Am I entitled to travel time?

[keeper96]

I’m on an apprenticeship at the moment but my college is based in Preston where as I live in Newcastle, 

the company provides accommodation during the week so I drive down monday morning and come home Friday afternoon. 

In previous years the company has used colleges local to its depots so on average lads where driving 10 miles to college,  they have changed this year so that we all go to one college which is much nearer to 2 Depots than it is mine, the other lads have a 60-100 mile round trip where as mine is 240 miles. 

In law is there anything I can claim back to help cover costs? 

 

Jamie

[decoy1979]

Hi Jamie,

I think the answer to your question is yes as a employer has a duty to reimburse reasonable expenses necessarily incurred in the course of your employment.

So do you have a contract of employment and if so what does it state? 

Mine has the following three items that sound applicable to your situation: 

• travelling expenses to a location other than the normal place of work;
• hotel accommodation when staying away from home for work;
• mileage expenses for use of a private car when travelling on company business;

There is also more to answer than can I claim anything back such as if using  your personal vehicle are you insured and if adding travel time into your working week what does the weekly average hours worked come out at?

If you are talking about multiple depots I assume you work for a reasonable size organisation? If so is it affiliated with a trade union? As an apprentice I wasn't a member of the union but our union representatives were always there to assist in situations like these. Have a chat with colleagues that might know about company policies if you can.

 

Best of luck

 

[Scully]

As far as I know it depends on what is stated in your contract. I would say yes as a self employed sub contractor, but as an employee? Not sure. Citizens advice perhaps? 

[team tractor]

It’s claimable through the government scheme your through.

we don’t pay our lads but they get expenses through citb . 

 

As as far as I’m aware of it’s not on your contract it’s not claimable.

to add i hate unions as they killed off the country.

 

with my lads we travel out in my time but come back in theirs. It’s the same for most building companies except if your driving .

[Harnser]

Take it up with your manager ,

harnser

[Smokersmith]

If it's a business worth working for, then they should see your predicament and help you.

If not, they may not be a good long term bet.

[mick miller]

I was excited to open this thread, I thought for one brief, happy, moment that one of us had discovered the secret to time travel at last. Oh, the disappointment.

[Jaymo]

9 minutes ago, mick miller said:

I was excited to open this thread, I thought for one brief, happy, moment that one of us had discovered the secret to time travel at last. Oh, the disappointment.

Would solve the predicament though wouldn’t it.

If these trips are genuine as a request from the Company then maybe a claim via ‘Self Assessment ‘ could be a possibility? Phone HMRC SA and ask, they are usually pretty helpful in my experiences 

[stagboy]

In almost all cases, you cannot claim for travelling to and from your "normal place of work", only for travelling beyond it if requested to do so by your employer.  (Some commuters fork out as much as £10k a year on annual rail season tickets. This is seen as their choice for choosing to live far from their workplace, or visa versa.)

If your contract states that your normal place of work is in Newcastle, then you may be able to claim for being required to go to Preston. If, however, it cites Preston as your normal place of work (at least for a specific period), then you cannot.

If no "normal place of work" is specified in your contract, then you may have an arguable case. But the employer might counter: so why did you take the job - or not move home - if  you knew it entailed travelling to Preston?

 

 

[jonny thomas]

If you're on an apprenticeship the company is spending a good deal of money on you

I'm currently sat on a bed in a hotel room in the other end of the country on a training coarse 

I was given a car by the company and a couple of hours off for travel which seems fair enough to me 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by jonny thomas

[Mice!]

Are you using your own car? My place quite often provide a courtesy  for going between sites, or you can claim for the mileage.

But also how many hours does the drive take you? Because you should be getting paid for that time as well i would have thought, but this does depend on the company you work for.

[Dougy]

I'm old school. If you don't like the travel time then jobs not for you. Get a job thats closer or move. 

[toontastic]

9 minutes ago, Dougy said:

I'm old school. If you don't like the travel time then jobs not for you. Get a job thats closer or move. 

+1 he's not even travelling to work and back, it's to attend college.

[keeper96]

If it was the job that was in Preston then I would move or look elsewhere but there was no mention of Preston until we got the job as the company hadn’t finalised the arrangement yet (not going to mention the company as it’s a big one) 

I’ve already tried claiming mileage but they won’t let me because im on a personal policy, they say I’d need business insurance to claim any fuel back. 

