You will be paid a fee on receipt of your annual report, and reasonable expenses incurred in the course of carrying out your duties as an external examiner for Brookes will be reimbursed.
Fees
The Academic Policy & Quality Office will arrange for payment of your fees on receipt of your annual report (for details about submission of reports, see section 8) - you do not need to make a separate claim for your fee. Fees are processed in the pay run for the month following submission of the report, and the funds deposited in bank accounts on the last day of the month. The APQO will make arrangements to pay your fee using the bank account details you provided at the time you accepted your appointment as external examiner (or at the time of the most recent update request). Please notify us as soon as possible if these details change.
Calculation of fees
Fees are currently calculated on the basis of the size (in terms of student numbers) of the programme examined, using a multiplier of £10 per full-time equivalent, rounded up to a minimum of £250, or down to a maximum of £800, as appropriate. An additional flat fee of £50 is added to this payment to cover attendance at the relevant examination committee meeting/s
From the 2018-19 reporting cycle, the fees structure will be as follows:
Basic fees
For external examiners on taught programmes, including those delivered through collaborative arrangements (except the ACCA partnership)
Covers:
Duties set out in section 5 below; attendance at one examination committee per year (virtually or in person). |
£500 |
Uplifts
(A single additional payment in the year in which the activities were undertaken) may be added to the annual fee, as follows: |
|
Extended workload
e.g. to cover acting as lead for a team of external examiners, provision of more than one report per year, etc. |
£50 |
Additional visits related to ‘home’ programmes
e.g. to visit students in school/clinical placement settings, to observe clinical examinations, attend art/architecture exhibitions, attendance at moderation meetings or additional examination committee meetings, etc. |
£50 |
Visits to international collaborative partner campuses
NB travel/accommodation expenses for EEs visiting overseas partners are covered in the business plan for the partnership and will be covered by the Department/School managing the collaborative arrangements. |
£100 |
| Visits to UK collaborative partner campuses. |
£50 |
| Providing assurance on compliance with PSRB requirements (in annual report) if specifically appointed to do so. |
£50 |
| Fees for other activities (on request). |
|
Advice to MEC Sub-Committee
For advice provided in respect of MEC decisions on exceptional cases requiring variation from the UMP regulations. |
£100 |
Curriculum consultation
For advice provided in respect of re-validation or major changes to the programme/s examined (paid by the Department/School). |
£100 |
Tax
External Examiner Fees are paid in accordance with HM Revenue & Customs’ ‘Particular Occupations’ legislation.
Under this legislation, External Examiners for postgraduate programmes are treated as self-employed workers, and all fees and expenses are paid gross, i.e. with no deduction of income tax/National Insurance Contributions. Examiners for these programmes are therefore advised to declare these fees on their Self-Assessment return. However, you may elect to have income tax deducted before payment of your fee, and if you would like to do this, please inform the APQO on acceptance of your appointment so that we can ensure this is set up correctly on our Payroll system.
Under these HMRC rules, External Examiners on undergraduate programmes are treated as employees for tax purposes, and self-employed for National Insurance purposes; therefore fees are subject to the deduction of basic rate income tax.
VAT
The University will not pay VAT in excess of the total annual fee. If fees are to be paid to a company or organisation you should inform the APQO on acceptance of your appointment so that the relevant details are available to our Finance service when the account is initiated.
Expenses
The University will reimburse expenses incurred in the course of carrying out your duties as external examiner for Brookes, in accordance with the rates specified in the allowances section below. Expenses payments are governed by the University’s Financial Regulations (Expenses Policy).
Expenses claims will only be reimbursed on production of receipts giving details of the expenses incurred. With the exception of car mileage claims, specific receipts for all goods or services being claimed for must be supplied. All expenses claims are subject to the University's normal audit procedures, in accordance with its Financial Regulations.
All claims must be submitted via the University’s Online Expenses Management System. Once appointed, you will be sent an invitation to join the systems, through an email from Access Workspace. You will be registered for the service using the email address you supplied us with for correspondence purposes.
If you have any queries about using the expenses system, please email us at externals@brookes.ac.uk
Expenses allowances
1 Travel
Where possible, external examiners are asked to use public transport, in line with the University’s commitment to sustainable travel. See the Brookes website for directions to our campuses. We are unable to provide a travel booking service for external examiners, but, if you book bus/rail tickets well in advance of visiting the University, in order to benefit from cost savings/special offers, we are able to reimburse you before you make the journey if you send us the receipts.
1.1 Rail fares will be reimbursed, at standard class rate, on production of proof of purchase. First class or ‘open’ fares will not normally be reimbursed by the University.
1.2 Bus/coach fares will be reimbursed on production of proof of purchase. Oxford is well served with buses, including the Brookes Bus and the Park & Ride services, and London/airport coaches run from directly outside the Headington campuses.
1.3 Car mileage will be reimbursed at the rate of 40p per mile (up to 10,000 miles per tax year). Motorcycle mileage is reimbursed at the rate of 24p per mile. Car parking fees paid during the course of external examiner duties will be reimbursed subject to the production of proof of expenditure. See details of Park & Ride facilities in the Oxford area. Unless agreed in advance, the University will not reimburse external examiners for the cost of a hire vehicle.
1.4 Taxis may be used where public transport is not available, or there are specific circumstances requiring taxi travel - receipts should be obtained for all journeys.
1.5 Flights - domestic air journeys should only be made where it can be shown that this mode of travel will result in either direct or indirect cost savings (e.g. hotel charges), where there is no other practicable method of travel, or where other special circumstances apply (e.g. industrial action affecting other forms of transport). The expenses system cannot currently process claims for air travel, as flights must be booked via Key Travel, our travel management company. If you need to arrange a flight in order to travel to Oxford Brookes, please contact Simon Waine (01865 483390, or email swaine@brookes.ac.uk) to discuss your requirements.
International air travel costs will not normally be reimbursed, except where external examiners are being asked to fly out to visit partner organisations overseas. Travel arrangements for these trips will be organised by the Department/School which manages the collaborative partnership.
2 Accommodation
2.1 The cost of overnight hotel accommodation and breakfast at a reasonable quality hotel (up to the equivalent of a 3-star UK standard) will be reimbursed on production of receipts, normally up to a maximum of £100 per night. Your Programme Lead or Programme Administrator may be able to advise on suitable local accommodation but, regrettably, we do not have the capacity to provide a booking service for external examiners. Please note that the University is unable to reimburse any telephone, newspaper or gratuity costs incurred during overnight stays.
3 Subsistence
3.1 Expenditure on meals will be reimbursed on production of VAT receipts. Please note that the University is unable to reimburse external examiners for the cost of alcoholic drinks.
3.2 Where an external examiner wishes to claim for a meal but is unable to provide a receipt, reimbursement is subject to the following limits:.
4 Postage
4.1 Where an external examiner has incurred postage charges, e.g. for returning scripts, these will be reimbursed on production of receipts.
5 Requests to exceed maximum rates
5.1 The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances when the maximum rates may have to be exceeded. This must be authorised by the Head of the Academic Policy & Quality Office in advance of the expenses being incurred, if possible. In order for reimbursement to be considered, externals are asked to email externals@brookes.ac.uk explaining the reasons for the additional expenditure.
Creating and submitting an expense claim
A short instructional video on creating and submitting an expense claim on the online expenses management system (OEMS)