FAQs

Green Book employees can claim the cost of travelling from home to the old place of work and home to the new place of work at the standard County Council car or motorbike mileage rate (depending on the method of transport), for a period of two years from the date of move where the excess mileage exceeds the minimum weekly cost of £5.51. This amount is pro-rated for part-time staff.

Example:

Grey Book Employees can claim the cost of travelling from home to the old place of work and home to the new place of work at the standard County Council car or motorbike mileage rate (depending on the method of transport), for a period of four years from the date of move, but the first 20 miles are borne by the individual.

Mileage claims should be submitted using mileage claim forms MT10R and an MT4. Mileage claims are paid one month in arrears, so employees should ensure that their claims are submitted in good time before payroll deadlines (usually 3^rd of the month).  Employees need to claim their expenses monthly, not save them up and do them in bulk.

 There is some useful information here, including a sample spreadsheet and Frequently Asked Questions.

In the first instance, please arrange a meeting with your Line Manager.

Line Managers will take any questions you have forward for you, but you can also request a meeting with any of the staff involved: - 

TRU

• Gary Ball – Area Manager, Service Delivery
• Adrian Carter – Group Manager

Protection

• Dave Bray- Area Manager, Protection
• Pete Sadler- Group Manager
• Simon Foster- Group Manager

You can either email, telephone or ask face to face.

You can email HRFRS@westsussex.gov.uk

Green Book employees can claim the cost of travelling from home to the old place of work and home to the new place of work at the standard County Council car or motorbike mileage rate (depending on the method of transport), for a period of two years from the date of move where the excess mileage exceeds the minimum weekly cost of £5.51. This amount is pro-rated for part-time staff.

Example:

Grey Book Employees can claim the cost of travelling from home to the old place of work and home to the new place of work at the standard County Council car or motorbike mileage rate (depending on the method of transport), for a period of four years from the date of move, but the first 20 miles are borne by the individual.

Example:

We will schedule in regular reviews during the 12-month monitoring period. The dates will be shared once the date of the move to the new station is agreed. In the meantime, please do utilise the HRFRS e-mail and speak to your line manager if you have any questions, concerns or queries.

Mileage claims should be submitted using mileage claim forms MT10R and an MT4. Mileage claims are paid one month in arrears, so employees should ensure that their claims are submitted in good time before payroll deadlines (usually 3^rd of the month).  Employees need to claim their expenses monthly, not save them up and do them in bulk.

 There is some useful information here, including a sample spreadsheet and Frequently Asked Questions.

Our staff are of most value to us and we have tried hard to ensure that any negative impact is minimal to individuals. What we are able to support with certainty is the ‘smarter working’ options ( West Sussex County Council ‘smarter working’ approach what works best for you, your role and your team). Individuals can discuss and agree with their Line Managers (Catherine Walker has already agreed to this option) that some of their working week could be carried out remotely, either at home or at a more local office to their home. Working at other offices is already in the consultation document at 3.1 “Travel for DOT Grey Book Trainers may be reduced by where it is possible to work at other WSFRS stations nearer to home.” Hopefully, this will significantly minimise the cost of travel to both employees and the Service.

We are bound by the terms of the policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for grey book employees which are often different and more favourable than the ‘Green Book’ terms and conditions.  The expectation is that fire fighters are mobile, as stated in the Transfer & Move SOP Transfers Moves Process.pdf which quotes; -

• 4.4 ‘ In line with contractual requirements, grey book employees can be required to serve at any of the WSFRS’s establishments, or any other area covered by the Service’ 
• 4.9 ‘Where additional travel costs are incurred as a result of a management move then employees can claim expenses in accordance with the process detailed in the Expenses Claims SOP (home to duty travel).’  

 Grey book employees are rewarded with many enhanced benefits, such as higher starting salaries, an enhanced pension Pensions - West Sussex County Council, paid lunch breaks,  Working_Hours.pdf better annual leave  Leave_policy.pdf etc, but they are asked to contribute more for their travel costs.

The last time any grey book employees were eligible to claim home to duty mileage due to organisational change was in 2015 when all Firefighters, Crew Managers and Watch Mangers were consulted with to introduce the current Group and Day Crewing shift systems.  At that time, the same Expenses SOP was followed.