Ill go to my union rep about whether or not I’m entitled to travel time. 

 

[ferguson_tom]

Did you know this before you accepted the apprenticeship or did they change it once you started? If changed after you started then it wouldnt be unreasonable to ask them for a contribution towards your travelling expenses. If you knew this was the deal before hand then you just got to suck it up and stop worrying if someone has it easier/better than you.

You may be able to claim back mileage expenses but the company is under no obligation to offer you anything but can be claimed back through HMRC. However i am not sure what the rules will be on going to college and it may not be allowed/

[Dougy]

4 hours ago, toontastic said:

+1 he's not even travelling to work and back, it's to attend college.

 

In that case enjoy the scenery and adventure. 

 

If i had have chased money for traveling/food accommodation etc years ago id have been out on my ear. Cant get to grips with folk on the want all the time. 

[Mice!]

2 hours ago, Dougy said:

 

In that case enjoy the scenery and adventure. 

 

If i had have chased money for traveling/food accommodation etc years ago id have been out on my ear. Cant get to grips with folk on the want all the time. 

think your off the mark here Dougy, while i think i know the company, you have to realise were talking about an apprentice here, the company has a duty to look after them, they don't earn a full wage so paying out your own money to go to a regional training centre seems off to me.

I very much doubt anyone on here did this sort of mileage whilst working on your apprenticeships, i didn't that's for sure.

[Dougy]

Maybe just a little mice, and probably a bit harsh. But I see an awful lot and probably too much of

"what can I get" and little of "what can I give"

[keeper96]

6 hours ago, Dougy said:

2 hours ago, Dougy said:

Maybe just a little mice, and probably a bit harsh. But I see an awful lot and probably too much of

"what can I get" and little of "what can I give"

I totally understand that, it’s the distance that has gotten to me. I have a 240 mile round trip where as the next furthest round trip is 140 miles,  week to week I’m not to bothered as we split the fuel costs between 4 of us so it’s only £10 each. 

But they have now started to book us in for a day here and there which when you include a 5 hour drive with no traffic, if we hit traffic it’s often over 7 hours of driving,  and it’s this which has made me ask the question. 

 

[Dougy]

Then I'm sorry keeper, with a little more to the story you see a different picture. It's rather unfair then to keep adding on the time and the miles, and you do seem to be giving so quite right in asking for a little back.  

[Harnser]

Be thankful you have a job .

harnser

[Wb123]

Carefully study your contract. You should be able to offset through self assessment if you don't get paid against your tax bill but unless on 40% tax or higher you don't get all that much back. 

 

My experience of places with apprenticeships is that they replace low skilled cheap workers with apprentices at even lower rate and make sure they finish the course and are replaced with fresh ones. I remember one very proud manager accost me over lunch to explain just how much they were saving and ask if we could think of any other roles they could replace. 

 

Once established in the job market with sellable experience and skills things get better, so long as you can be mobile and don't work for a monopoly employer. 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Wb123

[12gauge82]

I think it's a disgraceful way to treat the young, part of the problem with this country's skills shortage is some large company's investing little to nothing in training, they then bleat how they need to employ skills from abroad (at half the cost of course).  All the while we do our own young out of their future by "advising them" your lucky you've got a job and berating them for asking "please sir, may I have some more". I'm glad I'm not young trying to make my way in today's world with unstable jobs and sky high house prices.

[Wb123]

19 minutes ago, 12gauge82 said:

I think it's a disgraceful way to treat the young, part of the problem with this country's skills shortage is some large company's investing little to nothing in training, they then bleat how they need to employ skills from abroad (at half the cost of course).  All the while we do our own young out of their future by "advising them" your lucky you've got a job and berating them for asking "please sir, may I have some more". I'm glad I'm not young trying to make my way in today's world with unstable jobs and sky high house prices.

Bangon. 

Even if your employer won't give the OP anything together we should be able to help them claim everything they can back from hmrc. 

[Lloyd90]

At the end of the year you can claim the tax back on it, I did it for several years when working for a solicitor and having to travel to various different places every day. You can also claim back food and drink whilst staying away.

You need to keep a record of your milage and receipts for expenses. I always had my accountant submit the claim cost me £60 all in. Normally got around £1200 - £1500 back each year.