Amendments to UCL Expenses Policy regarding reimbursement for childcare and caring responsibility costs

There may also be other funders that allow similar expenses to be claimed if allowable under an employer's policy. (Please contact Research Services - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/fba-research - if your funder allows this and it is not listed above.) UCL is therefore amending its expenses policy to allow these costs to be claimed by research or academic staff in receipt of a grant from a funding body which allows childcare or other caring responsibilities to be reimbursed as allowable expenditure.

The following criteria will need to be met in order for claims (made through iexpenses: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/expenses) to be approved.

o Staff must be on a grant funded by one of the bodies listed below

o Childcare or caring responsibility costs may only be claimed in association with work activities undertaken outside of normal working patterns (e.g. childcare or eldercare costs while the primary carer attends a conference outside usual contracted hours)

o The cost must be directly related to an active project and there must be sufficient budget within the grant to cover it

o There must be an auditable record such as conference attendance confirmation and receipts for the cost of the childcare/caring responsibility

o Claimants should use the 'Exceptional Items' category on iexpenses

o Claims will be restricted to a maximum of two per financial year of £100 each or one claim of £200. This figure has been benchmarked against similar benefits provided by other universities.

For further information, please contact your School Finance Director:

Emily Bushby, School Finance Director, BEAMS & SLASH, e.bushby@ucl.ac.uk

Louise Dudley, School Finance Director, SLMS, l.dudley@ucl.ac.uk

Lois Wells, School Finance Director, IOE, l.wells@ucl.ac.uk

Pauline Jory, Finance Manager, Professional Services, pauline.jory@ucl.ac.uk

Nigel Waugh, Executive Director, Human Resources