FPOL15 Payment of Staff Expenses by Provide Community

Payment of Staff Expenses

Version: V6

Ratified by: Finance & Investment Committee

Date ratified: 03/04/2024

Job Title of author: Director of Finance

Reviewed by Committee or Expert Group Finance & Investment Committee

Equality Impact Assessed by: Director of Finance

1. General

Staff members are eligible to claim expenses in addition to their salary; these expenses are paid via the payroll. Expenses should not be reclaimed by salaried staff by any other means e.g. reimbursement should not be made from petty cash.

2. Definitions

Fraud is where any person who dishonestly makes a false representation to make a gain for himself or another or dishonestly fails to disclose to another person, information which he is under a legal duty to disclose, or commits fraud by abuse of position, including any offence as defined in the Fraud Act 2006.

Bribery is the giving or receiving a financial or other advantage in connection with the ‘improper performance’ of trust or a function that is expected to be performed impartially or in good faith. Where the Provide Group is engaged in commercial activity it could be considered guilty of a corporate bribery offence if an employee, agent, subsidiary or any other person acting on its behalf bribes another person intending to obtain or retain business or an advantage in the conduct of business for the Provide Group and it cannot demonstrate that it has adequate procedures in place to prevent such. The adequate procedures that the Provide Group is required to have in place to prevent bribery being committed on their behalf are performed by six principles – proportionate procedures, toplevel commitment, risk assessment, communication (including training), monitoring and review. The Provide Group does not tolerate any bribery on its behalf, even if this might result in a loss of business for it. Criminal liability must be prevented at all times.

3. Counter Fraud

If any member of staff has good reason to suspect a colleague, patient or other person of fraud, bribery and / or corruption, involving the Provide Group, they should report their genuine concerns to the LCFS or Chief Finance Officer immediately. The LCFS will then decide on the next course of action and advise the member of staff accordingly. All calls are dealt with in the strictest of confidence and callers may remain anonymous.

Suspicions of fraud, bribery or corruption should be reported to the Local Counter Fraud Specialists on 01473 945843, Provide Group Chief Finance Officer or NHS Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line via an online reporting form: http://www.reportnhsfraud.nhs.uk/ or telephone 0800 028 4060. Further details including email addresses for those responsible can be found on the Provide Intranet.

Individuals suspected of committing an offence of fraud, bribery or corruption may be subject to criminal and/or disciplinary investigation, which could result in criminal and/or disciplinary action being taken, including prosecution and/or dismissal. For more information, please refer to the Local Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy or to the Provide Counter Fraud intranet page https://www.providecommunityplatform.co.uk/Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id =2254&SearchId=530713.

4. Process for Claiming Expenses

Staff should submit claims for expenses via the Easy Pay system which will then be authorised by their line manager. Receipts must be provided for all expenses except mileage claims.

Staff may claim for reimbursement of business calls made on personal telephones if authorised to do so by their budget holder and they are not provided with a mobile phone for work purposes. (Conversely, staff should reimburse the Group for personal calls made on phones provided for work purposes.)

Other areas where expenses may be claimed are subsistence (cost of accommodation whilst away on business in line with agreed reimbursable levels), car parking costs, travel costs etc. Staff members are expected to ensure that costs incurred are appropriate and represent value for money. Alcohol expenses will not be reimbursed. Staff members are expected to share travel arrangements wherever possible. The Group would not normally expect to reimburse costs when separate arrangements have been made for personal convenience.

Courses, Conferences and Seminars Expenses – before any member of staff may attend a course, conference or seminar, approval will need to be obtained from their Budget Holder. It should be noted that mileage is reimbursed at a lower rate for travel for training purposes and should be detailed as such on the Easy Pay system.

Current information on reimbursable expenses (mileage rates etc.) can be obtained direct from Human Resources or the Finance Department.

Staff should not incur any personal expenses without the prior permission of their Budget Holder, and expenses will only be reimbursed via Payroll Services. Where a deposit needs to be paid for courses/conference, or items such as books need to be purchased, this should be done by requesting a payment to be raised via the Finance Department.

Expense claims should be submitted promptly on a monthly basis. Where the volume and value of the expenses is small, staff may submit claims on a quarterly basis. Claims should be submitted within 3 months of the expense being incurred – claims for any period longer than three months should be discussed with the line manager and authorisation received from the relevant Director or Assistant Director. At the end of the financial year, the claimant is responsible for ensuring that all expenditure is claimed in time to be paid in the April payroll run so that it can be accounted for in the appropriate financial year.

Submitting a falsified expense claim is a potential fraud offence. If a staff member believes or suspects that an expense claim has been falsified he/she should contact the Chief Finance Officer or the Counter Fraud Specialist from Scrutton Bland

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE: Stage 1: ‘Screening’

Name of project/policy/strategy (hereafter referred to as “initiative”):

Staff Expenses

Provide a brief summary (bullet points) of the aims of the initiative and main activities:

Provides guidance to staff on how to claim reimbursement of expenses

Project/Policy Manager: Director of Finance

Date: March 2024

This stage establishes whether a proposed initiative will have an impact from an equality perspective on any particular Group of people or community – i.e. on the grounds of race (incl. religion/faith), gender (incl. sexual orientation), age, disability, or whether it is “equality neutral” (i.e. have no effect either positive or negative). In the case of gender, consider whether men and women are affected differently.

Q1. Who will benefit from this initiative? Is there likely to be a positive impact on specific Groups/communities (whether or not they are the intended beneficiaries), and if so, how? Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”? i.e. will have no particular effect on any Group.

Neutral

Q2. Is there likely to be an adverse impact on one or more minority/under-represented or community Groups as a result of this initiative? If so, who may be affected and why? Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”?

Neutral

Q3. Is the impact of the initiative – whether positive or negative - significant enough to warrant a more detailed assessment (Stage 2 – see guidance)? If not, will there be monitoring and review to assess the impact over a period time? Briefly (bullet points) give reasons for your answer and any steps you are taking to address particular issues, including any consultation with staff or external Groups/agencies.

Guidelines: Things to consider

Equality impact assessments at Provide take account of relevant equality legislation and include age, (i.e. young and old,); race and ethnicity, gender, disability, religion and faith, and sexual orientation.

The initiative may have a positive, negative or neutral impact, i.e. have no particular effect on the group/community.

Where a negative (i.e. adverse) impact is identified, it may be appropriate to make a more detailed EIA (see Stage 2), or, as important, take early action to redress this – e.g. by abandoning or modifying the initiative. NB: If the initiative contravenes equality legislation, it must be abandoned or modified.

Where an initiative has a positive impact on groups/community relations, the EIA should make this explicit, to enable the outcomes to be monitored over its lifespan.

Where there is a positive impact on particular groups does this mean there could be an adverse impact on others, and if so can this be justified? - e.g. are there other existing or planned initiatives which redress this?

It may not be possible to provide detailed answers to some of these questions at the start of the initiative. The EIA may identify a lack of relevant data, and that data-gathering is a specific action required to inform the initiative as it develops, and also to form part of a continuing evaluation and review process.

It is envisaged that it will be relatively rare for full impact assessments to be carried out at Provide. Usually, where there are particular problems identified in the screening stage, it is envisaged that the approach will be amended at this stage, and/or setting up a monitoring/evaluation system to review a policy’s impact over time.