Conference Support Award

As part of our commitment to the Athena Swan Action Plan, the University operates a Conference Support Award of up to £200 to cover additional childcare costs an individual incurs whilst attending training that is essential to the effective performance of their role.

This award may be reimbursed tax-free in specific circumstances, but if these are not fully met, HMRC rules require reimbursement to be processed via the payroll as a taxable payment. In that case, the employee will receive the net sum after the deduction of tax and National Insurance.

Applications will be processed at Departmental level (and so the form should be submitted to the individual’s line manager) and funded from Departmental budgets.

Employees may apply for funding for two separate events in any given academic year.

Download the Conference Support Award Application Form here and submit it to your line manager.

Non-taxable additional childcare costs related to training

Childcare costs are usually considered to be personal costs to be met by a parent or carer from their pay.

However, HMRC relax this rule in the very specific circumstance of an employee receiving work-related training where in doing so additional childcare costs are incurred and paid to a registered third-party.

(For information, other costs related to training, such as travelling and subsistence costs of the trainee, may also be reimbursed by the employer just as when these same costs are incurred when undertaking business travel. Additional childcare costs incurred when undertaking business travel (as opposed to workplace training) are however, not eligible for reimbursement).

Claims that are entirely made up of additional childcare sessions whilst the parent or carer is attending training should be submitted via Concur together with a receipt from the provider clearly showing the additional sessions and the approved Training Support form.

Taxable additional childcare costs

Additional costs that are not purely additional sessions invoiced by a third-party provider as above may not be approved. However, if they are, any reimbursement will be taxable and a claim should be submitted to payroll via Ask-HR on the approved Training Support form.

This includes (but is not limited to):

Costs of taking a dependent baby to a training location.
Travel or other costs for a family member or other carer to care for a child whilst the parent receives training.
Travel costs of parent to take child to carer.
Enrolment of child on an activity/holiday course whilst parent receives training.

Read the Social Inclusion Annual Report for more about social inclusion at Warwick and the action we're taking.

The Social Inclusion Annual Report highlights the work that has been taking place across the University over the last year, and how it is helping us to meet our Social Inclusion Strategy objectives to increase the diversity of our staff and student communities, develop an inclusive culture, and become an internationally recognised leader in inclusion.