ICS Expenses Policy & Procedure

'The Company’ means ICSG Limited (ICS) and all its wholly owned subsidiaries, associated Companies, and its and their trading names;

POLICY

This Policy gives guidance to employees of the Company on the matter of business expenses and should be used as a reference by those needing to claim business expenses and by managers when approving claims.

The ‘Company’ will reimburse legitimate business expenses that are wholly and necessarily incurred on Company business. Employees may claim for all such expenses, but any attempt to claim for non- business expenses, to compromise the integrity of the policy or over-claim will be taken extremely seriously and may result in disciplinary action. The Company undertakes periodic audits to validate claims.

If any employee is unclear of what ‘expenditure’ is considered a legitimate reimbursable business expense, they should firstly consult this policy and procedure. If following this any employee is still unclear, they are invited to ask either their line manager or HR Department for clarification prior to incurring the expense.

Employees are not taxed on expense claims

Please refer to published timetable for claim submission deadlines and payment dates or refer to the HR team.

All claims must be properly authorised and be supported by appropriate receipts in order to be processed for payment.

All expense claims forms should be submitted within a two-month period of original expenditure date. Any expenses received after the two-month period, will be void & will not be reimbursed.

Any expenditure outside of this policy will require prior approval from a Director, failure to do so could result in non-payment of expense claims.

GENERAL RULES

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1. 2.1  A valid receipt must support all expense claims, with the exception of metered parking and road tolls where a ticket showing disbursement is not available. Credit Card slips are not acceptable forms of receipts. Any receipt for an amount exceeding £10 must include the name of the supplying company and a valid VAT number if applicable.

2. 2.2  In all cases, the ‘reason’ for the expense must be specified on the employee’s expenses claim form.

3. 2.3  Where two or more employees incur expenses at the same event the senior employee involved must settle the expense and claim accordingly, clearly indicating on the expense form where the event included costs for other staff.

4. 2.4  On occasion, a line manager may expense a lunch or evening drinks for their Team. All such expenses must be reasonable and supported by a valid and notable reason e.g. to welcome a new starter, saying goodbye to a valued team member, or to celebrate a particular success or event within team. It is within a line manager’s discretion to decide as to what constitutes a valid reason however they must be able to justify all such expenses if questioned and seek prior authorisation from their Director as appropriate to ensure such expense fall within agreed budget limits.

5. 2.5  It is the employee’s responsibility to minimise the cost of transport for business journeys. Unless it is not practical Company car drivers must use their Company car. If the employee receives a car or travel allowance in lieu of Company car, and car travel would be cheaper than rail (or any other mode of transport), then the employee must travel by car. Taxi usage will be reimbursed in the absence of other suitable public transport.

6. 2.6  The Company will not reimburse parking fines, clamping fees, congestion charges fines, tow away charges or any other cost considered to be a “penalty charge”.

7. 2.7  Candidate costs (such as accommodation and travel expenses) will not be reimbursed and must be recorded and paid through the candidate’s payroll as this has a direct impact on the Company’s gross margin and therefore its gross margin reporting procedures.

8. 2.8  Business invoices should be paid for via the Finance team rather than paid for by the employee.

3. AUTHORISATION

3.1 All expenses must have an appropriate authorising signature as follows:

Non-management: Manager: Operating Board

Approved by – Line Manager Approved by – Line Manager / Director Approved by CEO/CFO

2. 3.2  Emails authorising expense claims will only be accepted in exceptional circumstances and in such cases should be printed, attached to the expense claim form and emailed as outlined in clause 4.6 of this policy

3. 3.3  If an expense claim form is submitted without appropriate authorisation it will be rejected and not paid.

4. 3.4  It is the employee’s responsibility to ensure that the appropriate authorising signature has been obtained before submitting the expense claim form for payment.

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4. CLAIM FORM

1. 4.1  The claim form is available written in Excel and is located on the Company Intranet. Where appropriate, the form is designed to eliminate the need for the employee to calculate VAT and total expenses claimed. The claim form is protected to prevent corruption of the file.

2. 4.2  It is the employee responsibility to ensure they have completed the expense form correctly as any errors will result in the expense claim being rejected. The excel file contains notes to assist in the completion of the claim form.

3. 4.3  Employee’s should complete the form on their PC, save a copy for their own records and attach copies of receipts for their manager’s authorisation. All expense claims should be completed electronically to allow the automatic VAT calculation.

4. 4.4  Handwritten expense claims will be rejected.

5. 4.5  Employees should cross-reference their supporting receipts to their claim and all receipts must be numbered and attached, in order, to the expense claim form.

6. 4.6  All expense forms and supporting receipts and authorisation should be electronically scanned and sent to [e-mail]

7. 4.7  Paper copy expense forms and receipts will not be accepted.

8. 4.8  The claim form should be downloaded from the intranet on each occasion as the form is subject to change.

9. 4.9  The claim form should be completed in full with each expense claim detailing the reason for the incurred expense, for example: ‘Travel from Manchester to Kings Cross for client visit to UCLH’

5. PAYMENT OF EXPENSES:

1. 5.1  All expenses will be paid by BACS direct to the bank account given for the employee’s salary payments, it is not possible to claim expenses as a petty cash reimbursement.

2. 5.2  All expense claims must be sent to the ICS Finance as outlined in clause 4. The deadline for submission is held on the Company intranet. Any claims received after this deadline will be processed in the next payment run – no exceptions.

