Nights away and overnight allowance
A night away from home for work, which a driver calls a night out, is claimed in Muster by ticking it on that day's entry. It is counted at the UK or the overseas rate by the country you spent the night in, and added up for the period before the timesheet goes to HR.
How a night is claimed
On the day's entry, tick Overnight stay, and make sure the day carries the country you were in. That is the whole claim: the night goes into the period's figures and onto your employer's timesheet.
- One allowance per night. A night is UK or overseas, never both.
- The country where you spend it decides which. On a travel day it is the country you arrive in, so a day that flies from Manchester to Atlanta, ticked for the night, is an overseas night.
- A day with no country cannot claim a night, because the allowance follows the country tag. The check Muster runs before you send the period lists any such day, so it is found before HR finds it.
The steps are under Allowances in the manual.
The rates
| Night spent | Shipped default |
|---|---|
| In the UK | £15 a night |
| Anywhere else | £25 a night |
Those are the defaults, and they are rarely the right figures for you. When your employer's agreement states the rates, they are shown in Settings › Nights away and cannot be edited, because the claim pays those. Where the agreement says nothing, you set your own.
Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK by default. Add them to the list of countries paid at the UK rate if your employer treats them as UK.
What you see before you send
Summary counts the period's nights in two rows, Overnight UK and Overnight overseas, and prices them at your rates in an Allowances row. A zero stays on screen rather than disappearing, so you can tell "none" from "not looked at".
Travel keeps a separate record of where you stayed, with trips, hotels and day counts by country. That record is for the border limits and your own history. It does not claim nights for you: the tick on the entry does.
Self-employed
No employer pays a self-employed person for a night away, so there is no allowance and no Allowances row. Your nights still show on Travel.
Related
- Overtime worked out by your employer's rules
- A mileage log for your claim, measured by road
- Summary: Before you send it
Try the demo - invented data, no account. Request a demo to use it for real. The manual has every screen.