Our current situation is that all duty is performed outside the UK, we are currently taxed on 25% of the hourly rate we receive. The intention is to remove this hourly rate and only allow receipted expenses for food and beverages whilst on duty.
This may be ok if you have the facility to go to a restaurant when required but this is not the case on night freight.
Also, there appears to be no thought to the substantially increased workload ( extra personel ) on the finance department of airlines if they have to deal with 140 crewmembers making receipted claims every month.
It is high time that there was an industry standard on rules governing this aspect of the working package. It should not be that airlines such as BA with large union representation and political clout should be able to negotiate a better deal with the taxman. The guidlines should be followed in a uniform way by all tax offices. Maybe this is what they intend to do and are just testing the water with a small company!