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Claiming expenses

You must read these instructions before travelling to the Tribunal. You can select a specific area of expenses from the options below.

Cash refunds

Cash refunds are usually made on the day of the hearing for travelling expenses only.

All other expenses are paid as soon as possible after the hearing. There are claim forms available at the place of hearing where the clerk to the tribunal will be able to tell you about what you can claim. We pay you through a bank account so we will need your bank details.

In all cases you will be asked to provide receipts to support your claim.

Travelling

You may be able to claim the cost of your travel to and from the place where the hearing is held. If you travel by public transport you can claim the actual fares but please try to keep your travel costs to a minimum, for example standard class return tickets. You must give or send us your tickets. If you travel by private vehicle, for example your own car, you can claim 12p for every mile of your journey to cover fuel costs. If you have to take someone with you to help you get to the hearing, you can claim an extra 2p a mile for a passenger (up to a maximum of 2 passengers at 16p per mile). The clerk at the hearing will be able to help you with your claim.

Taxi fares

The Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal can only pay for taxi fares in special circumstances, for example if no suitable public transport covers your journey, or your health or disability makes it difficult for you to use suitable public transport. You must phone your Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal office as soon as possible to agree using a taxi before you travel otherwise we may not be able to pay the taxi fare. If there is no public transport available because of the timing of your appeal, we may be able to change your hearing to a more suitable time on the same day.

You must always provide a reciept

Living expenses

If you are away from home for more than 5 hours and you have to buy a meal, you can claim £4.75.

If you are away for more than 10 hours and you have to pay for two meals, you can claim £9.30.

If, in special circumstances, you need to stay in a hotel overnight, you can claim living expenses. This will cover your accommodation and breakfast only. You must have a good reason for an overnight stay for example; the distance you have to travel to where your hearing is held prevents you from travelling home by 8 pm on the same day. We will pay the costs up to

You must phone your Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal office as soon as possible before your hearing to agree an overnight stay; otherwise we may not be able to pay the costs. It may be possible to change the time of your hearing to save having to stay overnight.

The Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal can arrange accommodation for you. Please let us know as soon as possible if you want the Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal to arrange this for you. In these cases, we will only pay for the bed and breakfast part of your stay with the hotel. You will still be responsible for any extras you may have during your stay.

Please note - The Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal does not pay accounts with the hotel unless we have arranged the accommodation for you. You should pay any overnight hotel accommodation costs that have been arranged by you and we will arrange a refund if appropriate.

You can also claim an extra allowance of £21 to cover the cost of additional meals etc, together with an allowance of £5 for personal expenses for example, newspapers, phone calls etc.

If you stay with friends or relatives you can claim a single allowance of £25 for accommodation plus the £5 allowance for personal expenses.

You must always provide a reciept

Loss of work earnings

If you lose work earnings because you are at the hearing, you can claim help towards these.

If you are away from work for less than four hours you can claim up to £28.50.

If you are away from work for four hours or more, you can claim up to £57.00

You must provide a letter from your employer. The letter must confirm that you were not at work or paid on the days you attended the tribunal. Claims for loss of earnings cannot be allowed for days when your work place is closed because of holidays or you have taken paid leave. It must also give details of the hours you are taking off work and the amount you earn each hour before any deductions are made for tax or National Insurance. Please bring your employer's letter with you on the day.'

Carer expenses

You can claim carer expenses (for example, if you have to pay a childminder). This is up to a maximum of £5 an hour for each child or adult. You must get a receipt from the carer. Please bring this receipt with you on the day.

We do not pay loss of earnings and childcare expenses for the same person. If you are working and have children, we assume you have regular childcare arrangements. Childcare expenses are only paid to people who do not normally have childcare costs and so only have this expense because they are attending the hearing.

Attendees from overseas

If you are attending a hearing from outside of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), we will only pay expenses that you have from your place of entry into Great Britain. An exception to this is made for residents in Northern Ireland who are required to attend a Child Support Appeal.

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