When Australian Regional Service Committee (ARSC) members travel for the purpose of ARSC business, they are eligible for reimbursements of travel costs and some expenses. In certain circumstances, for instance overseas travel, a travel advance may be available.

All requests for funds must be submitted on a Travel Reimbursement Request Form to the ARSC Treasurer. This needs to be done no more than 30 days after the meeting or event. All receipts must be sent to the ARSC Treasurer no more than 30 days after the meeting or event. Scanned receipts will be accepted if they are legible.

General principles for seeking travel reimbursement

• members who have been selected and approved to take part in an ARSC Meeting or other service event on behalf of the region are eligible to submit a Reimbursement Request Form.  Other service events include approved workshops, the Regional Delegate (RD) and Alternate Delegate (AD) travel to the World Service Conference (WSC) and the Asia Pacific Forum (APF).
• any unused advances must also be returned into the regional bank accounts no more than 30 days after the meeting or event
• you will only be reimbursed for travel on the days you were scheduled to travel or attend an event. International travel however will often allow extra days either end of a meeting or event
• all requests must include receipts for each item, with the exception of meals
• Regional Committee Members (RCMs) will have their main travel costs paid for by the ARSC (air travel, petrol costs, bus/train). All other expenses such as hotels/accommodation, per diems, airport transfers will be paid for by their respective Areas

As per ARSC Meeting procedures, all funded participants are expected to attend the entire ARSC Meeting. Members are expected to ask for leave from the meeting for absences of over one hour.

Absence from more than half of an ARSC Meeting counts as one absence.

ARSC participants eligible to be funded

ARSC participants eligible to be funded to attend ARSC meetings and other service events, approved by motion to the ARSC, are

• one Regional Committee Member (RCM) per Area (funded for main travel only; expenses paid by Area)
• Subcommittee Chairs (Public Relations (PR), Indigenous, Information Technology (IT), NA Today, Fellowship Development (FD; formerly Outreach), Fellowship Service Office (FSO), Policy and Procedures, Strategic Planning)
• ARSC Chair
• ARSC Vice Chair
• ARSC Treasurer
• ARSC Assistant Treasurer
• ARSC Secretary
• ARSC Assistant Secretary
• Regional Delegate (RD)
• Alternate Delegate (AD)
• Other ARSC trusted servants as approved by the ARSC

Subcommittee Vice Chairs and Alt RCMs are only funded to attend ARSC Meetings if they are sitting in for their respective Chairs or RCMs.

Booking air travel

The ARSC has an established travel agent. This travel agent is used to book air travel.

Presently, this arrangement exists with Goldman Travel Corporation. The contact person is:

Participants are obliged to organise their travel, no later than 21 days before the ARSC meeting or service event. If the participant books later than this date, and the fare is higher, they can be asked to pay the difference between their fare and the cheapest fare that was available. This is based on the 21-day average, calculated by the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer.

1. The ARSC participant contacts our designated travel agent and books their own travel arrangements through them. When booking flights it is essential to let our travel agent know the day/time/airline you would prefer. Always cc the Treasurer (treasurer@na.org.au) and Assistant Treasurer (assttreasurer@na.org.au) into all email correspondence when booking flights.
2. The ARSC Treasurer organises payment directly with our designated travel agent; unless, the flight booking, for some reason, has been paid for personally by the ARSC participant, in which case reimbursement is then claimed through the Travel Reimbursement Form.  All itemised receipts should be provided to the Treasurer with this form.
3. Requests for reimbursement are noted, to be included in the ARSC participants written and verbal reports to the ARSC.

Note: for international travel, if there is a cheaper flight available than the preferred travel agent can provide, then please contact the Treasurer. The Treasurer can confirm a self-booking and reimbursement process.

Per diems

The per diem (Latin for ‘per day’) allowance is a standard allowance given to participants to cover travel expenses such as food and ordinary living costs of the day while away from home. It is also intended to cover local transport costs such as local buses or trains, Uber or taxis, and any other incidental costs such as parking.

ARSC members eligible for per diems include ARSC Admin members, Subcommittee Chairs, and other members as approved. RCM expenses allowances, including per diems, are paid by their respective Area.

The maximum per diem allowance is $100/day.

The per diem is granted for each day when attending an ARSC Meeting, or other approved service event.

When a further day of travel is required following an approved service event, due to distance, flights available etc., a further ‘per diem’ of $15 is claimable for breakfast only.

It is not necessary to provide receipts for meals, but you must submit a reimbursement request to receive the per diem allowance which will ask for your daily total meal expense. The per diem is granted on actual expenditure, rather than automatically awarding the maximum allowance.

Per diem for RD and AD international travel

Per diem allowances for the Regional Delegate (RD) and Alternate Delegate (AD) will be advanced once their travel has been planned and the length of time for each activity is known. Per diem allowance is normally given for travel days which consist of two days prior to the start of an event and one day after the event ends.

The per diem allowances for the RD and AD will be consistent with the NA World Services (NAWS) Travel Policy per diem (daily allowance) at the time of travel.

Reimbursement for accommodation costs when attending ARSC Meetings

ARSC members eligible for reimbursement of accommodation expenses include Admin Committee members, Subcommittee Chairs, and other ARSC members approved by the ARSC. Eligible ARSC members can receive an accommodation reimbursement of up to $160/night to attend the ARSC Meeting.

This includes one night before the Meeting, and subsequent nights up until the last day of the meeting.  It accounts for the room only and does not include room incidentals. Room costs above $160 are not reimbursed and are paid for by the participant.

A further nights’ accommodation on the final day of the meeting is also reimbursable for participants who have traveled long distances or due to the unavailability of return flights.

Participants are encouraged to share a room to keep the costs down. If you twin share and the cost is less than $160/night, you will be reimbursed for the actual cost incurred. Accommodation costs are a reimbursement of actual cost. All accommodation receipts are required with the Reimbursement request form, submitted to the ARSC Treasurer.

There may be instances where people have additional needs. If this is the case, they will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

RCM expense allowances, including for accommodation, are determined and paid for by their respective Area.

Accommodation for other service events

For all other service events in Australia, the same nightly accommodation allowance applies. The number of nights reimbursed will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the ARSC.

Accommodation overseas for the RD and AD

The accommodation allowance for overseas travel for the Regional Delegate (RD) and Alternate Delegate (AD) will be advanced once the length of time for each activity is determined. Three travel days’ accommodation are included, consisting of two days before and one day after the event. The amount of the reimbursement will be determined once the country being travelled to is determined.