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Domestic Travelling Allowance and Expense Procedures

procedure

These procedures must be read in conjunction with the Official Travel Policy.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all employees of the Department travelling on official business within Australia.

Guidance

The policy covers accommodation, meals, incidental allowances and expenses. It does not cover procedures for motor vehicle allowance claims.

3. Procedures

3.1 All employees

Employees must:

  • obtain approval from their line manager/principal for accommodation before booking;
  • include any leave in the itinerary submitted for approval;
  • keep details of their travel, receipts and certification of any expenditures to claim reimbursements;
  • carry out the acquittals, reconciliations and reimbursements of expenses within two weeks of completing the trip; and
  • not use a purchase card for a personal purpose as per Treasurer’s Instruction (TI) 321 Credit Cards – Authorised Use.

Guidance

The acquittal process is necessary for the travel event to be considered closed. The following items need to be acquitted as soon as possible after completion of the trip usually within two weeks:

  • business expense claims;
  • hospitality expenditure;
  • purchase card expenditure; and
  • cash advances where provided.

For further information on travel allowances and expenses see Appendix A.

Refer to  Purchase Card Terms and Conditions (staff only) for more information.

3.2 Processing of claims

Before authorising claims in HRMIS, line managers/principals must:

  • check that travel claims are in accordance with the award conditions; and
  • receive the necessary certifications from the employee claiming the expense.

Guidance

The award rates on which accommodation, meals, incidentals and motor vehicle allowances are based can be found in the Public Service Award and Teacher’s Award by clicking on the link below:

Department of Education Awards and General Agreements (staff only) or directly to  the WA Industrial Relations Commission website

Refer to the Department of Commerce’s published Circular to Departments and Authorities  No 3 of 2016.for travelling allowance rates for Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands

All domestic travel claims are processed via HRMIS self-service. For more information on how to use this service please click on the link below:

Department of Education HRMIS website (staff only)

Schools needing to provide bank details and authority to deduct HRMIS travel allowance payments from the school bank account can find a link to the HRMIS Travel Payment Authority Form

Please note the Travel Allowance Claim Forms (manual forms) are only used if staff do not have access to HRMIS (eg Cleaners and Gardeners).

For further information on processing claims, see Appendix B.

4. Definitions

Travel within Australia.

Travel within the state of Western Australia. Special conditions apply to travel across the tri-state border and the Indian Ocean Territories.

Travel between states and territories.

5. Related documents

7. History of changes

Effective date Last update date Procedure version no.
21 February 2017 1.0
These new procedures support the Official Air Travel Policy that replaces the Official Air Travel, Domestic Travelling Allowance and International Travelling Allowance policies. Endorsed by Director General at Corporate Executive on 28 November 2016
21 February 2017 21 February 2017 1.1
Minor typo change D17/0076028
21 February 2017 23 February 2017 1.2
Minor typos and corrective changes D17/0080388
21 February 2017 4 October 2018 1.3
Minor change to position titles D18/0437050

9. More information

This procedure:

Download procedure PDFDomestic Travelling Allowance and Expense Procedures v1.3

Please ensure you also download the policy supported by this procedure.


Supported policy:

Download Policy PDFOfficial Travel Policy


Procedure review date

21 February 2017

Procedure last updated

10 October 2018