Pay crew an allowance for staying away from home, or for additional kit they use to fulfil their duties or rent to the project for use by others.
Select the correct allowance and the Crew member will be required to submit relevant information in order to accept their Offer (& be contracted and paid).
e.g. 'Computer allowance' requires that they submit 'Make, model and serial number only', whereas 'Box rental' requires an Inventory list.
If the crew member has an existing Team Engine account, they may have uploaded information to each relevant slot already - so it's important that you use the right one. More details below.
Only use Allowances which have slots for them to appear on your document templates. All possible allowances appear in Engine, but they might not appear in your templates.
e.g. Software allowance doesn't typically apply on many projects.
Note:
If you do want an allowance to play in Timecards, it must be entered in the Offer. If your document templates don't have a slot for it, ALSO add the terms (rate, period, cap (if any)) in the Other Deal Provisions.
Living Allowance currently doesn't play in Timecards because there's currently no method in the system to pick the dates when it applies.
Box rental
'Tools of trade', personal kit used to do one's job, e.g. Camera Assistants bag, or Hair & Makeup artists kit.
✅ Box rental? Tick the box to apply this allowance
Box rental description. A general label to identify what is being paid for, e.g. Standby carpenters tool box
*Box rental fee per week. Enter a weekly rate; Document templates then show that that allowance is in respect of a 7-day week and is paid per day worked pro-rated at 1/5th, capped at 5 days.
Box rental calculated as. Choose as applicable from 'Flat figure', 'Percentage of inventory' or 'No cap'.
Box rental cap. Depending on your previous selection of 'Box rental calculated as', enter a Flat figure cap, or a Percentage.
Box rental terms. Check the terms on your contract document templates to not contradict them, and then add any pertinent terms, e.g. 'For shoot weeks only'.
Box budget code. You or the Accounts Controller can enter the allowance budget code.
Payable in. Only use these tick boxes if your contract document templates show them. These boxes do not currently play in Timecard e.g. ticking just 'Shoot' will not pay the allowance during the Shooting dates only.
*Effectively the payment buys out the 7 days, but as the working week is typically 5-days, the payment is paid daily at 1/5th of the weekly rate. Therefore, the 6th or 7th days, if worked, are not paid in addition.
Otherwise, the weekly rate would need to be pro-rated at 1/7th, and the 5-day week would then only be paid as 5/7ths.
Computer
Computer, laptop, tablet, and peripherals (e.g. monitor & printer)
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Computer allowance?
Computer allowance per week
Computer allowance cap calculated as
Computer allowance cap
Computer allowance terms
Computer budget code
Payable in
Software
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Software allowance?
Software allowance per week
Software allowance cap calculated as
Software allowance cap
Software allowance terms
Software budget code
Payable in
Equipment
'Substantial kit', e.g. Grip equipment, Sound kit, SFX Supervisor equipment - rented to the production and can be used by other personnel, not just the lessor.
Some job titles are permitted to be Self-Employed with the 'provision of equipment' (please refer to HMRC Appendix 1 for clarification): depending on your 'Offer approval setup', ticking 'Equipment allowance' can switch a role to Self-Employed.
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Equipment allowance?
Equipment allowance per week
Daily rate calculated as
Unlike other allowances, substantial 'Equipment' is sometimes paid in the same way as when hired from a rental house (e.g. Grips, Lighting, Camera rental companies); those deals are often based on a 3-day week, with no extra charge for days beyond that.
Team Engine allows you to mirror such deals, by specifying the 'Daily rate calculated as':
Note - when preparing your contract document templates, Team Engine will check if you need to use anything other than 1/5th here, and adapt your templates accordingly.
Equipment allowance cap calculated as
Equipment allowance cap
Equipment allowance terms
Equipment budget code
Payable in
Mobile
Paying a crew member for use of their mobile phone. Typically nowadays Mobile tariffs are a flat rate for a bundle of calls, so productions typically pay a flat rate (dependent on duties of the role of the crew member), rather than submit itemised bills. However, Team Engine allows either method.
In addition, in Settings > Defaults: Project' a Production Admin or Production Controller can specify whether the crew member must submit a copy of their latest phone bill in order to accept their Offer:
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Mobile allowance?
