Payment of expenses for external examiners

Travel Expenses

• Standard return rail ticket.
• Taxi/bus fares between home/University and a railway station or airport.
• Car mileage at 45p per mile, and motorcycle mileage at 24p per mile.
• Flights – permission to book flights when the cost exceeds the following values must first be requested from External Examiners, or Departments, and granted by, PGRA, pgr-administration@york.ac.uk. 
  • Overseas flights : permission must be granted by PGR Administration for flights costing more than £200.
  • Internal UK flights : permission must be granted by PGR Administration unless the cost is equivalent or less than second class rail travel.

Please note: For environmental reasons we recommend that Examiners only travel by car if rail travel or public transport is not practical or cost-effective.

If you need to claim travel expenses from PGRA via journal request, then please complete the online form (research only)

Subsistence

• Lunch – up to £15 (inc VAT) per person if the examiner eats alone, or with a departmental representative.
• Evening meal – up to £30 (inc VAT) per person if the examiner eats alone, or with a departmental representative.
• Alcohol - The University will reimburse the cost of one alcoholic drink per person taken with an evening meal. This must be claimed within the evening meal limit.
• Service charge / tips - These must be claimed as part of the lunch or evening meal limit. Service charges are usually included on the bill or you can add a tip when paying by card.
• The University will only reimburse the actual cost of meals taken, up to the lunch/ evening meal limits - you must provide receipts.

If departmental representatives accompany the external examiner to dinner, the claim form with the receipt attached should be submitted via the department.  If the total for the meal exceeds the limits above, the department must code the payment of the excess amount before forwarding the remaining claim form to PGR Administration.

PGR Administration is unable to pay for any catering ordered by the department for Boards of Examiners meetings.

If you need to claim the meal contribution from PGRA via journal request, then please complete the online form (research only)

Accommodation

• PGRA will pay up to 2 nights bed and breakfast. If a longer stay is required, then permission to book a longer stay must first be requested by External Examiners, or Departments, and granted by, PGRA, pgra-administration@york.ac.uk.
• Bed and breakfast costs will be reimbursed up to a maximum of £140 (inc VAT) per night.
• Costs associated with private arrangements with departmental staff will not be reimbursed.

To request reimbursement of accommodation expenses, please complete the online form (research only).

Once the refund has been rejournalled, you will receive a confirmation from PGRA.

Please note that changes have been made to the previous policy for PGR External Examiner expenses, to bring it in line with March 2023 Updates to the University Travel and Expenses Policy (restricted access) which is available to view by Departments. As such, these updated PGR External Examiner expenses policy documents are subject to annual review, as and when the University Travel and Expenses Policy is annually reviewed.