Civil servants who travel on official duty more than five miles from home or headquarters for five hours or more are paid a subsistence allowance in accordance with Circular 11/82. The amount paid is dependent on the civil servant's grade and salary. At present, general service grades who earn more than the 8th point of the clerical officer scale are paid £9.02 for absences of five hours or more but less than ten hours. Other officers are paid £8.26 for similar absences.
Most industrial civil servants come under the State industrial employees subsistence scheme which is not the same as the scheme which applies to the general service grades as detailed in Circular 11/82. At present, they receive £7.61 for absences over the dinner interval and £7.09 for absences after dinner. Many industrial employees also receive an "eating on site" allowance at £1.13 per day or a meal allowance at £1.88 per day. The two schemes evolved due to the different work practices which exist between general service grades and industrial civil servants.
General service and industrial subsistence rates are updated annually by my Department. However, my Department is not involved in the day to day administration of subsistence payments in other Departments or offices, but it does expect Departments and offices to make payments as efficiently as possible in accordance with the regulations and rates in force at a particular time. At present, my Department is not aware of any delays in the payment of subsistence allowances to industrial civil servants and this issue has not been raised by the staff unions.
