I am starting a job with Deloitte in September and need to move to London. The job is in consulting so potentially mon - fri I might not even be based in London.Just thinking about where best to base myself. What travel costs will deloitte pay? - if I live in Zone 1 will Deloitte cover extra cost to get to a client in Zone 4?If I live outside London and have a client elsewhee in the UK will Deloitte pay travel expenses from my home or from the London office?Just trying to work out where to live! Transport costs will quickly add up. Would just be useful to have a headup on what Deloittes travel expense policy is?

btw, I have exactly same question (see previous post on deloitte) about Accenture? any headup would be of help!

Neither Deolloite or Accenture will pay for you travel expenses while woking in London, as London will be your home office. Your expenses will only be covered if you are assigned to work outside of London.

Not true. The only travel that is not reimbursable is from home to your base office (which would in any case incur a tax liability). Just as you would claim for a taxi across town to a meeting at a client's office, so you would claim from your house to a client office. The fact it is within Zone 6 or the M25 is irrelevant. You are not obliged to provide a travelcard for the firm's incidental use, just because you ought to have one to get to work at your home office. It is up to you how you choose to travel there, whether that be walking, cycling or however.We also staff London jobs with Manchester or Birmingham staff, and vice-versa, and they of course are reimbursed for travel.

Dear DCF,Thanks for clarity. But just so that I understood it better...this policy is for accenture or deloitte or for both? I am particularly interested in how accenture deals with this.Also when with accenture on client visits either london or out of london...how are consultants / managers reimbured ...is it like on actual bills all expenses; on actual bills up to a limit; or like on per diem a flat amount and company doesnot care how one spends or not spends that. What are typical amounts?

Actually, I am quite interested in this as well as I am going to DC in Sep, and have the same concern for making a decision on the place to live in London.So, DCF, assuming I understand it correctly, if I am staffed to a project which most likely requires me to go to client's site every day (let's say for half a year and the client site has reasonable distance from my place), the DC's policy would allow me to reimburse the daily travel expense (even I choose to go there by taxi every day or using my own annual travel card?)? Or this highly varies, depending upon the agreement between the firm and the specific client?Thanks :-)

The business travel policy will usually determine which means of travel you can take and claim for. Usually, taxis are only covered if you're with a client or from the nearest mainline station when going to a specific meeting. Commuting to client site, you'd be required to take the most cost-effective practical route (usually public transport within the UK). If you have a car, things like Congestion Charge aren't covered when commuting to client site.

what about other daily / incidental expenses such as food, person needs etc. Are these on per-diem i.e. fixed allowance type or on actual expense basis?

My comments relate to Deloitte but I doubt Accenture is significantly different. You can't just kick the @rse out of it by getting taxis everywhere, but it really depends on where you are going. If it is the most reasonable (or only option) then it will be fine. If you live in Zone 3, South London, and have to travel up to Zone 5, North London, tube/train would clearly be more reasonable. If you are in Bristol, then you will stay in a hotel in Bristol midweek and will probably take a taxi to the client every morning. Either way, costs are reimbursed.If as is likely the case you are going to be out of your base office for 6 months or more of the year I would strongly recommend you do not buy an annual travel card. A lot of your travel can be expensed and it would be a waste of money.As for reimbursement of actual expenses or payment of a per diem, it depends on the project. I've never had a per diem, although they do exist. There are generally limits on the amount you can claim for a meal. In the context of the cost of food in a hotel (usually poor value) the allowances are not particularly generous, but I've never really had any problems getting reimbursed. Depends on the policy of the engagement partner/manager but when you earning the firm over a thousand a day in fee he would have to be a bit of a knob to beat you up over going a fiver over the allowance. Again, it's just a question of not kicking the @rse out of it.It helps when the partner / manager also likes good living, and decent food and drink in the evening!

hi there, does anybody have an inside into the travel expense policy of capgemini uk and central europe? per diems or reimbursement? thx.

hi there, does anybody have an inside into the travel expense policy of capgemini uk and central europe? per diems or reimbursement? thx.

I believe per diems are usually paid by continental European offices and reimbursement is the norm in the UK.When I was with Roland Berger in London, we were reimbursed for our actual expenses - whereas my continental colleagues got a per diem from which they then had to meet all their costs. The reason we were given was that the tax treatment in the UK is such that a per diem is treated as income and so taxable - whereas reimbursement of costs incurred is not.I'm no tax specialist, so can't vouch for this - but it sounds credible and would explain why UK firms seem to all operate on the reimbursement model.Within the reimbursement model, most UK firms will have policies for how much you can spend on an evening meal, what class of travel you're allowed to book, etc. More than anything this is to stop the firm from being embarrassed by a client causing a fuss about outrageous expenses bills. But within these constraints, your costs would usually be reimbursed so that you live your life on the road at essentially no incremental cost to yourself.One interesting side effect of this I saw in my consulting days - when working on projects staffed from multiple offices, you had consultants with very different incentives. The European consultants wanted to minimise restaurant costs, etc. because this came directly out of their pocket (since they kept any per diem amounts not actually spent on expenses). By contrast, the UK consultants wanted to eat out in nice restaurants, take taxis, etc. because that was part of the "deal" of being a stressed out consultant. Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

Many thanks for the helpful insight from DCF and tony....But, can I understand that the meals are only reimbursed if you are out of town (your based office). It is a little bit over the top to give you meal reimbursement, I guess, if you are staffed to projects that are based in london (although I don't mind if the firm is willing to do so, haha)...

Depending on the firm, there may be a cut-off time after which you are entitled to a meal and taxi home even if you are working at the firm's office rather than out at the client's....

Essentially the meal goes with the overnight stay, though if you are late in your base office (typically after 9) or are heading back from some far flung place on Thursday night and will not be back home until late, this is covered.