County expenses policy

This policy is designed to cover reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by any member of the county carrying out activities on behalf of the South London Scouts (the county).

The policy is based on the broad principle that the County - which is funded primarily by its members - will reimburse substantiated reasonable claims for out-of-pocket costs that a reasonable person would incur, having due regard for their role and that no one on our team or any of our project’s teams will obtain a benefit from expenses payments.

Expense payments will be a reimbursement of actual out-of-pocket expenditure, which are reasonable, within out framework, and are incurred wholly, exclusively, and necessarily to carry out their county role and in relation to the task agreed with the county lead volunteer or county leadership team.

It is the responsibility of volunteers to ensure that they use the most cost-effective method of delivering their responsibilities.

In view of the current economic climate, it has been necessary to re-evaluate the policies, procedures, and criteria for the payment of expenses in the county. The Trustees believe strongly that members should not be out of pocket when engaged in activities on behalf of South London Scouts. However, in an age where donations and legacies are harder to obtain the Trustees feel they need to be prudent with the funds they administer.

We have therefore reviewed our recent conventions and developed a number of guidelines, which when followed will enable us to control our budget and ultimately our members money effectively.

Substantiated claims will be reimbursed subject to the maximum entitlements outlined below.  All requests for reimbursement must state the meeting, event, activity, project, or other information that substantiates the validity of the claim.

Typically, this will relate to activities such as:

• Running county level section programme, events, trips, expeditions, camps and activities
• Administration costs such as stationery, postage and telephone calls
• Learning and development in relation to county appointments
• Certain travel
• Expenses relating to your role within the county

It is expected that claims could be made by members of the wider county team, authorised to make a claim by a budget holder.

Major items of expenditure should, wherever possible, be invoiced to the county and sent directly to the budget holder for approval and then submitted to the Treasurer for direct payment.

Claims must follow the following rules:

• An expense claim must be covered by an approved budget and that budget must not be overspent. It is the responsibility of the budget holder to ensure that costs remain within the agreed budget. Surprise expense claims that haven’t been discussed may be rejected
• Authority to incur costs must have been agreed with the relevant budget holder prior to any costs being incurred
• All expense claims must be made using our ‘official’ claim form and must be signed by the claimant and approved by the relevant budget holder
• All expense claims must be supported by ORIGINAL receipts, invoices or similar for each item of expenditure subject to certain exceptions relating to travel expenses.  Note that invoices or receipts should give a full description of goods/services supplied and the date of supply
• Any invoices / receipts submitted to the Treasurer (after approval by the budget holder) must be in the name of the claimant or the county and not in the names of third parties
• All claims should be made within 8 weeks of the expenditure. Claims submitted after this period will not be settled

Expenses are not to be treated as being in lieu of payment, but for reimbursing out of pocket expenses incurred as part of your voluntary role. You should make reasonable endeavours to keep spending to an absolute minimum and where possible, look for cheaper alternatives in order to help your project, event, activity, meeting or trip remain within the agreed budget.

Claims will be settled as promptly as possible once the full approved documentation is received by the Treasurer.

Some people may feel that they do not need or even should not be offered expenses payments. However, ensuring everyone claims expenses helps us to determine the full cost of running the county over the year. This helps us forecast and budget for the future. If you really don’t want to have your expenses reimbursed it is possible to donate these unclaimed expenses back to the county along with gift aid.

Our process of reimbursing expenses is based on a single, simple principle: we only reimburse actual out-of-pocket expenses. This means that team members need to submit receipts that show what they have had to spend as a volunteer that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

• Expenses incurred whilst on county business
• Activities related to county level meetings, events and the programme                
• Administration costs
• Telephone costs *see policy
• Travel generally by public transport *see policy

Note: The annual total of these categories will reflect the likely annual cost of running the county. It is therefore essential that an annual budget is collated and considered by the county board of trustees prior to setting the county annual membership fee.

Our full expense policy including expense that are accepted and our payment framework can be found in our Volunteer Expenses Policy which you can download above.