Guidance

Teacher misconduct hearings: claiming expenses

How to claim for travel, meals, accommodation and loss of earnings after attending a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) misconduct hearing.

From:
Teaching Regulation Agency
Published
14 April 2014
Last updated
28 January 2022 — See all updates

Applies to England

Witnesses

You can claim for yourself and one witness supporter, such as a family member for:

We will provide you with a hotel if you need to stay overnight, either before or during the hearing or induction appeal.

Panellists

You can claim:

We will provide you with a hotel if you need to stay overnight, either before or during the hearing.

Teachers who are subject to serious misconduct hearings or an induction appeal

If you’re experiencing serious financial hardship you may be able to claim for reasonable travel costs and some meals (if attending an in-person hearing or induction appeal).

If you need to claim, contact us to discuss your circumstances.

Expenses

Meals (subsistence)

You’ll get a lunch voucher for £4.50 when you arrive that you can use in our on-site canteen.

You can also claim up to:

  • £4.80 if you’re away for more than 10 hours
  • £9.30 if you’re away for more than 12 hours
  • £16.75 if you stay overnight

Your time away includes travel time between your home address and the venue where the hearing or induction appeal is held.

You cannot claim for alcoholic drinks, tipping or service charges.

You must keep all your receipts and submit them with your claim. All meal receipts must:

  • itemise each item you’re claiming for
  • have a VAT number
  • include the date that you purchased the item

Public transport

You can only claim for standard class return tickets, usually by rail, bus or coach. You’ll need to get approval from us before you can book first class travel.

You must keep your tickets and submit them with your claim.

Car or private vehicle

You can claim:

  • 25 pence per mile to and from your home address and the venue where the hearing takes place
  • for parking charges
  • toll charges

You must keep your receipts for parking and tolls and submit them with your claim.

Taxis

You can only claim for taxi fares if:

  • you cannot use public transport because you have a temporary or permanent disability
  • you have heavy or bulky luggage to carry

You must keep your receipts and submit them with your claim.

Air travel

You can only claim for air travel if:

  • it’s cheaper overall, for example, if it meant you would not need to stay in a hotel overnight or claim other expenses
  • you contact us for approval before you book

You must keep your tickets and submit them with your claim.

Accommodation

If you need to stay overnight, we will book a 3-star hotel for you near the hearing or appeal venue. You may be able to claim for accommodation you book yourself if you contact us in advance up to:

  • £75, including VAT, outside London
  • £110, including VAT, inside London

You must keep your receipt and submit it with your claim.

Other overnight expenditure (incidentals)

You can claim up to £5 if you stay overnight to cover the cost of telephone calls, tipping in restaurants and hotels, Wifi and toiletries. You do not need to provide receipts for these incidental costs.

Loss of earnings

We will pay a flat-rate payment to compensate loss of earnings for panellists and witnesses attending either an in-person hearing or virtual hearing of:

  • £65 for up to 4 hours
  • £130 for over 4 hours

You must provide one of the following pieces of evidence to claim:

  • a payslip
  • an email from your employer stating that loss of earnings was down to specific dates of a hearing
  • an invoice (if self-employed) stating total amount of earnings lost due to a hearing with dates
  • a client email showing you were offered work on the hearing dates

We will also consider claims of up to £65 for loss of earnings for panellists and witnesses attending an in-person hearing if you travel over 4 hours on the day before a hearing.

Supply cover for schools who’ve hired a supply teacher

You can claim up to a maximum of £250 per day if you’ve given a teacher paid leave to attend a TRA hearing as a witness or panellist, either in person or virtually and had to hire a supply teacher to cover them.

You cannot claim for supply cover if the teacher involved is claiming for loss of earnings. If you gave them unpaid leave to attend a TRA hearing as a panellist or witness, then the teacher will need to claim for loss of earnings.

To claim, you’ll need to provide:

  • your school’s name, full address and details of a contact person
  • the payee’s name, National Insurance number and address (if different from your school)
  • an invoice
  • your school’s bank details, including:
    • bank name
    • branch
    • branch address
    • sort code
    • account number
    • name that the bank account is held in

How to claim

  1. Email [email protected] and request the non-staff expense claim form and guidance.

  2. Once you receive this, register as a vendor at Provide information about your banking and payments to DfE and follow the instructions - it can take up to 15 working days for your vendor account to be set up.

  3. Complete the expense form sent to you in step 1 and return to [email protected].

You must:

  • include all relevant evidence
  • include all receipts
  • set up a vendor account

Otherwise your payment may be delayed.

Payment

Your claim will be processed within 10 to 30 working days. Your claim will be paid directly into your bank account and you will not receive a remittance advice. We might contact you if we have a query about your expenses.

Contact

Teacher misconduct: claiming expenses

Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)
Expenses Officer, Teacher Misconduct Unit
Cheylesmore House
5 Quinton Road
Coventry
West Midlands
CV1 2WT

Contact us if you have any questions about:

  • whether you’re allowed to claim expenses
  • which expenses you’re allowed to claim
  • the claims process

Updates to this page

Published 14 April 2014
Last updated 28 January 2022 + show all updates

  1. Revised guidance on how to claim expenses for teacher misconduct hearings.

  2. Updated the process for making a claim. Included further details about the types of expenses which can be claimed - this information was previously held on another webpage.

  3. EXP21 form amended to SOP21

  4. Corrected the amount that can be reimbursed to schools that need to pay for supply cover to release a member of staff to be a witness at a hearing.

  5. First published.

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