Relocation Allowance Guide

Warwickshire CC’s relocation allowance can be used to help employees take up new opportunities.

Whether a new employee is are required by the Council to move home in order to take up a new appointment, or an existing employee is required to relocate as a result of appointment to another Council post.

The allowance is designed to help offset expenses involved in relocation, such as removal, legal and estate agents fees, temporary lodgings etc and should be reimbursed only to reflect actual expenditure.  The levels of allowance provided for are maximum payments and it is open to Assistant Directors to pay a lower level where, in their judgement, that would be sufficient for recruitment purposes.

Eligibility & Conditions

• The Hiring Manager must decide whether a post is eligible for relocation expenses prior to advertising. It is good practice to mention this in the advertisement for the post.
• Relocation must have formed part of the offer of appointment.
• The Hiring Manager must be satisfied that the proposed new address is sufficiently close to the workplace to enable the employee to effectively undertake the duties of the post, having regard to the nature of the post.
• Staff appointed on short-term or fixed-term contracts may be paid a relocation allowance where the contract on which they have been appointed is for a minimum of 2 years.
• An allowance will not be paid where a new employee is taking up employment with the Council as a direct result of a spouse or partner moving home to take up employment other than with the Council.
• Where a spouse or partner is also taking up employment with the Council, either jointly or separately, the allowance will only be paid in respect of one appointment.
• Relocation allowances will not be available for staff whose salaries are funded by external grants.
• Payment of the allowance shall be subject to the employee producing all original documentary evidence to support their claim (e.g. contracts, receipts etc).

The allowance will normally only be paid in the event of the employee moving home within one year of their appointment.  However, in exceptional circumstances, the Assistant Director may agree to extend this period where the employee has been unable to sell their existing property, despite making all reasonable efforts to do so.

If the employee subsequently moves home again within the two-year period to an address which the Hiring Manager considers does not enable them to effectively undertake the duties of the post, repayment will be made on a similar basis.

Financial Assistance

The maximum total allowance is described below.  Within this total the allowance can be used to reimburse actual expenditure on professional fees (estate agents, surveyors, solicitors etc.) and also Stamp Duty.  If there remains sufficient of the total allowance once these costs have been reimbursed, actual expenditure on fixtures, carpets, curtains, etc. may also be reimbursed.

Up to £1,300 towards temporary lodging costs for the first 13 weeks and up to a further £1,300 towards lodging costs, at the Assistant Director’s discretion.Temporary accommodation allowances only apply when a new employee who is moving to the local area, incurs additional costs whilst maintaining a home elsewhere and is renting temporary accommodation in the local area pending the sale of their property.

Repayment of Expenses

All relocation expenses are subject to repayment on a sliding scale dependant on length of service, except in the case of a redundancy situation.