6. REJECTION OF EXPENSE CLAIMS:

1. 6.1  Expense claims may be rejected for any of the following reasons:

2. 6.2  No valid receipt(s) / VAT receipt(s) attached to expense claim form

3. 6.3  No mileage claim/telephone claim form submitted

4. 6.4  No authorisation attached / invalid authorisation

5. 6.5  Incorrect completion of expense claim form (including handwritten expense forms)

6. 6.6  Submission of receipts without expense claim form

7. 6.7  Receipts not numbered/cross referenced to expense claim form

8. 6.8  Incomplete expense claim

9. 6.9  Candidate cost – cannot be reimbursed

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6.10

Business invoice – cannot be reimbursed

7.

7.1 7.2 8. 8.1 8.2

8.3

AIR TRAVEL

Prior approval must be given by authorising line manager before arranging air travel.
All flights will be Economy Class unless prior approval is obtained from the Chief Executive. RAIL TRAVEL
All employees must travel second class unless first class is a cheaper alternative.

If a journey is taken that has already been “paid for” as part of home-to-office travel, no additional claim may be made. (For example, if an employee uses a season ticket that was purchased primarily for home-to-office travel to take a further journey on business, with no additional expense being incurred, then that employee cannot make a claim for the notional cost of the business journey.)

Oyster card ‘top up’ payments cannot be claimed via expenses. Any employee wishing to claim for journeys made using an Oyster card must obtain an Oyster card statement highlighting business travel and submit this with their expense claim form.

MILEAGE ALLOWANCE

Employees using their personal car for business use and claiming business mileage must ensure that they are fully insured, that their insurance policy covers business travel and that their car has a valid MOT certificate.

Employees using their personal car for business use and claiming business mileage must ensure they hold a current eligible UK driving license.

Petrol/Diesel claims can only be made for actual business mileage. Mileage must be measured either from the employee’s home or place of work; whichever is closest to the employee’s destination.

Employees are not entitled to claim their ‘home to work’ mileage. The only exceptions to this are when an employee is ‘home based’ or ‘regionally based’ and therefore does not have a dedicated ‘branch’ as a place of work. This must be stated in the employee’s contract of employment.

Mileage claims should be made using the expense claim form and all mileage claim forms should be attached and submitted as outlined in clause 4 of this policy.

The Inland Revenue requirements for claiming business mileage are as follows:

a) The date the journey took place b) The starting point
c) The destination
d) The purpose of the visit

e) The actual business mileage f) The registration of the car

This information must be completed in the ‘Mileage’ tab of the expenses form

9.3 9.4

9.6 9.7

9.

9.1

9.2

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1. 9.8.1  The mileage rates that have been approved for use are within the Inland Revenue recommended rates and detailed on the expense claim form located on the Company intranet.

2. 9.8.2  Those with a Company Car or in receipt of a Car/Travel allowance must use the correct rates when claiming mileage.

9.9 Car wash costs may not be claimed.

10. CAR PARKING:

10.1 Car parking claims must be supported by a receipt. Where payment is made via telephone, the employee must contact the parking firm directly in order to obtain a receipt. This can usually be done on-line.

11. SUBSISTENCE AND OVERNIGHT STAYS

11.1 Lunch expenses are only reimbursable when attending genuine business meetings away from ICS offices e.g. a Client meeting, if this is outside of your normal day-to-day remit

3. 11.3  It is the Company’s intention that its employees should be ‘comfortable’ when they stay away from home on company business. Accommodation should be ‘safe and clean’ however it should not be considered ‘luxurious’. Under normal circumstances accommodation will be pre-arranged. However, when this is not the case the cost of hotel rooms should not exceed £70 per night inclusive of bed, breakfast, VAT and service (for hotels within the London postal district the nightly allowance is £100).

4. 11.4  Should an employee have alternative accommodation arrangements, e.g. staying with a friend whilst away from home on Company business, a nightly allowance of £25 may be claimed to cover breakfast and evening meals. If the employee has taken the option to make alternative arrangements, the date, and address of your accommodation must be shown on the employee’s expenses claim form.

11.5.1 Whilst staying away in hotel accommodation, employees are entitled to an evening meal up to the value of £25.

6. 11.6  When spending the night away from home, the Company will reimburse one or two drinks with the evening meal which should be included within the £25 allowance. The Company will not reimburse employees for any other drinks brought for themselves or for other employees such as drinks in bars etc.

7. 11.7  The Company will not reimburse for tips, in-house movies, or any other ‘room service’ such as laundry, telephone calls etc.

12 TELEPHONECALLS

1. 12.1  You are not permitted to use Company mobile phones for personal use. The Company must be reimbursed for any personal calls.

2. 12.2  The Company expects that monthly bills for mobile phones should be not more than £50, including VAT. If this figure is exceeded without justification, the employee may be asked to reimburse the Company for the cost of personal calls.

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3. 12.3  The “Telephone Expense Claim Form” should be used to claim for business calls made from home or from a personal mobile phone. Each call should be itemised and detail the date, telephone number and person / company the call was made to. The employee must provide a copy of their itemised telephone bill, highlighting which calls are being claimed.

4. 12.4  The Company will reimburse the employee for the cost each telephone call being made. At the end of each month the total sum claimed should be shown on the employee’s expenses claim form and the telephone claim form attached to the back of the expenses claim form with the calls highlighted i.e.

Date

Telephone Details

Amount

£1.50 £0.30 £0.75

26/03/15
27/03/15
27/03/15
This total must be shown on your expenses claim form i.e.:

0161 456 1234 0161 337 8901 0161 766 8831

Date Description Amount

September Telephone calls £2.55

13 GIFTS, PRIZES AND HOSPITALITY

1. 13.1  Please refer to the Company’s Anti-Bribery and Solicitations and Gifts Policy and Procedure on the Company’s intranet site regarding client and candidate gifts.

2. 13.2  HR must be notified of any Gifts / Prizes awarded to employees (i.e. vouchers) as these need to be declared to the Inland Revenue and in some cases are taxable benefits.