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 approve mileage claims until the issue has been resolved.
Submitting expenses for approval will trigger a notification to the named Manager on GoAssemble. As a manager, you can view claims awaiting approval at any time from 'Expenses\Waiting my approval' or for your team via 'Assigned to my team'.
If you are a Supervisor for a volunteer on GoAssemble you will not receive a notification if an expense claim is submitted, however you can still check submitted expense claims either on the Expenses tab (Assigned to my Team) or by using the Expenses report.
Casework Volunteers will have their expenses approved by designated staff in the Regional Offices who will send the payment request to the Finance team for payment centrally.
Branch Volunteers will have their expenses approved by Branch executives and paid by the Branch Treasurers through their normal method of payment using branch funds.
If a caseworker also holds a branch role then any expenses incurred through participating in a community engagement event should be submitted via their branch role and be paid from the branch admin account.
Awaiting approval
All claims waiting approval are listed with a summary of the claim. From the list view the only available option is View as approval or rejection of a claim must be completed within the claim.
To view and approve the claim click the View button.
Approving a Claim
Please remember to check all necessary evidence is included with the claim for audit purposes, this includes copies of receipts and start and finish postcodes in the case of mileage claims.
Viewing the claim will show all the related line items, totals and notes with the number of attached documents (as a link where one or more are attached). Click the number shown below 'Attached documents' to download/view.
When checking a claim please ensure the expenses claimed are linked to the role the claim has been submitted under. For example, if a caseworker is also a CEV volunteer then they must not submit a travel expense for a client visit under their CEV role.
For Mileage claims, please check the correct rate option has been selected.
To approve a claim the approver must agree to the submission terms (set by the system admin) by selecting the tick box, in the bottom left corner of the claim, after which the Approve button will be enabled.
On approval the claim will be passed to the relevant people for payment.
Rejecting a claim
If any issues with the claim are idenified then the claim must be rejected and the issues resloved before the claim can be resubmitted.
Rejecting will prompt for a reason which will be passed back to the volunteer and the claim closed. The line items will return to the volunteers unclaimed expenses area so they can modify and re-submit as a new claim.
Example reasons to reject a claim could be:
- Receipts have not been attached
- Mileage claims don't include the start and end postcode, or the incorrect milage rate has been selected
- The claim has been submitted under the incorrect role
- The receipts attached show that mutliple currencies have been submitted in one claim.
Payment process
| For Casework Volunteers | For Branch Volunteers |
|---|---|
| 1. When a claim is authorised by Regional Office staff, a notification will be sent to the RO O365 expenses mailbox automatically. RO specific guidance for Overseas, ROI and NI can be found here. | 1. When a claim is authorised by Branch executives a notification will be sent to the RO O365 expenses mailbox automatically. RO specific guidance for Overseas, ROI and NI can be found here. |
| 2. RO staff forward the notification to the finance team for payment. | 2. RO staff forward the notification to the relevant Branch Treasurer for payment. |
| 3. Finance team process payment and expense claim is paid. | 2. The Branch Treasurer makes the payment from the branch admin account to the volunteers bank account, using the details provided in the email. |
Important Information
Please note: The default currency has been set for each team and will show in the payment notification email; Cyprus, France, Germany & ROI – EUR. Thailand – THB. Northern Ireland - GBP
Important: The currency does not show on the claim submission page when the volunteer enters the claim. Volunteers should enter the expense amounts in their own currency – no currency exchange calculations are required.
If a volunteer is submitting a claim NOT in the standard currency for their country, they must clearly specify this in the Description box when submitting the claim.
Volunteers must only submit one currency per claim. If for some reason they have claims for different currencies, these must be submitted separately.