Guidance

Expenses

Updated 1 August 2018

Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’) provides that a police and crime commissioner (PCC) is to be paid authorised allowances. ‘Authorised allowances’ means allowances, in respect of expenses incurred by the commissioner in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions, which are of the kinds and amounts determined by the Secretary of State. A determination under paragraph 3 may make different provision for different cases.

1. Authorised allowances

The purpose of authorised allowances is to reimburse expenses incurred by PCCs in carrying out their duties, not to provide a general gratuity for undertaking the role. Commissioners are paid a salary determined by the Secretary of State on the advice of the senior salaries review board.

The kinds of allowances determined by the Secretary of State for the purposes of paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the 2011 Act are allowances in respect of:

• travel expenses
• subsistence expenses
• exceptional expenses

reasonably incurred by a PCC in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions.

The amounts of such allowances determined by the Secretary of State are set out in the below table:

1.1 Table of PCC authorised allowance amounts

Type of expense	Key restriction	Rates
Train	In course of business	Reimbursed up to standard class rates
Mileage allowances	Only if necessary	As per HMRC rates
Taxis	Only where public transport not available	Cost of taxi fare
Foreign travel	Prior authority from chief executive and for business purposes	Economy class for flights
Hotel accommodation	Business purposes and agreed in advance. Value for money and best use of public funds - lower priced suitable accommodation	No explicit limitation on star standard of hotel accommodation
Subsistence (UK and foreign)	Only paid for evening meals and, where applicable, breakfast (not lunch)	Breakfast £10, Dinner £30
Exceptional expenses not falling within any of the other types	Reasonable incurred in carrying out business of the authority	As approved by the chief executive

2. Chief executive approval

The commissioner’s chief executive should subject all of the commissioner’s claims for expenses to rigorous verification and auditing.

Any claims for exceptional expenses incurred by the commissioner in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions will require the approval of the commissioner’s chief executive. In considering whether to grant this approval the chief executive shall take into account the following factors:

• a. whether there are exceptional circumstances warranting additional support
• b. whether the Commissioner could reasonably have been expected to take any action to avoid the circumstances which gave rise to the expenditure or liability
• c. whether the Commissioner’s performance of their Commissioner functions will be significantly impaired by a refusal of the claim

3. Publishing allowances

Under paragraph 1(d) of the Schedule to the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011, PCCs are required to publish the allowances paid to them and to their deputies in respect of expenses incurred by the commissioner or deputy in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions.

PCCs and their deputies should publish a breakdown of their expenses including:

• their name, force area, financial year, month, date, claim reference numbers, expense type (e.g. travel, accommodation), short description, details, amount claimed, amount reimbursed, amount not reimbursed, and the reason why a claim was not reimbursed
• for travel and subsistence claims: date, place of origin, place of destination, category of journey, class of travel, mileage, length of hotel stay, category of hotel stay