[staff-physics-and-astronomy-HL-UHD-UD] Reimbursements

[Dahlberg, J.D. (Jordi)]

Dear all,



Yesterday we were informed that the VU will look much stricter at reimbursements from now on.



As we have explained in various settings over the past months already, the total number and total amount of reimbursements within VU is too high. This leads to a lot more costs within the central finance department and could lead to violating the tender threshold, resulting in possible fines for the VU. This means that from now on, reimbursements for purchases that should have instead been done through the VU system have a high chance of being declined.



Exceptions to this policy are possible but need to be (explicitly) approved by the MT. We understand this creates a possibility, but I am quite sure that in case we use this escape option dozens of times per month, it will soon not be allowed either. Therefore, in case there really is no alternative than buying yourself and then filing a reimbursement, please let us know. We will then need to have some written confirmation from Juan or Jordi that the reimbursement is ok. We hope that you exercise the needed restrain with this option, else it will likely backfire.



The MT fully understands that this causes frustration and makes your jobs more difficult. And we also understand that this policy will bring hidden costs to the VU anyway, such as delays in PhD completion or reduced scientific/grant output, which may even very well offset the expected cost savings of the new policy. We are very surprised by this sudden and very strict change in policy, because we are still in talks with the faculty board and the finance department to find a solution that addresses the (many) problems we encounter in practice when ordering through the VU systems and thereby reducing the large number of expense claims.



Therefore, the MT would like to reassure you that we remain fully committed to find actual solutions that match the needs of our experimental research, and that we will keep pushing back towards policy changes which objectively hurt our research programs. However, we also want to make everyone aware of the risks that from now on are associated with reimbursement claims for purchases outside the VU systems.



There are many things unclear about the new policies (what about travel-related expenses for example?) that as soon as we get clarity, we will inform you about.



Thanks for your understanding (and patience),



Juan, Laura, Oscar, Jordi

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://listserver.vu.nl/pipermail/senior-staff-physics-and-astronomy/attachments/20260123/961549a0/attachment.html>