Important Update: There is currently a processing issue for mileage claims from Overseas and ROI teams. We are working on a solution as quickly as possible. Please do not submit mileage claims until the issue has been resolved.
Volunteers are not expected to be out of pocket due to their volunteering activities with SSAFA. We strongly recommend that you claim any expenses on a monthly basis.
It is important that your bank details are maintained up-to-date on Assemble as any expenses claimed, will be paid in to that bank account. Please see the article here on how to update your bank details.
Assemble does not complete actual payments or hold user financial details. Payments of expenses will be completed outside of Assemble.
Expenses process
To claim expenses, add new claims as soon as you complete a volunteer activity. These will go to your unclaimed expenses list. At the end of the month, submit ALL claims to your manager for approval and payment.
Casework Volunteers will have their expenses approved by designated staff in the Regional Office who will make the payment through their normal method of payment. The finance team will authorise payment as soon as the claim goes on their system. If you have a problem with your expense claim, please contact the Regional Office.
Branch Volunteers will have their expenses approved by Branch executives and paid by the Branch Treasurers through their normal method of payment. If you have a problem with your expense claim, please contact your Branch Treasurer.
Expenses for those with a Branch Connection: All expenses accrued during branch activities, for non-branch volunteers, will be claimed back under their primary volunteer role. The Branch is not responsible for processing these expenses.
Expenses Policy
Please review the Volunteer Expenses Policy for guidance on what you can claim for.
Adding a new expense
- Click on 'Expenses' tab on the left panel in Assemble
- Select 'My Expenses' field to add a new expense
- Select the expense type from the drop-down list (see information on the types of claims here)
- Add the date when the expense was incurred (not the date of submitting the claim)
- Select the Role that you are Claiming Expenses against. If you only have 1 role then you will not be able to change it. If you hold muliple roles each expense claim must be allocated to the related role.
- Add a short description of the expense. For mileage expenses you must include a start and finish postcode.
- Specify the value of the expense to claim.
- Upload receipts or other supporting documents related to the expense. NB the maximum total attachment size per claim is 8MB.
- Click on 'Add expense' button - you will now be able to see your expense in the 'Unclaimed expenses' section underneath. Unclaimed expenses are grouped by the role they are being claimed against.
Types of Expense Claims
In the drop down menu for 'Expense Type' there are the following options:
Mileage: This option should be selected when you have used your own vehicle for volunteering purposes, within the UK. This includes volunteers in Northern Ireland. For volunteers overseas or in thr ROI please see below (Overseas Mileage).
- Ensure the correct Mileage rate has been selected for you vehicle type.
- In the description box please add the To and From postcodes that you travelled for this journey and specify if it was one way or return. Also include details on the prupose of the journey.
- For Distance, input the total miles travelled.
- If you are the only person in the vehicle, then make sure that the number of passengers is set to 0. If you travelled with other volunteers, log the number of passengers travelling with you.
- Receipts are not normally needed for mileage claims, but supporting information can be attached where applicable, using the upload attachments button.
- GA will calculate the total automatically based on miles travelled and number of passengers.
Please be aware: The mileage tariff has been updated, however we are unable to remove the old milage tariff from the system at the moment. When submitting a mileage claim ensure 'HMRC Cars and Vans 2026' is selected.
Other Travel: This option should be selected when you have travelled for volunteering purposes using public transport.
- In the description box, provide details of where you travelled to and from, along with the purpose of the journey.
- Receipts must be uploaded using the Upload attcahments button.
Accomodation: This option should be selected if accomodation was required for a volunteering activity.
- In the description box, provide details of where you stayed and for how long, along with information on the volunteering activity.
- Receipts must be uploaded using the Upload attcahments button.
Subsistence: This option should be selected for claiming costs related to food and drink, during volunteer activities, away from your normal location.
- In the description box, provide details of the volunteering activity where the costs were incurred.
