Policy

Financial Regulations state:

"With the exception of low value items such as a gift worth less than £25 or hospitality worth less than £50, employees must seek written permission from their Head of Department before accepting gifts or hospitality from suppliers or their agents dealing with the University. Under no circumstances must the receipt of gifts or hospitality influence the choice of supplier. If in doubt, gifts and hospitality should be refused or returned."

Where the third party is a supplier see also the Code of Ethics within section 2 of The Purchasing Procedures, in Chapter 4.

Procedure

• Departments must maintain a record of any hospitality received with the approval of the Department that exceeds the thresholds set out above.
• Approval by the Head of Department should be given in writing and should state the reason for approval being given. This might for example be that it would cause offence to reject the gift and receipt of the gift will not influence business decisions.

Tax implications

No tax is payable on gifts which are provided by third parties (e.g. suppliers) provided that the value of the gift is less than £250. Any gift exceeding this limit must be reported on the P11D return.