Expenses Guidance Document

Attendance at Inquiry hearings and meetings 

The Inquiry’s proceedings will be public unless there is a legal reason why any part of the proceedings should be held in private. The Inquiry will, to the greatest extent possible, facilitate attendance in person at its hearings and meetings.

The possibility of attending public hearings and meetings in person and the number of persons whose attendance can be facilitated will be subject to any relevant public health instructions or legal requirements that apply in relation to COVID 19 or any other public health concern.

Where in person attendance is possible, the Inquiry will endeavour to ensure that the number of places available allows for a broad cross-section of persons to attend. Sometimes, it may not be possible for everyone who might wish to do so to attend a public hearing. Such instances are expected to be rare.

The Inquiry will indicate the dates of any public hearings or meetings on its website. Public hearings and engagements will be live-streamed and available on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel, with a 3-minute delay, to ensure transparency and visibility of the Inquiry’s proceedings.
 

Claiming expenses for attending Inquiry hearings and meetings 

The Inquiries Act and Rules allow for the reasonable costs of attending Inquiry public hearings or meetings to be reimbursed.

This guidance is intended to provide help for those persons who are eligible (see below) to claim expenses for attending Inquiry meetings or public hearings.

The Inquiry Team will reimburse the costs of travel, accommodation, and subsistence at public expense where these are necessary, proportionate and reasonably incurred by witnesses and their legal representative(s) (maximum of 4) ^{[footnote 1]} and any Core Participant, current or former subpostmaster/Post Office branch manager/employee/family member who is allocated a confirmed place at Inquiry hearings or meetings.

From April 2024, expenses will be paid for a maximum of six days of attendance at public hearings per calendar month, either individual days or as a block of days. Where expenses are likely to be incurred for a non-sitting day, requests will be considered in exceptional circumstances and with prior agreement. More than four days of expenses will only be paid by exception and with prior approval of the Inquiry Secretariat Team (posecretariat@postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk). All costs will be reimbursed in line with the rates set out below and will be subject to scrutiny, and reported, in the Inquiry’s financial accounts.

The Inquiry Team will consider individual circumstances, reasonable costs and travelling distance when deciding claims for travel, accommodation, subsistence and, exceptionally, other expenses that are necessary and proportionate. Please note the Inquiry will only cover travel costs for travelling from and within the UK.

The conditions and rates that will be applied are, where possible, in line with the practice of public bodies.
 

Booking Travel and Accommodation

Witnesses and their legal representatives should make their own travel and accommodation bookings and submit a claim for expenses in line with this guidance.

Any Core Participant, current or former subpostmaster/Post Office branch manager/employee/family member with a place confirmed to attend the hearings as part of the public gallery, should also make their own travel and accommodation bookings and submit a claim for expenses in line with this guidance. 

Anyone who is unable to make their own booking, would like clarification or to check a proposed booking should contact posecretariat@postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk.
 

Train, coach and air travel

If you are seeking reimbursement, train journeys should be booked at standard class, and coach and air travel should be booked at economy class. If your travel costs are eligible for reimbursement and you choose to book travel at a different standard and higher cost without prior permission from the Inquiry you will only be reimbursed the costs that are in line with this guidance.

Claims for travel expenses must include tickets that clearly show the date of travel, the details of where a person has travelled to and from, and the price.

Important advice on ticket collection
If you have been granted special dispensation to have your travel booked by the Inquiry, we ask that you do not collect your travel ticket until the day before you travel. The reason for this request is that it is easier for you or the Inquiry Team to cancel the booking (for instance if you cannot attend the Inquiry event) if the ticket has not been collected.
 

Hotel bookings 

When listing hearings or other meetings, the Inquiry will be conscious of both the needs of those participants intending to travel to the venue and reasonable commuting or accommodation requests.

Participants living in the town or city where hearings or meetings take place, or reasonably nearby will not be entitled to claim an overnight stay. However, anyone else attending a public hearing or meeting and eligible under this guidance will be reimbursed for an overnight stay in the following circumstances:

1.  If you are giving evidence in the morning and live more than 1hour and 15 minutes from the venue, then an overnight stay is permitted.

OR

2.  If you are giving evidence in the afternoon and live more than 2 hours away from the venue, then an overnight stay is permitted.

When booking hotel accommodation, it is expected that this will be on the basis of ‘bed and breakfast’ and within general limits as follows:

£180 – London (for a double, twin or single occupancy room) ^{[footnote 2]}

£110 – Elsewhere (for a double, twin or single occupancy room)

A hotel/accommodation is classed as being in London if it is located in a London borough.

Participants sharing a room will only be reimbursed at the maximum allowable amount per night per room.
 

Subsistence allowance

A £25 overnight subsistence can be claimed, which includes the cost of an evening meal.  Receipts will be required.

A sandwich lunch of up to £8 lunch can be claimed. Receipts will also be required for this.

The Inquiry will not reimburse the costs of any alcoholic beverages, but non-alcoholic beverages can be claimed within the limits as above

If you make your own accommodation arrangements, you can claim the Friends and Family Overnight 24-hour rate of £25. Claims should be made on a Taxable expenses form, and will be paid (less Tax and NI) through salary. Receipts are not required for this provision.

