Expenses Policy

Policy overview

The expenses policy takes into account the Sustainable Travel Policy approved by the University Executive in August 2024.   

Using the University’s Travel Management Company (TMC) is mandatory. However, there are several exemptions to using the TMC. For a complete list of exemptions, please refer to the Sustainable Travel Policy. For these exemptions, using university credit cards or the expenses system is acceptable. 

Booking travel

The online booking tool can be found here - Book with Key Travel

Guidance on travel – including booking travel, insurance, protecting your health and personal safety whilst travelling for University purposes, sustainable travel, visas and information in case of emergencies, etc - can be found on the Business Travel webpages.  

Equality Impact Assessment

An Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) was completed in 2022 as part of our specific statutory duty to assess the equality impact of the revised policy against the needs of the general Equality duty.

Policy maintenance

We update the policy annually to make sure it’s up-to-date, operationally effective at all levels and compliant with our charitable purpose, public expectation and tax laws. The policy helps claimants and authorisers to understand what can and can’t be claimed for, what’s considered reasonable and what the exceptions are.

Contact information

If you have any questions, please email finance.helpline@ed.ac.uk or call 0131 651 5151 (option 1).

Useful links

• Expenses Policy
• Staff Advances Guidance
• Student Advances Guidance
• Expenses Infographic
• Expenses Training