Quick reference guide:
Witness Service
Volunteer expenses
September 2023 v1
1
Index
Slide 3 - Before you get started
Slide 5 - Adding the time periods and area
Slide 8 - Description of your claim
Slide 9 - When claiming mileage
Slide 10 - When claiming mileage
Slide 11 - Claiming other travel costs
Slide 12 - Claiming subsistence
Slide 13 - The ‘Other’ column on a claim form
Slide 14 - Completing a mobile phone expenses claim (Outreach volunteers only)
Slide 15 - Completing a mobile phone expenses claim (Outreach volunteers only)
Slide 16 - Checking court codes
Slide 17 - Checking the sub-totals
Slide 18 - Adding the total amount claimed
Slide 19 - Signing and dating the claim
Slide 20 - Submitting the form for review
Slide 21 - How to submit the claim form
2
Before you get started
This slide deck will help you prepare your expense claim.
Things to check before you start to fill in the form:
There is a video that accompanies this QRG which you can watch here.
3
Adding your details
4
Volunteer first name and surname: Please make sure you complete this. You should not include any nicknames or abbreviations as it can make it difficult to match your claim to the record.
Volunteer ID - this must be their expense ID. Should you forget your ID your Team Leaders can find it on Volunteero.
Note: Sometimes, if more than one volunteer with the same name exists on the system, a volunteer may have a number added after their ID.
Adding the time periods and area
5
Period covering expense claims: this is the month/s covered on the form i.e April, May, June. A form should not contain an expense claim that occurred more than 3 months ago
Court/Outreach area: The name of the main court location in which you volunteer. Please use full court name i.e Birmingham Crown Court or Birmingham Magistrates rather than just Birmingham
Court/Outreach area: For Outreach please detail the Police Force Area (PFA) e.g. West Midlands Outreach
A separate claim should be completed for Court and Outreach claims.
Submitting receipts
6
Receipt number: when submitting, we ask that you physically number all your receipts. Please then add this number on to the claim form on the relevant line. It’s really useful if you can highlight both the date and the amount being claimed on the receipts like in the example below.
Date of claim
7
Claim dates: These should be included in the form. They should be the date/s you attended the court/outreach location
Please enter all claims for each date on one line, e.g. mileage, parking and subsistence on the same line.
Description of your claim
8
Description field: Describe what the expense was for. If this is a train journey, say what the purpose is e.g. return train journey to Birmingham Crown Court.
The example below shows best practice when there are multiple claims per claim date.
When claiming mileage
9
This should be the postcode of the parking site.
When claiming mileage
10
Mileage claim if driving:
Enter your start and destination postcode
Use Google Maps to check the mileage distance to be claimed
Don’t forget to include your return journey.
The Number of miles column should always reflect the number of miles for the return journey rounded up to the nearest mile (e.g. a return trip of 7.8 miles should be entered as 8). Mileage should only be calculated once this has taken place.
Please show how you travelled and add the appropriate rate in the box.
Rates vary depend on whether you travel by car, motorbike or bicycle. There is no variation in rate whether you have a petrol, diesel, hybrid or electric vehicle.
Claiming other travel costs
11
Other travel costs: You should complete this column if you travel by bus, train, tube, ferry, or incur parking charges. Where there are multiple receipts per claim date the total for the day should be added in here.
Claiming subsistence
12
Subsistence: This can be claimed when you are volunteering for over 5 hours.
A maximum of £8 can be claimed and we ask you to submit itemised receipts.
Before you submit your claim it’s useful to check what you are claiming is within the confines of the expense policy so you know if something will not be approved.
The ‘Other’ column on a claim
13
Other: This column should be used for mobile phone expenses for Outreach Volunteer claims. Please see next slide.
Completing a mobile phone expenses claim (Outreach volunteers only)
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Where volunteers are required to use their personal mobile phones to deliver Outreach, we will reimburse costs incurred as a consequence of this.
Pay as you go - We will reimburse the cost of calls on pay as you go mobiles. Volunteers will need to provide itemised bills/top up receipts.
Mobile phone contracts with minute allowances - these usually have unlimited minutes and texts attached to them. We cannot reimburse for calls made within the unlimited minutes. Should you have a contract that does not have this and instead has limited minutes then please speak with your Team Leader to agree how to proceed.
Volunteers will need to provide itemised bills so that we can see the length of calls and the cost of calls outside allowances.
Completing a mobile phone expenses claim (Outreach volunteers only)
15
Date: Mobile phone expenses should only be submitted at the end of the month.
Add the month end date that mobile phone expenses are being claimed for (one line per month) e.g. 31/08/2023 or 30/09/2023.
Description: Mobile phone use (August 23)
Other: Enter the amount being claimed for (this should only be entered in the Other column)
You can find an example of a completed Outreach expenses form here.
Checking court codes
16
Court codes: You should add your regional budget code in this box. e.g. WSCREG (Central & Wales), WSNREG (North) or WSSREG (South).
If you are not sure what this is or forget to do it, then your Team Leader will add it on your behalf
Checking the sub-totals
17
Sub-totals: If completing the form electronically it will automatically calculate the sub-totals for you.
However, if you complete it by hand please take time to check your calculations and make sure they are correct.
Checking that everything is added up correctly helps avoid delays in processing.
Adding the total amount claimed
18
Claim total: If completed electronically the form will automatically calculate the total amount being claimed for you.
If completing by hand please make sure you double check the correct total is shown to avoid delays in processing.
Signing and dating the claim
19
Volunteer signature: Once you are happy all the details are correct, you need to add your signature and the date you are submitting the claim.
Please make sure the date shown is not before your final claim date. Forms can be signed electronically by typing in your name or alternatively by hand.
If submitting more than one page, please ensure you sign and date every page.
Please remember when you submit your claim you are confirming your claim has been incurred solely in relation to volunteering and that if claiming mileage you have up to date insurance cover, a current driving licence and where legally required a valid MoT certificate. The full declaration is on the bottom of the claim form.
Submitting the form for review
20
When you are happy that you have completed all relevant details, you are happy the totals match and you’ve included all the dates you have volunteered, please share your form and associated receipts with your Team Leader. You can do this via email or by handing your claim to your Team Leader.
They will review the claim and add their own signature before sending the completed claim form to the administration team for processing.
How to submit the claim
21
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02/11/2023 Updated slide 3 using black in on the form for submission
13/11/2023 Updated slide 14 about mobile phone contracts and inclusive minutes