Form

OV36: Guidance to OV practices in Scotland submitting invoices to APHA

Updated 19 August 2024

Applies to Scotland

Key Points

All work must be undertaken within the provisions of the Terms of Business published, and have a Purchase Order (PO) before payment will be made.

At the start of each financial year or before work is undertaken for new practices, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) will issue Official Veterinarian (OV) practices with a PO for the work to be undertaken that year.

When to submit invoices

Unless an alternative is agreed in advance by APHA, invoices should be submitted monthly covering all work completed (including the submission of results/reports) during the preceding calendar month. Invoices should be submitted by the 28th day of the following month.

In line with Scottish and UK Government Policy, APHA will make payment to the OV practice within 10 working days of receiving the invoice providing it is properly presented and undisputed. Unless an alternative is agreed in advance by APHA, invoices should be submitted monthly covering all work completed (including the submission of results or reports) during the preceding calendar month. Invoices should be submitted by the 28th day of the following month.

What to include in your invoice

Each invoice must include:

• practice name and contact details
• VAT registration number
• invoice number
• PO number

You must also include enough information to describe the services or work delivered. For OV work this includes:

• date of visit
• task reference - this is either the WSA-ID for TB work or the reference number issued by the local APHA office when other work is authorised (for example, BS7 or Anthrax).
• CPH (County Parish Holding) number or farm name - this provides a double check against the task reference
• visit fee where appropriate
• detail of task and appropriate fee (headage or hourly as appropriate), including number of animals.
• detail of mileage being charged only where the round trip is greater than 55 miles
• where appropriate, justification for any exceptional items

For other work (such as non TB tests) practices will need to call their local APHA office to request an approval number. All completed reports for non-TB tests still need to be sent to local APHA offices for system input and review.

Example invoice

Practice name

Practice contact email

Practice contact telephone number

VAT number

Date

Purchase Order number

Invoice number

Date	Visit	Fee
1 April	Visit CPH Anthrax enquiry (reference number) one animal	£visit fee £anthrax fee
2 April	Visit CPH TB test TT1 WSA-ID 10 animals Additional mileage 8 miles	£visit fee See below £8 x mileage fee
5 April	Visit CPH TB test TT2 WSA-ID 10 animals Additional mileage 8 miles	£visit fee £10 x tuberculin fee £visit fee
5 April	Visit CPH BS7 enquiry (ref) one animal Additional mileage 8 miles (this visit is the same CPH as the TB test earlier in the day but instruction wasn’t received until after vet returned from conducting test)	£visit fee £bruc full abortion report fee £8 x mileage fee

Note: This visit is at the same CPH as TB test earlier in day, but instruction wasn’t received until after vet returned from conducting test

Chargeable rates of fees

Detailed descriptions of the rates and the tasks they cover can be found in document OV19(S) “Scale of fees for services rendered in Scotland by Official Veterinarians”

VAT

VAT (at the appropriate rate) should be shown separately on the invoice as a separate charge. VAT is not included within the fees listed on the OV19(S).

Supporting evidence

Please ensure that supporting evidence is included for items which require it, for example copies of ferry or toll receipts. Where the invoice includes Remote Islands Eligible Down Time payments then the OV31 form should be submitted as supporting evidence. For tasks such as pre-arranged meetings, contingency exercises, or wasted visits the reference number issued by the local APHA office should be quoted. Where TB tests have to be carried out across more than a single day for TT1 and single day for TT2 this will have been pre-arranged by the vet with APHA and this will be recorded on the premises records by APHA.

Contact details

Wherever possible, invoices should be emailed to FinanceEnglandServiceDelivery@apha.gov.uk

The OV finance team can be contacted on 020 8026 5644.

If required, the postal address is

Animal and Plant Health Agency
Finance and Business Support Team
Lutra House
Dodd Way
Off Seedle Road
Walton Summitt
Preston
PR5 8BX

Submitting reports or results

All completed reports for non-TB Tests such as AN02 forms should continue to be sent to the local APHA office.

Do not fill out any local veterinary inspector (LVI) task boxes on forms or test charts for invoiced work.