Information Sheet Summary Thousands of volunteer-involving organisations now demonstrate good practice by reimbursing their volunteers’ travel expenses. These expenses can be for journeys taken to and from the place of volunteering, and for any journeys made as part of the volunteering role, such as for transportation or driving schemes. Volunteer co-ordinators often contact Volunteering England’s Information Service with specific queries about travel expenses, so this Information Sheet briefly examines the main types of travel expenses and gives suggestions for reimbursing these expenses as accurately and simply as possible. |
If you have more general questions about how to write or implement an expenses policy for your organisation, please read our main Information Sheet on “Volunteer Expenses”.
To offer a short summary, the three main principles of your volunteer expenses policy should probably be:
1. Where possible, make sure that volunteers are fully reimbursed for their costs and are not out-of-pocket after volunteering.
2. Don’t give more money than your volunteers have spent. This could be regarded as a ‘payment’ and affect tax, state benefits or even the legal status of a volunteer.
3. Create a simple and efficient system so that expenses are quickly reimbursed and volunteers are encouraged to claim.
Driving expenses for a volunteer using their own vehicle
A standard national rate
HM Revenue and Customs sets tax-free mileage rates under the Fixed Profit Car Scheme (FPCS). This scheme allows for the reimbursement of mileage allowances without the need for either the organisation or the volunteer to keep detailed records. The scheme applies to both employees and to volunteers. They are set at a level to take into account depreciation and other running costs, as well as fuel.
HM Revenue and Customs approved mileage rates 2008-2009:
Cars and vans – 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, 25p per mile over 10,000.
Motorcycles – 24p per mile.
Bicycles – 20p per mile.
Reimbursing less than 40p?
An organisation can reimburse less than these rates if it chooses to. But if your organisation’s budget will allow you to, we would recommend reimbursing at the full rate because they have been calculated to reflect average driving costs, and this should mean that volunteers are not out-of-pocket after volunteering for you.
Reimbursing more than 40p?
These rates are the maximum amount which a driver can be reimbursed per mile travelled without having to prove that they have not made a profit from driving. We are aware that some volunteers feel that the current maximum rate of 40p for driving a car or van is not sufficient to cover their costs, particularly since the rates haven’t been revised since 2002. If any of your volunteers are concerned that they are out-of-pocket for their driving costs related to volunteering, you can suggest that they read the guidance page for volunteer drivers on the HMRC's website.
HMRC guidance for volunteer drivers
Guidance on the HMRC’s website explains that there is an alternative to accepting 40p per mile. A driver can be directly reimbursed for their individual motoring costs, but this system requires more recordkeeping than using the standard rate.
The driver should keep records of all their driving-related expenditure and all money reimbursed to them. They should also keep a tally of their mileage. At the end of the financial year, the driver must calculate whether they have made any profit during that year. If a profit is made and the driver has received an average of more than 40p per mile for all the mileage completed during that tax year, the driver must report it to their local tax office. Please note that this is a very simplified summary and anyone wishing to calculate their expenses in this way should read the full guidance at
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/mileage/volunteer-drivers.htm.
For further information, volunteers should contact their local tax office.
We appreciate that this system is complex and requires more paperwork than reimbursing at the recommended rate of 40p per mile. Volunteering England is hoping to work with the HMRC on the issue of volunteer drivers' expenses and any progress will be publicised on the website.
For other information about volunteer drivers, please refer to Volunteering England’s Information Sheet on “Volunteer Drivers”.
Travel cards for buses, trains, trams etc
Some volunteers use a weekly or monthly travelcard when travelling to and from their weekly volunteering commitments. If the travelcard is also used for other personal or work reasons, it can sometimes be difficult for a volunteer co-ordinator to know how much money to reimburse to a volunteer.
For a simple solution, you could calculate:
1 How many days per week/month does the person use the travelcard in order to volunteer with you?
2 What proportion of the total cost is directly related to volunteering?
If anyone disagrees with this method, it may be helpful to explain that an expenses policy is only intended to reimburse actual out-of-pocket expenses.
Reimbursement or reward?
Sometimes people confuse reimbursement with ‘reward’. They may hope or expect to receive more money than they have spent, and view this as a small personal reward for their time or work. This sentiment is only natural, especially considering that in today’s society most of us associate wages or payment with working for an employer. However, in the UK it is particularly important for tax and legal reasons to reimburse volunteer expenses as accurately as possible, and to avoid rounding up or ‘paying a little extra’.
For further information on this issue, please refer to Volunteering England’s Information Sheet on “Volunteer Expenses”. For more detailed information, our Information Sheet on the “National Minimum Wage and expenses” may be helpful to you.
For ideas on how to show appreciation to your volunteers without using financial rewards, Volunteering England has written an Information Sheet called “Saying ‘Thank You’ to Volunteers”.
