MP's Meal Allowance

Bl***y cheek! They already have a subsidised restaurant and bar, a more than adequate annul salary for less then a year's work, and noses in the trough everywhere y ou look. Why does my heart not bleed for them?

They certainly haven't learned any lessons from the expenses scandal! Most workers have to supply their own lunch, their salary is more then enough for them to buy their own meal.

Ditto gracesmum...I'm lost for rude remarks [that HQ would find acceptable]

So shall I take it grace that you have no sympathy for them? [grin}

The rules where I worked were a little bit crazy.
If we were working more than 3 miles from our normal office we could claim £5 for lunch even if the office we visited had a works canteen.
Also if we were sent on a training course or somewhere some distance away we could claim £15 for dinner if we got back after 7.30 at night.
With regard to the £5 for lunch I was 2 miles from my normal office once and there was no canteen and I had to pay a higher price for lunch as I did not know the area and did not have time to look round and could claim nothing.
When I got back late in the evening often I would head to a pub and get a meal for about £8 including a drink at that time and claim the £15 standard allowance.

Frank

Perhaps they could create a small quango that would produce several illustrated glossy pamphlets on 'How to make a nutricious packed lunch'. Or maybe you aren't allowed to put your sandwiches into one of those red boxes

Oh no Mrsj I think it needs a full investigation, possibly bringing in external consultants and then and expensive survery of what happens in the civil service. This would take approximately 6 months and cost a few million.

Bloody hell! They get paid enough have they not heard of taking sandwiches to work!

Frank So you were taking advantage of the meal allowance by buying a meal for £8 and claiming £15.
Not illegal but is that within your standards of being ethical. That is is what most MPs fell foul of in terms of public perception.

If it was a per dium amount Frank may have had no choice about how much to claim.

If you have to work after 7.30 or be away from home overnight what's wrong with a meal allowance ? It's common practice. With the MPs given that they have a subsidised restaurant on site, why not issue food vouchers to be used there on nights they sit after 7.30 with limit of £15 which they could top up. I better not tell you what my evening meal allowance is when I'm working away from home!!!

Perks like lunch allowances/subsidised dining rooms or canteens shuld be taxed just as, I believe Luncheon Vouchers were in the days when they were issued to staff. MPs expenses are an exploited area and open to abuse.

Nelliemoser

The £15 standard meal allowance became payable if you arrived home after 7.30pm. There was no rule saying you had to even go out for a meal.
You could claim more under exceptional circumstance but receipts had to be produced.

Frank

There are very strict HMRC rules about meal allowances which must include limits on costs and the circumstances in which they can be claimed but within those limits they are not taxable nor are travel expenses. But company cars of course are taxed and so are subsidised school fees which teachers in independent schools enjoy for their children

gracesmum

The only problem is there are workers who do not use the canteen.
I can remember my department got an invoice for about £80 a week canteen subsidy and at 1 point I was the only one using the canteen and that was not every day.

Frank

The rules I claim under quite rightly demand a receipt got everything

At CAB we have a rising demand for food vouchers. I could arrange for a supply of them to be delivered to the House of Commons - but they'd have to come to Cheshire.

When I was at work I always took a packed lunch and worked through lunch. Bet not the only one. The days of luncheon Vouchers are long gone!

People working outside normal hours are usually entitled to some sort of subsistence allowance.

I find this revelation less annoying than the Rail Minister who was claiming £80,000 per year for a chauffeured car from Essex to Westminster (35 miles) because he didn't want to take an "overcrowded" train, although he could have been guaranteed a seat and "peace and quiet" by opting for first class - at a fraction of the cost.

Eloethan I am not sure that is right. I never got a meal allowance unless I was working a long way from my office, necessitating an overnight stay. I could work a 12 - 15 hour day and get nothing more than my normal salary.

I used to but then they stopped it.

Another thing which happened where I worked was one of the people I managed was sent in his own car nearly 200 miles from his normal workplace.
It was decided that was the best way as he had to carry a lot of equipment with him.
It was expected that he would arrive home about 8pm.
Unfortunately a big traffic jam happened and he did not get in until nearly 3 am. He had purchased some extra drink and food and he did not get in to work the next day for obvious reasons.
As he had no holiday left one manager wanted to deduct a days pay and did not want to pay for the food.
I did however take the matter to a more senior manager and the expenses were authorised and he was paid for the day he did not come in.

Frank

I run a small business and I know there are strict rules in place as to how much one is allowed to pay employees in expenses for meals over nights etc.

Greatnan where are you?

Like most other rules/regulations the MP's seem to have a don't do as I do, do as I say approach.

gillybob

I know there are rules in every business but I hope you would give some leeway if something happened like the incident I just described.

Frank

The fact that HMRC allows employers to provide subsistence allowances doesn't mean they WILL - which is why not everyone would get them. Sadly not the subject of an EU directive but generally where a work
force has good unions, there are more likely to be subsistence allowances.