Received: 23 December 2025

QUESTION 1: 

On 17th May 2025 the General Secretary of the MPF submitted a claim for £727.33 for ‘Accommodation Double Tree - Sussex Bravery Awards REDACTED’. This was revealed within a previous FOIA (your reference 00450). 

Please confirm how many rooms, what type of room and how many nights accommodation this was for, what other costs were included within this claim (for example room service, food, beverages etc.), who authorised the expenditure (position within the MPF branch will be fine) and if this authorisation was obtained in advance in accordance with PFEW guidance relating to expenses. 

QUESTION 2: 

Please confirm if all PFEW policies and processes were adhered to in the claiming of this expense- for example the PFEW guidance on hotel expenditure outside of London. 

QUESTION 3: 

Also confirm if there were any other associated costs with attending this event: for example travel to and from London that were not included in the original FOIA response.

QUESTION 4: 

Please detail the costs and details for this travel for example if rail travel was standard or first class. 

Responded: 23 March 2026

RESPONSE 1: 

Two standard rooms at the Double Tree by Hilton were booked for one night for two MPF Branch Officials as this was the venue for the Sussex Bravery Awards event that they were attending.  The breakdown of the £727.33 listed in the expense claim is as follows: 

*Please note that the accommodation rate includes breakfast. 

Attendance at such events is factored into the annual Branch budget which is offered for review at Branch Board meetings before being passed and attendees are able to challenge the proposed budget if they have concerns about how money is being allocated or the overall expenditure of the Branch.  Once agreement has been reached, the budget is passed.  Providing that expenditure does not exceed the agreed budget, it is unnecessary for further authorisation on matters such as this event. 

Furthermore, by way of courtesy, the invite to the event was shared at the Joint Management Group meeting on 10th March 2025 and it was explained that the invite had been reciprocated with an invite for Sussex Federation to attend the MetFed Bravery Awards.  There were no objections raised at the meeting regarding any attendance at the event or associated funding. 

RESPONSE 2: 

Accommodation was secured at the location of the event that was being attended.   

The policy is that the Branch Chair would sign off on overspends by the Secretary.  However, at the time of this event, there was no Chair in place.  This meant that the Secretary was fulfilling both roles and, as this spend did not go over the agreed aforementioned budget, it was signed off. 

The Metropolitan Police Federation is the largest branch within the Federation, with a substantially higher overall budget and level of activity than most other branches. While this results in higher absolute expenditure, when assessed proportionately, such expenditure was not materially out of line with that incurred by other large branches. 

RESPONSE 3: 

Rail travel from London to Brighton was covered using ATOC passes.  One taxi each way was used to travel between Brighton railway station and the hotel, as well as some expenses for subsistence not covered in the hotel invoice. 

RESPONSE 4: 

As explained in our response to question 3, rail travel was covered using ATOC passes and no first-class travel was used.  In relation to taxi fares and subsistence outside of the hotel invoice, please see the below.