Expenses & payment
1. As a user group member of ATUN, you can be reimbursed for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.
What expenses can you claim for?
Your travel: If you travel by train, bus or tram, we will reimburse you for the cost of your return trip. If you think you will need a taxi, you will need to agree with us first. If you travel by car, we can pay 45p per mile.
Overnight accommodation, if appropriate: This would need to be agreed upon in advance, and Ace Centre would probably make the booking. We need to consider eligibility criteria - along the lines of our existing policy for staff.
Refreshments: This would need to be agreed on in advance, and we would need to consider eligibility criteria along the lines of our existing policy for staff. NB Typically, refreshments could/would be provided at meetings by Ace Centre.
Carers or Support Workers: We can pay expenses for anyone who needs to accompany you, but you must agree with us first.
Office Supplies: If you are part of a meeting at home, we can give you £5. This is to help pay for telephone calls, internet connection, paper and printing ink.
How do you get your expenses?
Keep all your receipts to show us what money you have spent and tell us how much we should give you.
Fill in an expense claim form and send it back to us with the receipts of what you have bought. You should submit your claim form within three months of the event or activity you went to.
We will let you know if we have any questions about your claim form. If we are happy with your claim form, we will pay you via your preferred payment method (cheque or bank transfer). You should receive your money within two weeks of submitting your claim form.
2. Your time, knowledge and skills are essential and should be valued. This should be funded when at all possible
We value your experience and knowledge and would like to assess the feasibility of paying you for your participation where appropriate. We are aware that some participants may opt not to receive such payment.
We are using this guidance from the NIHR for direction on how we fund individuals for this work. Public contributors involved in health and care research are, in most cases, not considered to be employees or casual workers. However, assessing whether public contributors are employees must be assessed for each involvement activity and/or role. See here for a flowchart on this decision process. Note there are two example areas which may denote being an employee.
"Activity example five: ongoing involvement in a research project or organisational governance, providing independent advice over a while. It is likely to include preparation and remote work between meetings "Activity example six: being a full and equal member of the research project/ organisation team, potentially carrying out research."
In these types of instances, Ace Centre will have to discuss your role, terms and employment details with you. Rates and terms will be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
For other non-employment-based work, we aim to openly detail the process of defining costs to third parties and end users. End users may wish to reduce or pass on payments to the charity (Ace Centre). These forms of payment may be all valid:
Payment to a bank account
Cash
Vouchers
Gifts
Access to training opportunities
How much will I get paid?
We aim to follow national guidance where possible. As a bare minimum, National Minimum Wages will be followed. I.e £5-10/hr. As our involvement with the user group and third parties develops, we will document working examples here.
What activities could be paid for activities?
Face-to-face time is where you share your experiences and knowledge. This will be outlined ahead of any meeting or project.
What activities could not be paid for?
Time for correspondence (emails and letters).
Time to travel to events.
New equipment for you to keep (any equipment trials will be on a loan-only basis).
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