Business Expense Policy

As in any organisation it is important that SY Plus Limited keeps a firm control over its costs and that appropriate governance is in place to ensure that this is the case. An appropriate and fair expenses policy is part of that control process. This document has been developed to provide clear guidance and clarity for all employees when incurring expenses either out of pocket or through the use of a corporate credit card. All legitimate expenses incurred in accordance with the expense policy will be reimbursed. However, it is the claimant’s responsibility to ensure that costs are reasonable. SY Plus Limited reserves the right, not to reimburse expenses when they do not comply with this policy. Falsifying expense claims will be classed as gross misconduct and may lead to summary dismissal.

It is the responsibility of every employee to adhere to this policy.

Any claim submitted that is not in accordance with the expenses policy will be returned to the claimant for corrective action, with a notification to the approver. Please direct any questions regarding this expenses policy to the Operations Director.

Where an employee has incurred an SY Plus Limited related expense, it is reclaimable per this expenses policy. An expense claim should be completed and submitted to their line Manager within the calendar month.

It is the employee’s responsibility to complete, in full, the Business Expense Claim Form and the Business Mileage Record. Copies of these forms are appended to this expenses policy. It is essential that the forms are completed correctly and in full since they are subject to Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise audit. Employees are advised to keep copies of completed claim forms and receipts for personal tax purposes.

The Business Expense Claim Form and Business Mileage Record must be completed on a monthly basis with submission required no later than the end of the first week following the month of claim.

The forms should initially be authorised by the employee’s direct reporting Manager and then submitted to the Operations or Sales Director. VAT invoices or receipts for expenses should be attached to the expense

The claimant approver will check the claim for numerical accuracy and for reasonableness and then refer the claim to the Operations Director for authorisation. Any queries will be referred back to the individual submitting the claim.

Expenses can only be reimbursed to a level that is in accordance with this policy.

Any expense claims for the most senior persons should be authorised at board/exec level.

Approved business expense forms will be returned by the Operations Director for processing and for payment. Payment will be made by BACS on the last day of the month.

A Business Mileage Record should be submitted to the claimant’s approver each month by every car driver, even where the driver has only used the vehicle for personal use. The Operations Director is responsible for ensuring that all Company car drivers have submitted a monthly Business Mileage for processing.

SY Plus Limited has a number of company credit card holders, Jamie Pidgley, Mike Connolly & Gary Strickland-Smith. Requests by any employee for a purchase to be made on a company credit card must be submitted via the Sales or Operations Director.

Personal expenditure on any corporate credit card is not allowed. In the exceptional event that an employee incurs personal expenditure on a SY Plus Limited corporate credit card in error, a salary deduction will be required to reimburse SY Plus Limited.

Repeated use of a SY Plus Limited corporate credit card for personal expenditure may result in the card being withdrawn from the employee, notwithstanding the reimbursement of such personal expenditure. Receipts for every transaction incurred when using the corporate credit card should be submitted on a monthly basis. Failure to do so may result in the cancellation of the card.

One expense claim per month per employee for expenses is permitted. Authorised expense claims should be submitted to the Operations Director 3 working days prior to the end of each month.

Out of pocket expenses (unless specifically approved in accordance with paragraph 7 below) will only be reimbursed if they are:

In the interests of reimbursing employees promptly for expenditure incurred on behalf of the business and ensuring that all known costs are recognised in a timely manner, employees are to submit their claims within 30 days of the expense being incurred. Exceptions will be flagged and require a supporting comment from the line manager to consider approval.

In certain circumstances, SY Plus Limited will reimburse minor claims for travel without a back-up receipt, for example a toll fee where no receipt is issued although details of the trip should be provided. An explanation should be provided as to why no receipt has been provided.

The approver is responsible for checking the validity of all claims before authorising them. If in doubt over the validity of expenses, the approver must request and obtain additional supporting documentation. Non-receipted claims must be authorised in the body of the claim by the approver. Upon receipt of an expense claim, approval must be made within 2 days of the claim. Additionally, if an approver is absent from the office, they must ensure an appropriate delegate is approved to approve claims in their absence. A delegated approver must be an employee of the same level or higher within SY Plus Limited.

The Operations Director will monitor the compliance of Corporate Credit Card and out of pocket expense submissions. If expenditure is found to be inconsistent with the policy, the claim will be returned to the claimant with the approver being notified with an explanation and a request for corrective action.

The appropriate Line Manager will be the claimant’s approver, irrespective of role.

Detailed receipts must be provided stating the breakdown of the expenditure rather than a summarised total bill in order to meet audit requirements. Detailed (VAT) receipts should be attached as scanned images to all expense claims submitted. HMRC recommends original receipts should be retained by the employee for three years in case of any future query.

