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 send you a welcome pack and handbook which will give you key information about:
- What involvement is
- How to claim expenses and an involvement fee
- 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?
Service users and carers who register will have a dedicated involvement and engagement officer.
They will support you in a number of different ways.
After you send in your registration form one of them will make contact to find out about your skills and experience, what you want to get involved in 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 repay 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 need to travel by train we can buy the tickets for you, so you don’t have to pay these costs yourself.
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 3 hours of involvement and for every 3 hours or part thereafter.
Please note this payment will be subject to tax and can only be paid directly into your bank account. If you’re claiming benefits you should check with your benefits office if the payments will affect your benefits.
Using taxis
If you think you need help with travel, which may mean you need a taxi, you must contact your involvement and engagement officer 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 or else complete a yellow form giving the 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.
If you’re on a hospital site where there are cash office facilities open, then you can take your authorised yellow claim form and receive immediate cash reimbursement.
Where there is no cash office available, you need to hand in your form to a member of staff who will send this on to the our finance department for processing.
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 (usually on or just before the 14th day of the month), 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. If this is your first claim you also need to complete a payroll registration form (Form A) so we can make the payment to you.
A staff member should have supplies of both forms and when you’ve filled in your details, the staff member should take the form(s) from you for processing.
Payments are made at the end of the month (if processed by the 14th day of the month) into your designated bank/building society account. Where processing does not take place by the 14th day of the month the payment will be made the following month.
We can only make involvement payments into a personal bank or building society account. Payments are subject to tax and national insurance.
Why do I have an assignment/involvement number?
If you have registered to receive involvement payments, then you have been added to our electronic payment system (payroll) system. Your number is your unique reference number to make sure payments claimed are paid to you/ It’s important you include this on any forms so there are no payment delays.
Will payments affect my benefits?
If you are claiming involvement payments, the 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 as these are processed through our payroll system and are tax and National Insurance deductible. You may be able to claim your tax and National Insurance back depending on your personal circumstances.
If you’re under 16 years of age and don’t have a National Insurance number, please speak to an involvement and engagement officer.
When can I not claim an involvement payment?
You can’t claim involvement payments if you are attending a public consultation, a conference or any training that we may offer as part of your personal development.
Contact us
You can email us at tewv.involvementandengagement@nhs.net or call 01642 516468.
