We're currently having a bit of a 'discussion' at work about the rate the company pays for subsistence - those of us on the road feel it's rather low, those holding the purse strings seem to think it is fine!
Currently we get £8.50 a meal, which is atrocious (but apparently in line with HMRC - though I note these changed last year, and am sure these rates haven't been updated since before then). £8.50 doesn't buy you much other than McDonald's for dinner - and whilst I don't mind a Big Mac every now and then, I resent being forced into it too often!
So, for those of you who travel for work - how much does your employer pay for a meal?
If you're happy to say, I'd also be interested to know what industry you work in.
(Give me some ammunition people!)
Comments
I am in the audio visual integration industry.
There's a bit of leeway if you're staying somewhere with restricted options; I got away with £55 at a trade show, and if I'm taking a customer out then it's notionally £75 each but with a pat on the back for underspending.
£8.50 is a shocker. Do the management have shares in Ginsters or something?
I can't help about the shape I'm in, I can't sing I ain't pretty and my legs are thin
But don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to
Traditionally there has been a loophole in the rules, that applies different limits to the company credit cards - but this loophole has just been closed, hence the discussion about it now!
Lunch - £5
Dinner - £20 including alcohol as long as you get it with your meal
I never struggle with this at all but make sure I use it especially for the evening meal if I'm out on the road.
Though it is *my* company.
If I'm charging the cost on to a client, I'll generally cap it at £25.
Have worked with some ridiculous policies in the past though - advisory hotel rates that are 20 years out of date (e.g. £60 for a major capital city, £40 outside), or the place that said I couldn't expense EUR2.50 for a coffee and a croissant for breakfast after I declined to pay 15 for the same thing in the hotel.
30 euros per meal for me, if im working away from the office (usually Germany, Holland or Italy). We get a nightly hotel budget of 95 euros, and if breakfast is included in the hotel rate, we still get to claim back the 30 euros.
I work for a large Electronics Distributor.
No limit. Just expected to keep things reasonable.
Projects & Purchasing Manager
Mostly London, increasingly Birmingham - all either metropolitan areas or sometimes motorway services (also notoriously expensive for things not of the McBurger King variety)..
I would limit myself to £5 for lunch, and quite often I'd just get a supermarket sandwich meal deal, leaving me £25 for dinner and a couple of beers.
Then again being a coeliac and fructose intolerant it was too bleedin difficult to manage in the end so packed it all in!
I'm on $75 a day.