- Receipts must be uploaded using the Upload attcahments button.
Telephone Costs: This option should be used to claim the cost of telephone calls that were made for SSAFA purposes.
- In the description box, provide details of the volunteering activity where the costs were incurred.
- Receipts must be uploaded using the Upload attcahments button.
Stationary: This option should be used to claim the cost of stationary purchased exclusively for SSAFA purposes.
- In the description box, provide details of the volunteering activity where the costs were incurred.
- Receipts must be uploaded using the Upload attcahments button.
Overseas Mileage: This option should be used by volunteers outside the UK, to claim travel costs for using their own vehicle for volunteering purposes. This includes volunteers in France, Germany, Cyprus, Thailand and Republic of Ireland.
- Please read the guidance on submitting an Overseas mileage claim, to calculate the claim amount.
For Overseas and ROI volunteers, when submitting a claim the system shows GBP as the default currency, this is just standard text of the system. You do not need to convert your claim into GBP. Please type in the value of your claim in the currency of the country you live, to match your receipts.
When the payment is processed the currency will be:
- Cyprus, France, Germany & ROI – EUR.
- Thailand – THB.
- Northern Ireland - GBP
You can only submit a claim in a single currency. If you have claims in different currencies they must be submitted separately.
If you have a claim in a currency that is not your country's standard currency, please clearly note this in the decription box, when entering the claim.
Submitting claims
Each set of unclaimed expenses needs to be claimed (sent for authorisation) individually.
You can edit the expense by clicking on the 'Actions' button and select 'Edit expense' and then 'Update expense'.
Once all your monthly expenses have been added, click on 'Claim all' for each role you undertake.
There is a limit to the size of files that can be attached to expenses on GoAssemble (8MB). If you see the below warning message, do not click "Claim all"
If you see a warning message stating you are approaching the attachment size limit, we advise you do not ‘claim all’ and instead submit individual transactions by clicking the relevant line and then ‘claim selected’. Repeat this for each transaction on the claim. This will submit each item separately and avoid exceeding the attachment size limit.
The system will show you a summary of the expense items in the claim:
Notes: You can use this box for adding additional notes to the approver on the overall claim if required. Notes for individual expense items should be completed on the line item directly.
Submission declaration: To create a claim you must confirm acceptance of the submission declaration by ticking the box. The 'Create claim' button is disabled until this is complete.
Creating a claim will inform the manager for the role that approval is required. The claim will move to the 'Previous claims' section on your profile, where you can track approval status.
Tracking claim status
Previous claims allows access to historical claims and displays the status of active claims.
Status Types
Awaiting approval: Awaiting manager approval.
Approved: The claim has been approved and sent for payment. Once the expense has been approved, it is no longer being tracked by Assemble. Confirmation of payment is not tracked on Assemble.
Rejected: A rejected claim by a manager remains on 'Previous claims' for reference only. Expense line items from the rejected claim will return to the 'Unclaimed expenses' allowing a user to modify and resubmit as a new claim.
Expense claims should be completed once a month, but for higher amounts that may require a more prompt payment, please contact your Branch Treasurer or the Regional Office as appropriate.
Error notifications
If you submit a claim, but do not have your bank details logged in Assemble you will receive the following notification:
Thank you for submitting your expense claim, unfortunately we won’t be able to process the claim as your bank details have not been logged on GoAssemble.
Please add your bank details on your profile page at your earliest convenience, you can find guidance on how to do this on the Volunteer Knowledgebase.
Once you have updated your bank details you do not need to re-submit the claim. The system will automatically try to resubmit your claim every Monday, until the claim can be processed.
If you submit a claim, but don't allocate it to a role you will receive the following notification:
Thank you for submitting your expense claim, unfortunately we won’t be able to process the claim as it has not been submitted to a specific role.
Please re-submit your claim ensuring you select the correct volunteer role during the submission process, you can find guidance on how to do this on the Volunteer Knowledgebase.