Between July 2025 and April 2026, 2,567 documented staff subsistence claims have exceeded the University of Glasgow’s Expenses Policy limit.
The Expenses Policy limits subsistence expenses to £20 a day in the instance of no overnight stay, and £60 a day for overnight stays. Through an FOI submitted by The Glasgow Guardian, of all daily subsistence expenses excluding an overnight stay, 2,567 exceeded the maximum £20 daily limit. These claims amount to £112,391.96, placing the daily average of payments that exceed the limit at £43, over double the figure stated in official university policy.
Of the total 35,949 expense claims processed in this period, 14,728 items were subsistence claims, reaching £363,627.17.
Subsistence expenses include food and drink. The policy describes these claims as “the cost of a meal, the cost of a reasonable level of refreshments (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) with the meal and refreshments such as tea, coffee and/or soft drinks taken between meals”.
Subsistence claims are filed under two categories, ‘Meals/Snacks’ and ‘Non-UK’.
When asked for receipts, the University responded that four of the highest subsistence “expense claims were incorrectly categorised in the University’s Financial system”. This includes the highest recorded subsistence (Non-UK) transaction, totalling £1424.28 on 9 October 2025 in Senegal. This was followed by the highest recorded subsistence (Meals/Snacks) claim of £720.50 at Ka Pao in Glasgow on 16 December 2025, which also “should have been categorised as […] Business Entertaining”.
Under the ‘Business Entertaining/Meals’ category, 1,885 claims were submitted, with a sum of £220,632. Whilst the highest claim totalled £3,588 at restaurant Two Fat Ladies in December 2025, a notable transaction includes a £3,075 claim in October 2025. This expense was divided between five guests, one UofG member and four external members from Bentley Systems’ leadership team, at Edinburgh Murrayfield Stadium.
Other expense types include ‘Staff Entertainment’, which amounted to 234 claims and £28,216.70 in spending. This includes a single £1,500 claim on 26 August 2025 at Golf Fang. The Employee Entertainment clause in the Expense Policy states that “The University is a charity and a large recipient of public funds and therefore all entertainment and hospitality should be minimised.”
During the reinvestigation into staff expense claims, The Glasgow Guardian also discovered that the highest single transaction was £5348.64 on international air travel on 31 July 2025. In total, the successful staff expense claims from July 2025 to April 2026 amounted to £1,610,972.61.
The 2025-26 academic year also witnessed growing dissatisfaction from UNISON’s University of Glasgow staff, with a ballot for industrial action in the October of 2025. Almost six months later, in April 2026, an estimated 1,000 non-academic University staff went on a 24-hour strike over pay cuts. These members include “administrators, student support workers, cleaners, receptionists and librarians”.
When asked for comment, a University spokesperson said: “Employees are entitled to be reimbursed for money they spend on important work on behalf of the University. However, we seek to keep hospitality costs to a minimum, with all expenses scrutinised.”
Image Credit: Innes McNicol 2026, Photographer
