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Travel to and from a placement
Travel to and from a placement
Updated over 2 months ago

Elder is proud to support Carers across Great Britain, empowering you to work when and where you want. Elder reimburses travel to and from placements to help make sure that Carers arrive at their placements on time and are able to focus on providing the best possible care for the Care Recipient. This remains one of the most valuable parts of our loyalty programme but as you would expect, there are a few conditions that need to be applied to this policy.

Whilst it's the Carer’s responsibility to organise travel arrangements to and from placements, Elder will only reimburse your reasonably incurred travel expenses. We are unable to reimburse accommodation at this point in time.


‘Reasonable incurred travel expenses’ means that you should always use a sensible and cost-effective mode of transportation. It may be cheaper to break your journey into legs as shown in the example below:

A journey for a non-driving Carer between London E8 and Madron in Cornwall could be taken as follows:

  • Leg 1: Tube, E8 > London Paddington Station

  • Leg 2: Train, London Paddington Station > Penzance Station

  • Leg 3: Taxi, Penzance Station > Madron final address

Please note the following:

  • Elder will only reimburse travel that starts and finishes within Great Britain, and Standard class tickets only (no premium or first class tickets), unless authorised by Elder before travel has been booked.

  • It is your responsibility to ensure you have enough funds to cover travel costs before applying to a placement - please note, Elder will only book travel in exceptional circumstances.

  • Taxi journeys should only be used for the final few miles of a journey, unless absolutely necessary. Elder will only cover the cost of a taxi service when it is the only available mode of transport unless authorised beforehand.

  • Elder reserves the right to reject a travel expense claim if a sensible and cost-effective mode of transportation has not been used.

  • Elder will not cover or reimburse any travel costs if you drop out or walk out of a placement you are scheduled to attend. In the event that you choose to leave a placement early, you will be responsible for funding your travel home.

  • Elder might not cover the costs of travel receipts if you do not arrive at the placement on time, or any cancellation fees are incurred for missed journeys.

Rules when Elder has booked a taxi for a carer:

  • Elder will only book a taxi for a self-employed carer in exceptional circumstances (e.g. you were selected for placement at the last minute or the customer is requesting an urgent start). It is your responsibility to ensure you have enough funds to cover your travel costs before applying to a placement.

  • If a taxi has been booked and is no longer needed it is your responsibility to cancel that taxi and cover the cost. If a placement is cancelled by Elder or the Customer, then Elder will notify you, cancel the booking and cover the costs.

  • Elder expects all self-employed carers to arrive on time and at the agreed pick-up location to avoid any ‘waiting fees’ and might cancel the taxi if the Carer does not arrive on time.


Organising travel

It is your responsibility to organise travel arrangements to and from placements. We encourage you to organise travel as soon as you’re confirmed to attend a placement. Handovers at placements start at 12:30pm, and should typically finish around 2pm, so please plan accordingly. You can read more about the handover here.

All Silver, Gold and Diamond carers can access a variety of 'Perks and Discounts' through Onsi, including access to fuel cards.


Please note: in exceptional circumstances (such as last minute placements), Elder might help you book travel through a third party, Travel Perk.

How is your personal data used by Travel Perk?

TravelPerk provides various travel services including managing travel bookings, processing orders and payments, maintaining user accounts, keeping you updated of cancellations, providing customer support, booking recommendations and service updates. In delivering these services, Elder provides limited personal data of yours to TravelPerk (i.e. your name and email address) and you also directly provide further personal data to TravelPerk (outside of Elder).

If you have any questions or would like to understand how your personal data might be used by TravelPerk in the delivery of these services, we would refer you to their Privacy portal available here:https://www.travelperk.com/legal. Equally, if you have any other questions please refer to our Privacy Notice for more information about how Elder collects and uses your personal data.

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