Public Sector Body Booking Travel through their Booking System for Contractors

[DKB]

I was chatting to a permie colleague this morning and couldn't help but notice she was booking travel and accommodation through their booking system for a fellow contractor.

The contractor won't be invoicing or claiming this as an expense as the Govt booking system will do all the work and pay the bill directly. This got me thinking as to whether this is allowed or not?

It's obviously not unusual to bill for these expenses, but on this occasion there will be no invoicing going on.

Could anybody advise on whether this is allowed please?

I can see that there are benefits of using the clients booking system as they'll get better rates etc, but wondered what the implications may be.

Thanks

[FrontEnder]

I don't see why not.

I'd be more comfortable from an IR35 point of view booking my own and re-billing though, if outside. If inside, then why not let someone else do the work and pick up the tab.

[malvolio]

Don't think it would matter, personally. The client needs to get his workforce to wherever they're needed by the most expedient means. If the costs never go anywhere near YourCo, much less you personally, and the same mechanism is available to all workers, permie or not, why would it have any impact?

Not everything in the world is designed to put you inside IR35.

[FrontEnder]

Don't think it would matter, personally. The client needs to get his workforce to wherever they're needed by the most expedient means. If the costs never go anywhere near YourCo, much less you personally, and the same mechanism is available to all workers, permie or not, why would it have any impact?

Not everything in the world is designed to put you inside IR35.

My concern would be if they are booking you in to specific places and you don't have any/not a lot of choice.

e.g. - "we need you to be at this location on Tuesday and we're putting you in this hotel" seems a bit controlling.

I don't think it would matter much in itself, but like I said, I'd feel better just booking things myself and re-billing.

[malvolio]

My concern would be if they are booking you in to specific places and you don't have any/not a lot of choice.

e.g. - "we need you to be at this location on Tuesday and we're putting you in this hotel" seems a bit controlling.

I don't think it would matter much in itself, but like I said, I'd feel better just booking things myself and re-billing.

OK, but IMHO you're wasting time and effort (and overheads). By extension of your argument they could say we need you in Solihull tomorrow and you say OK, I'll book a hotel in Coventry. And you can always ignore their choice, as an independent company without explanation, although you might then lose out on some or all of your expenses. But it has nothing to do with control.