Pre-pay travel cards, such as the ‘Oystercard’ in London
Oystercards were introduced in London several years ago. Other towns and cities in England may also be planning to adopt electronic travel cards for public transport, but at the time of writing we are unaware of other confirmed schemes.
How does a pre-pay travelcard like ‘Oystercard’ work?
Oystercards can be used like a weekly/monthly travelcard or as a pre-pay spending card. Pre-pay users add money to the card and the price of a ticket is deducted each time they make a journey. Journey prices are variable depending on the time and day of travel, but fares have been set so that travelling with an Oystercard always costs less than paying for paper tickets. Oystercard users get a receipt for any money added to their card, but don’t automatically receive proof of expenditure for the journeys they make with their card.
How does Oystercard affect processing of expense claims?
Organisations which reimburse their volunteers need to do this accurately and should collect receipts or travel tickets when processing expense claims. Where this cannot be clearly shown, volunteers may find their legitimately reimbursed expenses treated as income by Jobcentre Plus and HM Revenue and Customs.
A number of organisations based in London have contacted Volunteering England’s Information Service to ask how they can reimburse volunteers and obtain proof of expenditure when an Oystercard has been used. Asking volunteers to travel with paper tickets is not a good solution to the problem, since this would cost more than a journey using the Oystercard and mean that an organisation’s budget for expenses will cover significantly fewer volunteers.
How can volunteers obtain proof of their travel on Oystercard?
1. Request a short journey statement by presenting your Oystercard at the tube station
- The statement itemises the recent purchases and includes an ‘Oyster usage statement’ which shows the date, time and travel details for the last eight journeys.
- It records which tube stations or bus routes were used and whether the journey was paid for with pre-pay or covered by a travel card.
- Unfortunately you can’t print a statement from the ticket machine, so you do have to queue.
2. Request a full statement by post via the Oyster helpline or website
- An Oystercard needs to be ‘registered’ in advance (using the card number printed on the back of the Oystercard).
- After you confirm some security details, a statement listing the past eight weeks’ journey history will be posted to you. It records which tube stations or bus routes were used and whether the journey was paid for with pre-pay or covered by a travel card.
- The helpline number is 0845 330 9876. It is a local rate call, but organisations could invite volunteers to call from the office to save the cost.
- The website address is http://www.tfl.gov.uk/oyster
What works best?
If the person volunteers quite regularly, getting a longer statement from the helpline or website may save them time. Organisations do also have the option of giving the exact money in advance, (as allowed in the Social Security Amendment (Volunteers) Regulations (2001)), and processing an expense form once a fortnight or once a month.
If the person has never used an Oystercard before, Transport for London produces leaflets called “Why should I switch to Oyster” and “Get the most out of your Oyster” in 15 different languages. They are available from stations or on the Transport for London website.
One other issue to think about is confidentially. The journey statement is very detailed, so volunteers might want to cross through the other recorded journeys before they submit it with their expense form.
Paying for Oystercards
One further issue which has been raised is the question of paying for the actual Oystercard. Oystercards are free to anyone buying a travelcard which lasts one month or longer. Anyone buying a weekly travelcard or simply putting pre-pay cash onto their card has to pay £3 to cover the cost of the card. This is a one-off charge and is refundable whenever the Oystercard is returned.
Since the £3 charge is refundable, it would generally be best for volunteers to purchase their own Oystercards. However, if the volunteer doesn’t already have a card, and they are obtaining it specifically for travel to/from/during their volunteering, an organisation could consider covering the £3 charge. Since the cards can be returned for the £3 deposit, the organisation should explain that the card must be returned if the volunteer stops volunteering. In this way, the organisation is clearly stating that it doesn’t intend to give the volunteer anything of value which is over and above their ‘out-of-pocket’ expenses.
Further information
Volunteering England Information Sheets
“Saying ‘Thank You’ to Volunteers”
“Volunteer Drivers”
“Volunteer Expenses”
Volunteers and the Law: A readable guide to legal issues on volunteering.
In particular, read chapter 2 on “Benefits and Tax”
This publication is free to download, thanks to funding from the Cabinet Office.
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/law
Last reviewed: April 2008
We have made every effort to ensure that this Information Sheet was correct at the time of publication. It is intended as a summary of relevant issues and suggests further sources of information. Legal advice should be sought where appropriate.
For more information on managing volunteers, please visit
The Good Practice Bank at www.volunteering.org.uk/goodpractice
Or please contact Volunteering England Information Service
Email: Information@volunteeringengland.org
Freephone Information Line: 0800 028 3304 (M-F 10.30-12.30 & 14.00-16.00)
Volunteering England
Regent’s Wharf
8 All Saints Street
London N1 9RL
