Claiming Weekend Food Charges Back Retrospectively

Guido_2

Dear All,

I would be very grateful of some advice will the following:

I am aware that, since April of this year (2008), as an inlier I am entitled to claim back my Sat & Sun meal charges if don't actually take the meals. My unit is not currently PAYD therefore I pay the standard £3.89 per day or £120.59 per 31-day month for food.
My food charge was increased in April 08 by approx. £35.00 per month. I had previously been paying approx. £85.00 per month.
I presume this was the Married Unaccompanied Food Charge (MUFC) rate which has now been scrapped?

I am also aware the process of claiming back these weekends (where I didn't take food) is done via JPA under the Absence Process rather than a Missed Meal within Other Duty Travel.

My problem is this -

1. I only found out about this a month ago as it was never announced officially or explanied susbsequently that you could claim. I actually overheard it in a conversation at the dinner table (no surprise to many I suspect!)

2. I tried to claim retrospectively but the JPA system would not allow me to do this (unlike any other claim you make).

My Questions are simply this -

1. How can I claim back what I am actually entitled to as I did not take the meals for which I have now paid?

2. If I am not able to claim back retrospectively, why not? According to the new rules I shouldn't be charged for meals I didn't take at the weekends.

3. Where exactly within JSP 752 (or other) are the rules on this particular topic referenced?


I cannot seem to find anyone who can give me a clear answer to this therefore any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Thank you.

martinbuckley

If you cant apply retrospectively on JPA then your HR staff should be able to input all the weekends for you.

Its possible, albeit time-consuming, so a please, thankyou and maybe a small box of chocolates may be in order!

lee634

martinbuckley wrote: »

Its possible, albeit time-consuming, so a please, thankyou and maybe a small box of chocolates may be in order!

Totally agree with the please and thank you, but giving someone a box of chocolates for doing their job, I don't think so

martinbuckley

Putting retrospective leave passes for 4 months worth of weekends is not part of the clerks' job. Paper leave passes should only be used when the system is down and the online application cannot be processed in time.

I'm not advocating that clerks should get rewarded for doing their job, merely that some sort of gratitude should be offered for them making the time to get you the best part of £200 back in food money. This is a time-consuming task which will mean they have to work late/early to get the rest of their normal work actioned as well. After all, if your car was broke and you took it to a REME/MT mechanic, you'd not expect him to sort it for free would you?

lee634

martinbuckley wrote: »

Putting retrospective leave passes for 4 months worth of weekends is not part of the clerks' job. so get JPA to allow a retrospective leave pass to be put in, or like should have been done passage of info
Paper leave passes should only be used when the system is down and the online application cannot be processed in time.

I'm not advocating that clerks should get rewarded for doing their job, merely that some sort of gratitude should be offered for them making the time to get you the best part of £200 back in food money. This is a time-consuming task which will mean they have to work late/early to get the rest of their normal work actioned as well. After all, if your car was broke and you took it to a REME/MT mechanic, you'd not expect him to sort it for free would you?

understand your point,
however claims, JPA, leave passes etc all would normally be dealt to some degree by a clerk,

so on that basis when a change to a possible claim comes about one of the first people that should know about this would be ....... a clerk,

so on that basis it may be possible that said clerk is making more work for themselves by not telling anybody.

Like i said in my previous post, please and a thank you not a box of chocolates,

next you be saying i'll get you that £200 claim for you for 50% cut :rotfl:

martinbuckley

Line Managers can authorise retrospective leave applications. It was included in the release in April, which also included the facility to apply for leave for weekends only.

I'm pretty sure that it was also included in an Op Bulletin, which all personnel are expected to read when they log on, which of course they do regularly(!)

I managed to find out about it and advertise it within my unit so those who were entitled got their money back - perhaps if the OP has an issue over lack of publicity then he should take the matter up with his Unit Admin Officer.

lee634

Martin, once again this comes down to passage of information,
I don't think i have ever seen a copy of the Op Bulletin when I have logged onto JPA,

I have linked the JPA Login screen directly so unless its somewhere else, It's definitely not there after i have logged on, agreed publicity should be taken up with AO's however if you don't know because you have never seen of been told in the first place then ...............

martinbuckley

lee634 wrote: »

Martin, once again this comes down to passage of information,
I don't think i have ever seen a copy of the Op Bulletin when I have logged onto JPA,

I have linked the JPA Login screen directly so unless its somewhere else, It's definitely not there after i have logged on, agreed publicity should be taken up with AO's however if you don't know because you have never seen of been told in the first place then ...............

That was discouraged at mine and many other units for exactly the reason you say at the bottom - people are missing important (and money saving!) tips that are on the Op Bulletin. I suggest that you and anyone else reading this change your shortcut so it takes you through the screen which gives out information (you should have the status screen and details of any down-times below, not just the bit where you log in - that is the next screen).

That way you'll find out cut off dates for pay-runs, last dates for submitting boarding school claims, changes in allowances etc etc.

lee634

martinbuckley wrote: »

That was discouraged at mine and many other units for exactly the reason you say at the bottom - people are missing important (and money saving!) tips that are on the Op Bulletin. I suggest that you and anyone else reading this change your shortcut so it takes you through the screen which gives out information (you should have the status screen and details of any down-times below, not just the bit where you log in - that is the next screen).

That way you'll find out cut off dates for pay-runs, last dates for submitting boarding school claims, changes in allowances etc etc.

Thanks for that,

See unless you are told, there didn't seem a reason not to do it,
Will not make sure this is passed to our Clerks who can place it on Part1's

Delilah

it is in 2008DIN01-066

hope this helps