Mobile allowance paid as. Choose from 'Flat fee per week', or 'Reimbursement of submitted mobile phone bill' (the latter won't play in Timecards).
Mobile allowance terms
Mobile budget code
Payable in
Note, Mobile allowance doesn't cap, it's a payment for ongoing usage.
Vehicle
Vehicle allowance: Pay the crew member for use of their vehicle to fulfil the duties of their role.
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Vehicle allowance?
Vehicle allowance per week
Vehicle allowance terms
Vehicle budget code
Payable in
Note, Vehicle allowance doesn't cap, it's a payment for ongoing usage.
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Vehicle hire: If the production is to hire a vehicle for the crew member to use, that can be specified here. No payment will be made to the crew member, but the vehicle hire is part of their agreement.
Note - be sure that your contract document templates include a spot to show the Vehicle hire.
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Vehicle hire?
Vehicle hire rate
Vehicle allowance terms
Vehicle budget code
Payable in
Paying crew for 'Mileage' is not yet available in Team Engine.
For now, if using a Team Engine 'Timecard' module, have crew enter mileage claims in the 'Notes' field of the relevant timecard days(s). This may be instead of or in addition to your usual 'Mileage claim forms'.
Per diem
'Per diem' is Latin for "per day." It's a flat daily payment to cover your meals, lodging, and incidental costs while traveling for work. Instead of asking crew to pay for everything out of pocket and wait to be reimbursed, the employer pays crew a set daily rate for their expenses.
Only tick the Per diem boxes if you're paying a Per diem rate different to that of the standard crew rate, e.g. for a Head of Department (HOD).
We recommend that your contract terms regarding Per diems be generic, payable if the relevant circumstances are met (a pre-approved overnight stay away from home), rather than stating that you do or don't get Per diems.
That way it's flexible down the line when someone you'd not expected to travel away from home, does travel and will therefore be paid Per diems.
Also, you may not yet know your locations, and therefore have not yet established what your Per diem rates are.
When using a Team Engine 'Timecard' module, crew (or their Dept admin) can tick the Per diem checkbox as applicable regardless of whether Per diems were included in their Offer. Individual Meal allowance are also available.
Set default Per diem (& Meal penalties) in Settings > Defaults: Project.
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Per diem 1?
Per diem 1 - currency. State a currency different to that of the salary, if the agreement if for Per diems to be paid in a local currency.
Per diem 1 - shoot rate. You might have a lower Per diem rate when shooting, because you're already providing Breakfast and Lunch to crew on set.
Per diem 1 - non-shoot rate. You might have a higher Per diem rate for Off-set crew / Non-shooting days, because the Unit is away from home, but not providing catering when not shooting.
Some productions pay the same rate in both scenarios. In that case, set them as the same value.Per diem 1 - terms
Per diem 1 - budget code
Payable in
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✅ Per diem 2?
Currently only Per diem 1 plays in Timecards. Only use Per diem 2 if you want to state two Per diem rates and your contract document templates have a slot to show two.
If Per diem is set in an Offer, that is the rate which that crew member's timecards are locked to (unless the Offer is revised).
Not setting Per diem in the Offer means that should your Per diem rates change down the line, you can update the rate paid to all crew by amending the default Per diem rates in Settings > Defaults: Project.
Living
Some crew might be paid an allowance for living away from home, rather than the production arranging accommodation & paying for it.
The fields are similar to Box rental (see above for details)
✅ Living allowance?
Living allowance currency. State a currency different to that of the salary, if the agreement if for Living allowance to be paid in a local currency.
Daily living allowance. Check if your contract document templates use Daily or Weekly rates, or both.
Weekly living allowance. Check if your contract document templates use Daily or Weekly rates, or both.
Living allowance terms
Living allowance budget code
Payable in
Note, Living allowance doesn't cap, it's a payment for ongoing usage.
If you edit any field on the page, click 'Save' at the bottom of the page so you don't lose your changes.
If you've already sent the Offer for approval, changes you make will be shown immediately to the approver(s). It's not essential to click 'Re-send'.