Financial Sustainability: Spending controls, travel, taxis and best practice

As we near the end of our financial year (31 July 2021), colleagues are reminded of the continued need to limit our non-pay spend.

Lockdown rules may have been gradually relaxed and travel become less restricted, but we are still working within extremely challenging financial conditions.

To help minimise our non-pay spend, a number of controls introduced last year remain in place, including:

New travel policy

Following the UK Government’s recent relaxation of travel rules, our Procurement team has published an updated policy on staff travel during 2021-22.

The new policy states that staff should travel in the UK and abroad only where absolutely necessary and following detailed risk assessment and latest FCDO guidance.

Travel requests will have to be approved by your line manager or director. The expectation is that travel will be much lower in the financial year 2021-22 than in pre-pandemic years.

University taxi service

A new contract for University taxi services went live in May 2021.

A single monthly invoice for each section of the University is now paid from a single purchase order each month. This will reduce the number of card transactions, very low value invoices and expense claims for taxis. Our new taxi suppliers are:

  • Longleys, for journeys around Canterbury, including Canterbury-airport bookings
  • Vokes, for journeys around Medway, including Medway-airport bookings

An App will be launched for staff to use shortly. In the meantime, bookings can be made by  telephone and, for cost control purposes, staff will need go through their respective Division bookers.

IR35 legislation

From 6 April 2021, there are extra responsibilities when deciding whether off-payroll working rules apply. This is where consultants or contractors engage with the University through an intermediary, such as a Personal Service company. Further information is available on the Procurement webpages.

Best practice guidance

Our Procurement Team has put together a comprehensive guide to best practice in purchasing goods and services on the University’s behalf.

The new Procurement Manual takes account of changes in legislation post-Brexit and includes easy access to key information, as well as a list of contracts to help you choose which suppliers to use. The Manual will be updated and republished on an annual basis.

Click on a PDF version of the Procurement Manual, or find the latest guidance under a new Procurement Manual tab on the Procurement webpages.