Travel Allowances
Check out what allowances you should be paying artists when they are on the road.
Background
A Travel Allowance — commonly referred to as a ‘Per Diem’ or a ‘living-away-from-home allowance (LAFHA)’ — is an allowance that employers pay employees to cover living expenses when travelling for work.
Fun Fact: ‘Per Diem’ is latin for ‘per day’ or ‘for each day’
To be eligible, the employee must be travelling away from their place of residence. There are several exemptions such as if the employee is engaged to work in a single location for a specific timeframe of 12 months or more, or if they are engaged for a local show (a show that is playing in one city and is engaging employees from that city).
Travel allowances apply while the employee is on tour and includes days on which the employee is travelling from their place of residence or back to their place of residence. Travel allowances are usually paid in advance and include a meals allowance and an incidentals allowance. Travel allowances have a daily rate with a maximum weekly cap. A week is considered five to seven days.
Live Performance Award
For the Performing Arts, minimum Travel Allowances are set by the Fair Work Ombudsman in the Live Performance Award (LPA) 2020 (not to be confused with the similar acronym for Live Performance Australia). Fair Work update these rates regularly in line with inflation and other factors. QTouring highly recommend you review all the allowances outlined in the LPA but have included a snapshot below of Travel Allowances for your ease.
If you are planning to undertake large scale or commercial touring, we encourage you to refer to the allowances outlined in the Performers’ Collective Agreement (PCA) 2017 which is negotiated between the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and Live Performance Australia. These are above-award rates designed for commercial works and funded organisations.
The information below is correct as of 1 July 2024.
Meals and Incidentals
The two most common allowances (and what most people collectively refer to as ‘Per Diems’) are a Meals allowance and an Incidentals allowance. A Meal allowance is not required if meals are provided by the employer.
1 to 4 Days
Meals: $35.13 per meal period*
Incidentals: N/A
*Meal periods and their timings are not firmly defined in the LPA. However, it is generally accepted that there are 3 meal periods in a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) with breakfast occurring before 9am, lunch occurring between 9am and 5pm, and dinner occurring after 5pm.
5 to 7 Days
Meals: $356.29 per week
Incidentals: $110.93 per week
Total:$467.22 per week
8+ Days
Meals and Incidentals after 1 week (7 days) of travel are paid as below:
Meals: $71.26 per day up to a maximum of $356.29 per week
Incidentals: $22.19 per day up to a maximum of $110.93 per week
Total: $93.45 per day up to a maximum of $467.22 per week
For example, on a 30-day tour, a person would be travelling for 4 weeks (7 days each) + 2 extra days
= 4 * $467.22 + 2 * $93.45
= $1868.88 + $186.90
= $2055.78
Meals & Incidentals at a glance
Days of Travel | Meal Periods | Meals ($) | Incidentals ($) | Total ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | (1) breakfast | $35.13 | $35.13 | |
(2) lunch | $70.26 | $70.26 | ||
(3) dinner | $105.39 | $105.39 | ||
2 | (4) breakfast | $140.52 | $140.52 | |
(5) lunch | $175.65 | $175.65 | ||
(6) dinner | $210.78 | $210.78 | ||
3 | (7) breakfast | $245.91 | $245.91 | |
(8) lunch | $281.04 | $281.04 | ||
(9) dinner | $316.17 | $316.17 | ||
4 | (10) breakfast | $351.30 | $351.30 | |
(11) lunch | $386.43 | $386.43 | ||
(12) dinner | $421.56 | $421.56 | ||
5 | $356.29 | $71.16 | $467.22 | |
6 | $356.29 | $71.16 | $467.22 | |
7 | $356.29 | $71.16 | $467.22 | |
8 | $427.55 | $133.12 | $560.67 | |
9 | $498.81 | $155.31 | $654.12 | |
10 | $570.07 | $177.50 | $747.57 | |
11 | $641.33 | $199.69 | $841.02 | |
12 | $712.59 | $221.88 | $934.47 | |
13 | $712.59 | $221.88 | $934.47 | |
14 | $712.59 | $221.88 | $934.47 |
Other Travel Allowances
Other Travel Allowances that may be applicable include:
- Travel — reimbursement for flights if not provided by the employer.
- Travel to and from airports — an allowance for rideshare, taxis, public transport, etc. to and from the airport, if not provided by the employer.
- Accommodation allowance — provided to an employee if they wish to arrange their own accommodation instead of the accommodation provided by the employer.
- Accommodation reimbursement — reimbursement for accommodation costs if accommodation is not provided by employer.
- Use of vehicle allowance — an allowance provided to employees when they are required to use their own vehicle to complete duties (i.e. if you need them to drive their own vehicle to a tour location).
