welfare thing based on access to food prep & safe storage.

I don't eat sandwiches. If I'm in the office, I take leftovers to heat up. I also get free tea and coffee. To obtain food to a similar standard while working away costs a fair amount, and most employers do reimburse something. Even the public sector has a basic expenses policy, although if you're as profligate to buy a sandwich and a hot drink or two throughout the day, you're out of pocket.

Well warm sandwiches really aren't the end of the world are they 😆 But if someone really hates them, you could use ice packs if you can be bothered (you can make your own with ice cubes in tupperwares). Or put soup in a thermos if you have one. Or oatcakes dipped in houmous. Hard boil some eggs. There are lots of options. People have managed working in factories/fields for hundreds of years before refrigeration.

As others have said, every company is different, but we have multiple pages of info on expenses, travel, amounts subsistence etc and a specific claim form we have to use. We can claim lunch and also dinner if having to work somewhere other than our normal workplace.

Other than lunch, also look at how long you are away from home above your normal working day. If you work a 7.5hr day, but with travel you'll be working say 10hrs- check if the additional time is paid as over time or TOIL. Don't forget to claim parking charges, tolls etc too.