Travel and expenses

Find information on booking travel, accommodation, and claiming expenses.

Booking travel 

Please read UCL’s guidance on travel (log in required), which provides relevant information and guidance for staff and students, including:

Booking accommodation

Where possible, staff should book travel via the travel management company, Clarity - make your booking via the ClarityGO Portal.

AirBnB cannot be used for UCL business travel - UCL have a legal obligation to ensure staff and student have access to safe accommodation that is subject to audit and inspection, and AirBnB does not meet that criterion. Please refer to UCL Laws' Airbnb protocol (March 2025) for booking Airbnb or similar self-audited accommodation for stays of longer than seven (7) days.
The Faculty would stress that Airbnb/the exemption is not to be used as the default option for travel on UCL business.

Expenses and payment process

  • When you book travel, you will have to enter the relevant Org/Dept code, which is C02, followed by the project, task and award codes for the account to which the costs should be charged to, e.g. your PRA
  • The risk assessment for academics travelling on UCL business will need to be signed off by the Dean.
  • UCL's expenses policy

UCL and Faculty updates - travel and expenses policies

  • Travel insurance and risk assessments (Director of Operations Update for Faculty Board 27 November 2024):

    • UCL travel arrangements and processes have evolved since Covid times, and staff are encouraged to check current guidance available on the UCL intranet. Staff booking travel on university business and using university funds are expected to follow UCL travel policy, and to be covered by UCL travel insurance. A personal travel insurance policy is unlikely to cover travel for work purposes, so do be sure you are covered by UCL’s policy. Please see these resources for further details.

    • Staff are expected to use the UCL travel supplier Clarity where possible, in the first instance, to avoid the need to personally fund travel up front for work purposes. If Clarity are unable to provide the service requested, then staff may make their own arrangements and claim via expenses but will still need to comply with UCL travel and expenses policies. Clarity has a price matching policy, and we are encouraged to make use of this if cost is a factor in deciding not to go with Clarity’s service.

    • Staff are also expected to have regard to risk assessment in advance of travelling and to register their trip through TravelCert to get UCL’s insurance cover. Low risk travel is covered by a pan-UCL risk assessment, so in these cases there is no need to carry out your own risk assessment – you will only need to confirm that this applies in your case and it takes just a few minutes to complete the online form. Please contact Dr Thea Gibbs,  Director of Operations, if you have any queries in relation to your travel plans.

    • Travel to high risk situations will be considered on a case by case basis once a risk assessment has been completed, so do allow time ahead of your travel plans for this review. However, please note that as a general rule, travel to places against the FCDO travel advice is unlikely to be approved, and the insurance premium may be prohibitively expensive.

  • Improved travel booking process for UCL staff and students (14 February 2024)
  • Changes to UCL's expenses policy (23 November 2023)

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