• When paying in donations, the four-digit fund reference must be quoted in all cases. Deposits with cashiers which do not have this reference cannot be credited to your fund.
• Receipts should be issued to all donors, either in the form of a printed duplicate receipt (books of these are available from the Trustees Department) or a letter to the donor.
• All donations received should be taken to the nearest cashier as soon as possible, or sent to the Trustees Department for banking. Cash may never be sent in the internal post, but must be taken to the cashiers. If donations have to be held overnight before being taken to cashiers, they should be locked away securely.
• Direct receipts which appear in our bank account without a reference cannot be credited to your fund unless and until you supply documentary evidence that the monies were intended for it.
• If you expect money to be paid by BACS or direct credit, please inform the Trustees Department. This helps us to identify the receipt promptly. We hope to design a form for you to use for this purpose, which will be made available on the Intranet in due course.
• If you wish to raise an invoice to an external organisation, please contact the Trustees Department for assistance. Invoices should never be issued in the name of UCLH Charities, or bearing our charity number, without consulting the Trustees Department first, and a copy should always be sent to the Trustees Department.
• There are specific restrictions relating to income received by charities from commercial organisations. Broadly, these mean that no grants can be received by the charity if the company will gain any commercial benefit from the work that is to be funded with that money, for example if the results of research are owned by the company and are not publicly available. The Trustees Department may require documentary evidence of the charitable nature of any such funding.
• It is possible to reclaim income tax on donations made to the Charity by UK taxpayers. Donors should be encouraged to complete a Gift Aid form to enable us to reclaim the tax. You can download the form here.
• If you wish to donate private fees which are not received from UCLH NHS Foundation Trust, you should be aware that there may be tax implications. Please consult the Trustees Department for further information.
• Private patient fees which are earned from work at UCLH NHS Foundation Trust should always be channelled through the Trust, who will pay the money over to the Charity.
  - Please note that your contract of employment with the NHS Trust may limit the amount of private work you are permitted to do.
• Income which is intended for any third party, whether this is an individual or an organisation (including the NHS Trust) should not be paid into a charitable fund unless that third party chooses to donate the money to the fund in question. It is the responsibility of fundholders to ensure that monies paid into charitable funds are not legally due to any other person or entity.

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• No payment requests can be processed without a valid fund reference and the signature of an authorised individual. If we have no authorised signature form on file, we may withhold payment until the paperwork is complete. Payment requests signed "pp" are not acceptable under any circumstances. You can download the payment request form here.
• All payment requests must have supporting documentation attached. We advise that you keep copies of invoices/receipts etc in case duplicates are required.
• No fundholder may authorise a payment to him/herself. All funds should have at least 2 signatories to ensure that a second individual can authorise payments when necessary.
• The description on the payment request form should be as full as possible, e.g. with details of the course, conference, travel from/to etc, and preferably with documentation from the course/conference showing the dates and location. This is particularly important with regard to fees paid to individuals: it is essential to demonstrate that the work being performed confers a benefit on the charity in terms of additional work performed, increase of knowledge etc.
• Payments to individuals for work done (i.e. fees, not mere reimbursement of expenses) are taxable. Some small sums may be paid gross, but this does not remove the individual´s liability to tax nor their responsibility to report this income to HM Revenue and Customs. Larger sums will normally be processed via the Trust's payroll with tax deducted at source, unless the individual concerned can prove their status as self-employed.
• Fundholders should be aware that payments to individuals via payroll have on-costs added (e.g. employer´s NI) which mean that the cost to the fund is more than the gross amount of the payment.
• If meals are being funded, it is expected that the amount per head is reasonable and appropriate in relation to the nature of the event. If we receive a claim which we think is inappropriate or over-extravagant, we may contact the fundholder for an explanation of why the level of expenditure is justified. If we do not receive adequate justification for the level of expenditure, the reimbursement may be reduced.
• Charity funded equipment (medical, computer, audio-visual and some other items) may be exempt from VAT. Please contact the Trustees Department for a VAT exemption certificate before placing your order.
• Please note that all equipment purchased from charitable funds becomes the property of the NHS Trust. It is your responsibility, as a fundholder, to keep records of the equipment you have purchased and to ensure that these assets are safeguarded.
• Small sums, below £50, may be reclaimed from cashiers by using a petty cash reclaim form, available from the Trustees Department or from the cashiers. This system should only be used for genuinely small reclaims: larger or recurring items should be reclaimed direct from the Trustees Department on a payment request form. The cashiers have been instructed to refer claims to the Trustees Department if it seems that reimbursement by cheque would be more appropriate.
• All monies paid into charitable funds become the property of the Charity, and can only be spent in accordance with the Charity’s aims. A fundholder may pay in monies, intending that it should be used for a specific purpose, but if that purpose is not charitable, it may not be possible to make the required payment. Charitable funds cannot simply be used as a bank.
• All payments from charitable funds must fall within the Charity´s overall objectives, and the Trustees Department reserves the right to refuse payment if this is not the case. We will, however, always contact the fundholder in such cases to clarify our understanding of the nature of the transaction and try to resolve the issue by mutual agreement.
• Where a payment has been made in a foreign currency, evidence of the sterling value of the expense is required, such as a copy of a credit card statement. Overseas cash transactions should be converted at an appropriate rate, such as the rate used by the claimant’s bank for cash withdrawals. Please ensure that you state clearly on the payment request form which currency is being used.
• All purchases of medical equipment, furniture, or computers or printers which are to be attached to the Trust networks must be placed via the supplies department. This is necessary to get the best price and to ensure that the equipment is fit for purpose, installed and maintained properly. This does not prevent the purchase being exempt from VAT. Non-stock requisitions should be sent for authorisation and coding to Management Accounts who will then send the approved order on to the supplies department.
• For items other than medical equipment, furniture and networked IT equipment, we advise that fundholders should order direct from the supplier wherever possible, and pass the invoice to the Trustees Department for direct payment. If a supplier is unwilling to send goods with an invoice, we can issue a cheque against a pro forma invoice to pay in advance for the goods.
  

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Income to funds can be deposited at any of the three cash offices at sites throughout the Trust. These are located at:

• University College Hospital ground floor, 235 Euston Road
• Eastman Dental Hospital, 256 Gray’s Inn Road
• National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square

If you are at an outlying location, you can send your incoming receipts to us in the Trustees Department and we will arrange for them to be deposited into your fund.

If a patient wishes to make a donation e.g. to a ward, then please encourage them to go to the cash office, but if this is not possible then follow the procedures below:

• Thank them!
• Provide a receipt to the donor.
• Record the amount of the donation and the donor’s wishes.
• Take the donation to the cashier, together with its related documentation, as soon as possible. It will then be credited to your fund.

If it is not possible to pay the donation in immediately (e.g. because the Cashier is closed) then please keep it in a secure place until it can be paid in.

If you have any queries, please get in touch with Rachel Wilcox - Tel: 020 7380 9743 or email Rachel

It is helpful if you let us know if you are expecting a big receipt into your fund so that when it appears in the bank account we can allocate it to your fund immediately. Please contact Jo Webb - Tel: 020 7380 9741 or email Jo

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