Other expenses

Claims for taxis, parking and mileage may be made and are subject to the following requirements:

• Taxis: Dependent on your individual needs, travelling by taxi may be more appropriate than other forms of transport. Prior approval should be obtained from the Inquiry team for any journey by taxi that is for more than 20 miles.
• Congestion Charge (CC) and Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ): It may be possible, with prior agreement, that CC and ULEZ charges incurred when attending will be reimbursed in full.
• Mileage rates:
  • Car - Each tax year 45p per mile for first 10,000 miles; 25p per mile thereafter 
  • Car passenger supplement - 5p per mile
  • Motorbike - 24p per mile
  • Pedal cycles - 20p per mile
• Receipts are not required for proof of purchase of fuel.
• Reasonable tolls and parking expenses will be reimbursed, and receipts will be required.  Such items must be taken into account when assessing the cost effectiveness of private/public transport.

Receipts are required and are to be securely attached to the claim for expenses.  We recommend you keep a copy of your claim and receipts for your records. Failure to include receipts with a claim is likely to delay payment and may mean that reimbursement is not available.

Overseas expenses addendum

In exceptional circumstances where the only viable option to obtain oral evidence from a witness who is ordinarily resident outside the UK involves bringing them to the UK, the Inquiry may consider and pay such costs. Any travelling expenses that arise in this situation must be necessary, reasonable, and proportionate. Prior approval of the Secretary to the Inquiry is required for coverage of such expenses before they are incurred. A failure to seek such permission by a witness whose attendance is required by the Inquiry, or any other person is likely to result in the Inquiry not reimbursing any costs incurred.  

This type of expenditure is exceptional and is not available merely because someone might prefer to attend the Inquiry in person. The Inquiry’s proceedings are livestreamed and accessible from anywhere in the world.

Air travel

Air travel will be booked for the witness and one companion, where the companion’s attendance is demonstrably necessary and justifiable and with prior approval of the Secretary to the Inquiry. This will be booked as economy travel and will be based on the most economical route avoiding lengthy stopovers where possible.  

Taxi to airport

Where necessary, reasonable, and proportionate in the circumstances, the cost of a taxi to and from the witness’s home to the departure airport will be considered. When in London public transport should be used other than where a taxi is required as a reasonable adjustment.

Accommodation

Accommodation in London will be paid for a maximum of two nights prior to the hearing date set for the witness to give evidence and a maximum of two nights after the hearing (this includes the evening after the witness’ evidence is concluded, and an additional night if the hearing unexpectedly runs longer than planned). Accommodation will be booked centrally by the Inquiry team and in accordance with the maximum rates within London (£180).

Subsistence

Subsistence will be paid in accordance with the Inquiry expenses policy. An authorised companion will also be able to claim subsistence within the expenses policy rates. If the witness is accompanied by a person or persons whose attendance was unnecessary to support the witness and such persons have paid for their travel and accommodation to the UK, such persons are not eligible to seek reimbursement of their costs from the Inquiry for travel and subsistence within the UK.  

Miscellaneous

The Inquiry may consider any miscellaneous expenses where a request is made to the Secretary to the Inquiry and prior approval is obtained. Any such request will be considered on a case-by-case basis.  

Receipts should be kept for all items of expense being claimed and images of these submitted along with the expenses claim form. Original receipts should also be retained for 12 months, as this will be useful if the images provided are unclear and important if there is an audit of the Inquiry’s use of public funds when covering expenses.  

Companion’s expenses

If someone attending an Inquiry meeting or hearing requires a companion to accompany them (such as a support worker or family member) because they would otherwise be unable to or have difficulty attending, the Inquiry Team would reimburse relevant travel and accommodation at public expense provided that prior approval has been obtained from the Inquiry Team.
 

Loss of earnings

Witnesses who are attending a public hearing to give oral evidence and would otherwise suffer a loss of wages should contact the Inquiry Team to discuss this before attending the hearing.
 

Childcare costs

Witnesses who are attending a public hearing to give oral evidence may claim for the reasonable cost of childcare required to allow them to do so, if this is not covered by any employer childcare or other scheme available to them. Prior written agreement must be obtained from the Inquiry team. As with all other expenses, receipts will need to be provided.
 

Making a claim

To submit a claim, please:

• post it to The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Secretariat (“Expenses”), 5th Floor, Aldwych House, 71-91 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4HN (attaching original copies of all your receipts); OR
• complete the online form here (attaching copies of all your receipts).

All claims must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the date when the expenses were incurred. 
 

 Data Protection

The Inquiry will require your personal data to process your Expense form. Our UK GDPR lawful basis for processing your data is ‘Public Interest’ and is permitted under Section 20 of the Inquiries Act 2005. 

As part of receiving and processing your expense claim, your data will be transferred our sponsoring government department and will be stored in third-party financial management systems and document management systems. Please contact us if you would like more information on this. 

Your personal data will be kept for 6 years after the end of the financial year in which you submitted your claim at which point, this data will be anonymised.

For full details on how to contact the Inquiry, your UK GDPR rights, or how to lodge a complaint, please see our full privacy notice.

Effect of a claim

By making a claim you declare and certify that:

• You made the journeys detailed in the claim;
• The expenses shown have been proportionately, reasonably and necessarily incurred.

The Inquiry will seek to reclaim costs that are paid, but where people fail to attend without a good reason. Please therefore contact the Inquiry team immediately if your plans change after you have been allocated a place at a hearing or Inquiry meeting. 

Issued under the authority of the Chair on 01 February 2022

Updated on 30 September 2022

Updated on 14 October 2022

Updated on 09 June 2023

Updated on 07 July 2023

Updated 21 July 2023

Updated 26 September 2023

Updated 31 October 2023

Updated 29 November 2023

1. Expenses will only be paid to legal representatives who have been granted an award under section 40 of the Inquiries Act 2005.

2. If necessary permission may be sought from the Inquiry for a higher room rate prior to booking, by emailing posecretariat@postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk this will only be granted at the Inquiry’s discretion and on a case by case basis.