If an employee is unable to attach the original detailed VAT receipts as a scanned copy, then the original receipts should be attached to the printed expense claim report.

When it is beyond the employee’s control to provide an official receipt for the expense, the comment box within the submission form must be completed with the reason behind the non-submission of a receipt. In the absence of this, the amount cannot be submitted for approval.

It is the responsibility of the cardholder to obtain copy receipts if the original receipt has been lost.

Where expenses are paid for a group of employees, the most senior employee must pay and claim the expense if out of pocket. The claimant must note the full names of other employees in attendance and the reason for incurring the expenditure. Please ensure that the expense claim is accurately completed.

Your attention is drawn to the section on corporate credit cards specifically in respect of entertaining and hospitality in our policy below.

Cash advances are not normally permitted. However, if there is an exceptional circumstance then an employee may contact the Sales or Operations Director for this facility. Approval is then required from the board of Directors.

The following types of expenditure are not claimable (this list is not exhaustive):

If annual leave is combined with business travel, then reimbursement of expenses is limited to the actual expense for business time and use only. This covers all expenses incurred such as travel, subsistence and entertaining. For clarification, if it is necessary and appropriate for an employee to travel to a location before an event this is classified as business time.

Employees should take care when offering and accepting lunch or dinner invitations with stakeholders, partners or clients.

Entertainment received and given on behalf of SY Plus Limited must be recorded in the Gifts & Hospitality Register, which is managed by the Operations Director

Employees may entertain only where it is within budgetary limits and is likely to help SY Plus Limited to further its objectives. Working lunches at SY Plus Limited offices or the offices of the stakeholder need not be registered on the Gifts and Hospitality Register.

To provide support, the following details should be included on the claim:

SY Plus Limited requires this information to prove that tax is not payable on the entertainment. Employees should not allow themselves to enter situations where they subsequently feel obliged to return an invitation. Subject to these constraints, employees may claim reasonable and appropriate entertaining expenses up to the following limits:

In exceptional circumstances, the Sales or Operations Director or the Exec/Board may approve increased limits in individual cases in advance of expenditure being incurred.

In exceptional cases where advance approval could not have been preempted then approval should be provided by the Sales or Operations Director following the expenditure. The approval should be submitted together with receipts in accordance with the usual procedure.

The cost of staff hospitality is not generally reimbursable. However, where Senior Management deem it appropriate that there is a clear benefit for the organisation, such expenditure may be incurred through arranging working lunches with employees. In such circumstances up to a maximum of £7.00 per head may be spent including VAT and service.

Managers should consider, where possible, undertaking working lunches at SY Plus Limited offices to minimise cost and ensure value for money.

For all expenditure the claim should include:

When approval is given and such hospitality results in a taxable benefit for the staff entertained, SY Plus Communications will meet this tax liability. The Sales or Operations Director will provide guidance regarding specific events.

Employees must consider cost and SY Plus Limited carbon footprint by evaluating the need to travel and the potential of using other less expensive and lower carbon generating travel alternatives such as e-mail, audio or video conferencing. SY Plus Limited will pay reasonable costs of necessary travel on SY Plus Limited business. For this purpose, the following do not count as travel on SY Plus Communications business:

In order to improve operational efficiency, small, low value travel expenses of less than £5 per trip should be aggregated by the employee during the month and a single claim made with appropriate support to aid approval. The claim should include details of from where and to, type of expense (bus, tube etc) and reason for the journey within the comment section of the claim form.

All travel by air, train or boat must be authorised prior to booking if not in line with this policy.

For non-business as usual travel, for example when attending stakeholder events or conferences, employees should gain approval from their Line Manager, who will then seek authorisation from the Sales or Operations Director.

Public transport should be used wherever possible, except where it is either impractical or inappropriate. In such cases, licensed taxis / black cabs may be used. Taxis should be paid, and costs reclaimed in the normal way.

For travel to and from airports, if impractical, inappropriate or not possible to use public transport then use of licensed taxis is acceptable. In order to secure the lowest rates, taxis should be pre-booked wherever possible.

All train travel should be booked in advance, as it is possible to get discounted rates. The most cost-effective ticketing arrangements must be used and employees should travel by standard class. However, in order to allow employees to work effectively during longer journeys in excess of three hours, travel by first class is permissible but must be approved in advance by senior management.

Consider an employee based at Southampton, Hampshire who makes the following journeys:

Ordinary commuting to work of 20 miles must be deducted to result in expense mileage of 20 miles. The entries on the business mileage record form are:

The Business Mileage Record must state the reason for each business journey and not merely record the places where the journey began and ended.

Company cars should be used whenever possible for business travel within the UK. The mileage rates from 1 December 2023 for company vehicles are as follows:

Where an individual receives a car allowance in place of a company car, the company car rates are applicable and not those for private cars.

