A pile of mileage sheets every month
At the end of each month, carers hand in mileage sheets, or type their miles into a spreadsheet, or send a photo of a notebook. Some write the total for the month. Some list each journey. One carer claims noticeably more than colleagues on similar runs, and nobody knows whether that is a detour, a mistake or a long way round a closed road.
The coordinator checks a few against the rota using an online map. It takes ages. Most get approved as they are because there is no time to check them all. Carers who under-claim, and there are some, lose money without knowing it.
Why mileage is so hard to check
The information needed to check a claim is in three places: the rota of calls, the call monitoring record of what was actually done, and a map. Nobody combines them. So checking means doing it by hand for each carer, each day.
Runs change during the day. A call is swapped, a client is in hospital, a carer covers an extra call on the other side of town. The planned rota no longer matches the real journeys, so even a careful check against the rota can be wrong.
Rules add more. Whether the journey from home to the first call counts, how split shifts are treated, what rate applies: all set by your policy, and applied by whoever checks the claims that month.
Carers who work split shifts, going home between the morning and evening runs, make it harder still. Whether the journey back out counts depends on your policy, and applying that policy consistently across many carers with different patterns is exactly the sort of job that goes wrong when done by hand.
What manual mileage costs
| Problem | Result |
|---|---|
| Claims approved unchecked | Overpayments nobody can spot |
| Under-claiming carers | Carers out of pocket, often the most conscientious |
| Rules applied differently | Complaints about fairness between carers |
| Coordinator time | Hours each month with a map and a calculator |
| Late claims | Mileage paid a month late, or missed |
Mileage matters a great deal to carers who drive between calls. Getting it right and paying it on time is part of keeping them.
How we calculate mileage from the calls
- Actual calls for each carer each day, read from your call monitoring or rostering system, including swaps and extra calls.
- Journeys worked out in the order the calls were done, with road distances from a routing service such as Google Maps.
- Your mileage rules applied consistently: which journeys count, how breaks and split shifts are treated, and the rates you pay.
- A monthly mileage figure per carer with the journey breakdown, which carers can see on their phone before payroll.
- Carer adjustments with a reason, such as a road closure or a diversion, reviewed by the coordinator, so the exceptions are the only claims anyone looks at.
- Approved mileage exported to your payroll provider or bureau in the format it accepts.
Your mileage policy and rates are decisions for you and your adviser. We apply them the same way to every carer.
A month-end without mileage sheets
Carers no longer fill in mileage forms. They check their figure, add an adjustment if something unusual happened, and it goes to payroll. The coordinator reviews only the adjustments. Carers are paid for the journeys they made, consistently, and can see how the figure was reached.
You also get a clear picture of how much travel each run involves, which helps when planning runs and when discussing rates with commissioners.
Is this your mileage process?
- Carers hand in mileage sheets or notebooks
- Most claims are approved without being checked
- Checking a claim means using an online map
- Carers disagree about what counts as a claimable journey
- Mileage is sometimes paid a month late