Meals Out Expenses

What’s it for?

You can claim this allowance if you have to buy your meals from commercial retail outlets instead of the Service messing facility at your place of assignment. It can only be claimed if the meal you buy costs more than a meal at the mess and if the meal was missed as a result of your Service duties.

It is not for Service personnel who live in Service Families Accommodation, Substitute Service Families Accommodation, or privately owned or rented property.

What do I get?

Meals Out Expenses are paid either as a daily rate or an amount per meal. From 1 April 2022 the rates are as follows: 

Breakfast    £1.68

Main Meal of the Day (either Midday or Evening Meal)     £5.61

Third Meal (Midday or Evening Meal)   £3.93

Daily Rate   £11.22

You will then be paid via your nominated bank account.

When can’t I use this?

You won’t be able to claim this benefit if you could bring in food from your normal place of residence for the duty period or if you claim any of the following allowances:

• Food and Incidentals Allowance

• Subsistence Allowance

• Special Messing Allowance

• Lodging Allowance

How do I claim?

If you have a Defence Gateway account you can claim this from your own personal device by following this link.

You can also submit your claims  monthly in arrears on JPA via JPA iexpenses. More information can be found in the allowances and expenses user guide, which can be found at JPA user guides

If you don’t have access to JPA, then you need complete JPA Form F016 (which can be found at JPA forms) and submit it to your unit HR admin office