Expenses

You can claim for mileage for a private vehicle, bicycle, or lease car.

For all mileage, home to work mileage cannot be claimed and should be deducted first. Every employee will have a home to work mileage. This includes employees who have one work base, multiple work bases, or are contracted to work from home.

Your regular work base is usually an ECC building and can be found in your contract of employment and on the ‘Employment Info’ section of My Oracle.

To find your regular work base:

1. Login to My Oracle
2. Click ‘Show more’ beneath the ‘Quick actions’ menu on the left hand side of the My Oracle homepage
3.  Select ‘Employment Info’ beneath the ‘Employment’ section
4. Your work base will be listed under ‘Location’

Always consider if there is a way to use public transport instead.

Read the business mileage guidance (PDF, 152KB) for more details.

If you have one work base

The distance between your home and your work base must be deducted from your overall mileage. This includes journeys where you are not visiting your work base.

Example of claimable mileage

You live in Witham and your work base is County Hall, Chelmsford. This journey is 10 miles from home.

You have a training session in Colchester. This journey is 14 miles from home.

Your need to deduct your normal home to work mileage from the total mileage to your training session. This means you can claim for four miles of your journey.

Example of non-claimable mileage

You live in Witham and your work base is County Hall, Chelmsford. This journey is 10 miles from home.

You are meeting a client in Hatfield Peverel. This journey is three miles from home.

Since your meeting is closer to home than your usual work base, you cannot claim for the mileage.

If you have multiple work bases

If you have multiple work bases your usual mileage is set to the furthest you would travel to a work base. This needs to be deducted from additional mileage. If you are required to attend more than one work base on the same day you can claim for the journey between the two bases.

Example of claimable mileage

You have three work bases:

• Witham: six miles from home
• Braintree: eight miles from home
• Chelmsford: 15 miles from home

As Chelmsford is your longest journey, your usual mileage is 15 miles. This needs to be deducted from mileage claims.

You have a training session in Wickford. This journey is 20 miles from your home.

You need to deduct your usual mileage of 15 miles. You can claim for five miles of your journey.

Example of non-claimable mileage

You have three work bases:

• Witham: six miles from home
• Braintree: eight miles from home
• Chelmsford: 15 miles from home

As Chelmsford is your longest journey, your usual mileage is 15 miles. This needs to be deducted from mileage claims.

You are meeting a client in Colchester. This journey is 10 miles from home.

Since your meeting is less than your usual mileage, you cannot claim for the mileage.

If you have a temporary work base

If you are required to visit a different work base on a temporary or one-off basis you still need to deduct the mileage from your usual home to work journey. You can only claim mileage if you are travelling further to your temporary work base than your usual one.

If the change in work base becomes permanent or you continue working there for more 2 years, this becomes your new work base. You cannot claim mileage to your new work base.

If ECC requires you to make a permanent change, our Excess Travelling Expenses policy may apply.

Example of claimable mileage

You live in Witham and your normal work base is County Hall, Chelmsford. This journey is 10 miles from home.

County Hall is closed for renovations, so your temporary work base is in Colchester. This journey is 14 miles from home.

Your need to deduct your normal home to work mileage from the total mileage to your temporary work base. This means you can claim for four miles of your journey.

Example of non-claimable mileage

You live in Witham and your work base is County Hall, Chelmsford. This journey is 10 miles from home.

County Hall is closed for renovations, so your temporary work base is in Hatfield Peverel. This journey is three miles from home.

Since your temporary work base is closer to home than your usual work base, you cannot claim for the mileage.

If your regular work base is your home address

This guidance does not apply to employees who:

• choose to work from home as part of workstyle personalisation
• are working from home as a permanent or temporary reasonable adjustment

For employees who contractually work from home, the mileage you must deduct will depend on:

• where your home is in relation to the area you need to travel to
• if you carry out work in a particular geographical area within Essex

If you live within the boundaries of Essex, you must deduct 10 miles in total from each day’s mileage claim. For example, if you travel a total of 15 miles in one day, you can only claim for 5 miles.

If you live outside of Essex, the number of miles you drive to and from the boundary of Essex is your usual home to work mileage. Those miles must be deducted from each day’s mileage claim, with a minimum deduction of 10 miles per day.

Example of claimable mileage

You live in Suffolk and your regular work base is your home address.

It is 12 miles to the border of Essex.

You need to deduct 12 miles from your daily mileage.

If you choose to work from a different location

Mileage may only be claimed if your role requires you to work at a different location from your normal work base for business purposes.

If your role gives you flexibility around where you work from, and you choose to work from a different location other than your home or work base, such as from a relative’s house or another ECC location, you are not able to claim for any additional mileage. 

If you change work base while on secondment

When on a secondment, extra mileage to the temporary work base is not automatic but depends on the circumstances of the case.

You may be able to claim extra mileage if agreed with your manager. This may be because:

• you are travelling further to your temporary work base and there is a financial impact of the extra distance
• the secondment is mainly for ECC’s benefit rather than for your own development

You can only claim mileage if you are travelling further to your temporary work base than your usual one.

ECC reimburses secondment mileage at a lower rate (25p per mile), so you must claim it using the secondment mileage category. This can only be done once your manager has set up your role as a secondment on My Oracle.

You cannot claim mileage if:

• a secondment takes up 40% or more of your working time
• lasts or is expected to last for two years or more

In these circumstances, for mileage purposes, it must be treated as if the new secondment work base is permanent. You cannot claim mileage to your new work base.

Mileage rates

Once you know how much of your mileage ECC will reimburse you, the actual amount you may claim per mile is the appropriate HMRC fuel or mileage rate.

Mileage rates:

• private car or van (including electric and hybrid) - 45p per mile for first 10,000 miles
• private vehicles for employees travelling to secondment work base – 25p per mile
• private motorcycles - 24p per mile
• use of own bicycle - 20p per mile
• additional business passenger - 5p per mile, per passenger
• lease cars - various rates set by HMRC

For ECC lease cars and recipients of the lease car alternative allowance you must claim the HMRC advisory fuel rate for petrol or diesel or electricity rate per mile as appropriate

My Oracle will automatically calculate this for you.