Will I be employed by the Trust?
No. We don’t employ you when you register for involvement activities.
What information will I receive?
When you register we’ll invite you to a welcome briefing and send you a welcome pack which will give you key information about:
- What involvement is
- How to claim expenses
- How to claim involvement fees
- Examples of forms to fill in to make sure that when you claim any money from the Trust, we can send it to you as quickly as possible.
How do you keep my information?
We keep your information in line with the Data Protection Act 2018.
What support is there?
Patients and carers who register will have a dedicated involvement and engagement officer, which we call a facilitator. They will support you in a number of different ways.
After you have expressed an interest in becoming an involvement member, a facilitator will make contact to find out about your skills and experience, your interests and how you can be supported in your involvement journey.
Based on your answers, they may recommend some training.
Can I claim expenses or an involvement fee?
We will reimburse reasonable travel expenses. Ideally, travel should be by public transport or your own car and we will reimburse you when you provide receipts.
If you use your own vehicle to travel we reimburse mileage at 45p per mile and we pay 5p per mile if you are giving someone a lift to an involvement activity.
We’ll pay 20p per mile if you use your bicycle to travel to involvement activities.
The current involvement payment is £20 for up to three hours of involvement and for every three hours or part thereafter.
Please note this payment will be subject to tax and National Insurance and can only be paid directly into your bank account. If you’re claiming benefits, are employed or receive a pension you should check to see if the payments will affect any of these.
Using taxis
If you think you need help with travel, which may mean you need a taxi, you must contact your involvement and engagement facilitator first to discuss it. If we agree that using a taxi is the right thing to do, we will arrange it for you.
How do I claim expenses and involvement payments?
We will give you a monthly claim form for both travel expenses and involvement activities payments. This form should be submitted at the end of the month.
Travel expenses
If you would like to claim for travel expenses you should, ideally, include this on your claim form. Please provide your exact return mileage, or the receipted amount that you’re claiming.
You must sign the form and a member of staff who is there on the day will authorise it.
Payments
Payments are made at the end of the month into your designated bank/building society account.
Where processing does not take place by the payroll cut-off date, the payment will be made the following month.
Involvement Payment
If you are claiming an involvement payment of £20 or more then the form for involvement payments must be completed and submitted by the end of the month.
Will payments affect my benefits?
If you are claiming involvement payments, our trust strongly recommends that you contact your benefits office to check there is no adverse effect on your benefits.
The trust cannot advise as to whether claiming would affect you or not. Reimbursement of travel expenses should not affect any benefits.
What if I don’t have a bank or building society account?
You can still claim your travel expenses, but we will only make involvement payments to a designated bank or building society account.
If you’re under 16 you will receive a gift voucher for your involvement, rather than a payment.
When can I not claim an involvement payment?
You can’t claim involvement payments if you are attending a public consultation, our AGM or some third-party opportunities outside of the trust. Please check in advance.
Contact us
You can email us at [email protected] or call 01642 516468.