For private cars, the rates are 45p/mile for the first 10,000 miles, reducing to 25p/mile thereafter.

These rates are reviewed annually and updated in line with the HMRC authorised mileage rates. In order to improve operational efficiency, mileage claims should be aggregated by the employee during the month and a single claim made with appropriate support to aid approval. The claim should include details of from where and to, mileage and reason for the journey within the comment section of the claim. The mileage should be totalled.

Tolls, congestion charges and parking fees are reimbursable whilst travelling on SY Plus Limited Business. To improve operational efficiency claims of less than £5 should be aggregated by the employee during the month and with appropriate detail provided in the comments section of the claim in order to aid review and approval.

Fines or interest charges regarding late or non-payment are the responsibility of the employee and will not be reimbursed.

The claimant should accept the cheapest option displayed. If the cheapest option is not appropriate, another within the policy should be chosen.

If out of policy accommodation is required, then prior approval is required in line with the delegation of authority.

All expenses in relation to meals and subsistence must be claimed for through personal out of pocket expense claims.

Overnight stays are allowed where the destination is more than 150 miles from home and the business cannot be completed in one day. Approval must be given in accordance with the delegation of authority and in advance for any overnight stays outside of these circumstances.

In all cases, the cheapest type of room available must be used. In most cases this will be a single room.

If accommodation needs to be cancelled, employees should ensure that it is cancelled appropriately to avoid penalties and charges. Unless there is an urgent personal or compelling business reason for cancelling a reservation after the cancellation deadline, any charges incurred will be deemed the personal responsibility of the employee and are not reimbursable.

If more than one employee is travelling to the same destination, all bookings should be made at the same time to obtain the best possible rates using the appropriate company credit card.

Room costs are reviewed annually.

Accommodation allowances per night are as follows:

Specific exceptions to these maximum limits may apply, for example, if you are attending a conference or an event organised by a third party, you may stay at the hotel arranged by the event organiser, but only if it is cost effective and beneficial to do so. If cheaper accommodation can be found close to the event venue, then the cheaper option must be utilised.

For operational efficiency, individual low value subsistence claims of under £5 should be aggregated and claimed as one-line items each month. Claims should have appropriate detail to aid approval by completing the comment section of the claim expenses form. This will include description of the expense, why the expense was incurred, the value and date. Receipts should be provided to support each line item. Employees should not be financially disadvantaged when performing SY Plus Limited business and away from their normal working location. If the employee is working away from their normal working location and the cost of lunch is more expensive than that which would have normally been incurred, the excess may be claimed up to a limit of £5 per employee per day. A receipt should be provided for the cost incurred stating the excess being claimed.

SY Plus Limited will reimburse reasonable out-of-pocket expenses when a journey on SY Plus Communications business makes it necessary to stay away from home overnight. You may claim up to the following for each night whilst you are away:

The cost of a glass of wine or similar alcoholic beverage may be included as part of the overall cost of an evening meal. Cost of drinks outside of an evening meal should not be claimed. The figures quoted for subsistence are not flat rate allowances, but limits on the amounts that SY Plus Limited will reimburse against receipts.

If you do not have access to a SY Plus Limited provided mobile device and make business telephone calls from home or your personal mobile phone, you may claim the VAT inclusive cost of the call. Your claim must give details of the call, identify the business reason for making it and be accompanied by a copy of the appropriate page of an itemised telephone bill, on which the business call is highlighted. SY Plus Communications will not pay for line rental. If you need to make and receive calls as a regular part of your job whilst away from your main place of work, you should apply for a mobile device through your approving Line Manager who will assist with the necessary provisions.

It is SY Plus Limited policy not to accept, provide or receive gifts either from an individual or an organisation. In the event that an individual or organisation insists on making a gift and its value is greater than £100, this should be declared with the Sales or Operations Director for approval. Gifts of less than £10 in value may be accepted by an employee.

Promotional gifts such as pens, mugs, mouse mats with a value of less than £10 in value do not require declaration and may be accepted by an employee.

Please see our Anti-Bribery & Corruption policy for further information

Flowers or appropriate gifts can only be purchased and reclaimed for an employee regarding:

All gifts should be authorised (see delegation of authority)

Our IT Department purchases all SY Plus Limited computer hardware and software. No hardware or software may be bought by an individual without prior written approval. This approval document must accompany the expense claim.

Such costs should only be claimed in exceptional circumstances where it is impractical to use supplies provided by SY Plus Limited. All requests are to be escalated to the Operations Director.

If a training course provides a business benefit to SY Plus Limited, approval should be gained prior to booking a place. All training courses should be booked and approved via the Sales or Operations Director.