# Travel (to, during and from) Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/travel-to-during-and-from > Record and manage travel before, during, and after a support. Scheduling add-on - This feature requires the Scheduling add-on, which is available on Astalty Premium. See How to enable Scheduling. ## Overview The Configure Travel function records planned travel to, during, and from a support. Charge behaviour also depends on the Participant's Service and the Travel Charge Items available to the support. > **Seeing travel on the Schedule** > > Once travel is configured, supports that include it are marked on the [Schedule](https://app.astalty.com.au/scheduling/schedule) with a travel line and a car icon - on Group Supports as well as 1:1 supports. See [Travel on the Schedule](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/viewing-the-schedule#travel-on-the-schedule). ## Add Travel To add travel, click Add Travel from within the support. ![The Group Support form with the Group Support Details, Tasks and Group Travel sections, where Group Travel shows No travel has been added yet and an arrow points to the Add Travel button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image2-1757922189.png) You have the option to set the type of travel - to the support, during the support, and from the support. As well as specify the Driver, Distance, estimated Duration, any Details, Charge Behaviour and Pay Behaviour. ![The Update Travel form on a support with the Travel Type drop down open on a To Support row, listing To Support, During Support and From Support beside the Driver, Distance (km), Duration (min) and Pay Behaviour fields.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-type.png) ### Travel Type ##### To Support Used to record travel from the starting point (e.g., the worker's location or first Participant's home) to the support venue. Includes both duration and distance fields. ##### During Support Record the kilometres expected while the support is taking place, such as travel between activities or locations. This field accepts distance only. Any travel recorded under Travel Type - During Support will be automatically apportioned between all Participants assigned to that travel type - this is specific to group supports. ##### From Support Used to record travel from the support venue to the final destination (e.g. a Participant's home). Includes both duration and distance fields. For group supports, travel can be configured for complex arrangements. For example, a Support Worker might pick up one Participant on the way to the group, transport all four Participants during the group, and then drop home two Participants afterwards. You can also assign different Support Workers to handle specific Participants for pick-up and drop-off, which is especially useful for larger, more complex groups. Record who will drive, the expected kilometres, and any pickup or drop-off details the Support Worker needs. ![The Update Travel form on a support with the Travel Type drop down open on a To Support row, listing To Support, During Support and From Support beside the Driver, Distance (km), Duration (min) and Pay Behaviour fields.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-type.png) A Group Support can use several Travel types for different workers, Participants, and trips. - different pick up points for Participants, - they all travel together during the support, - one of the staff members is using a pool vehicle (requires hours, but not km reimbursement), and - the other staff member needs to be reimbursed for both time and kms for using their personal vehicle. ![The Travel tab on a Group Support showing one driver's Travel items, with the To Support, During Support and From Support headings highlighted, each with its own distance, duration and Participants in Vehicle.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-type-2.png) ### Driver This is the person who will be performing the travel. If it's a group support you can create each Travel item with the designated driver attached. ### Distance When creating travel to and from the support, you can assign the estimated distance (in kilometres) between the start point and the destination. ### Duration When creating travel to, during, and from the support, you can assign the anticipated travel time (in minutes). Any duration of time incurred by the staff member during travel will count towards the staff member's worked hours. ![A Support Worker's row on the Schedule in Week view, with an arrow from a group support showing 50m of travel to the highlighted hours counter beside their name, showing 4.83 / -.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-hours.png) ### Participants in Vehicle If the support being delivered is a Group Support, you will need to define which Participants (if any) will be travelling in the vehicle per Travel item. ![The Update Group Travel form with a To Support Travel item and its Participants in Vehicle field highlighted, showing the two Participants selected for that item.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-group.png) ### Details When creating travel to, during, and from the support, you can enter any details about the each of the different specified travel items. ### Charge Behaviour Use **Charge Behaviour** to choose how attached Participants are charged for travel to, during, and from a support. For Travel **To** and\*\* From Support\*\*: - None - Time only - Kilometres only - Time & km For Travel **During Support**: - None - Kilometres only Time is charged at the Charge Item Set's rate for the day the support falls on, unless the set has a separate travel rate - see [Adding a Separate Travel Rate to an Existing Set](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/charge-items/managing-charge-item-sets/creating-updating-charge-item-sets#adding-a-separate-travel-rate-to-an-existing-set). ### Pay Behaviour Use **Pay Behaviour** to choose how workers are paid for travel. For example, pay kilometres for a personal vehicle and omit the kilometre payment for a company or pool vehicle where that matches your payroll arrangement. For Travel **To** and\*\* From Support\*\*: - None - Time only - Kilometres only - Time & km For Travel **During Support**: - None - Kilometres only ## Travel Between Back-to-Back Supports Where one support finishes and the next begins straight away, the Travel From Support on the first and the Travel To Support on the second are a single continuous journey for the Support Worker. Astalty combines the two into one Travel for them to record in the app, so they enter one start odometer reading when they set off and one end reading when they arrive, rather than pulling over between the two supports to record a reading in the middle. Two Travel items are combined only when all three of the following are true: - The same Support Worker is the **Driver** on both. - There is no gap between them - the scheduled end time of the Travel From Support matches the scheduled start time of the Travel To Support exactly. - The **Charge Behaviour** and **Pay Behaviour** are the same on both. Where the Charge Behaviour or the Pay Behaviour differs between the two, the trips stay separate and the Support Worker records each one on its own. This is the outcome you want when the worker changes vehicle between the two supports - finishing the first in a company vehicle that is charged to the Participant but not paid to the worker, then starting the second in their own car that is both charged and paid. A single set of odometer readings can't describe two vehicles, and the two sets of rules can't both be applied to one record. > **Charge and Pay Behaviour decide whether the worker records one journey or two** > > Where the two trips need to be recorded separately, give them a different Charge Behaviour or Pay Behaviour - which is usually already true once the vehicle changes. Where they should be recorded as one journey, keep both behaviours identical on each Travel item. ### How the Distance and Duration Are Divided The Support Worker records the journey once, but each support is still charged and paid for its own leg. Astalty divides the actual distance and duration between the two Travel items in proportion to the **Distance** and **Duration** you scheduled on them: - Where both carry a scheduled figure, the actual total is divided in that ratio. - Where the two scheduled figures are equal, the actual total is divided evenly. - Where only one carries a scheduled figure, that Travel item takes its scheduled amount and the other takes the remainder. Scheduling a realistic Distance and Duration on each Travel item is therefore still worth doing, even though the worker only records the journey once, because those figures are what the division is based on. > **Travel on a cancelled support is never combined** > > Travel on a cancelled support is left out of the combining entirely, so it never merges with the travel on the support either side of it. To see how a combined journey is recorded in the app, see [Record Travel During a Shift](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-worker-app/during-a-shift/record-travel-during-a-shift#travel-between-back-to-back-shifts). ## Removing Travel Each Travel item can be individually removed by using the **Remove** option at the end of the row. Removing a row takes it off the form - click **Update** to save the change to the support. ![The Update Travel form with a During Support Travel item, and an arrow pointing to the highlighted Remove button at the end of the row.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-delete.png) ### Confirming Removal of Recorded Travel If a Support Worker has already recorded readings or times against a Travel item, Astalty asks you to confirm before removing it, so their record isn't lost by accident. Select **Remove** on the row and the **Remove recorded travel?** dialog appears, showing what the worker recorded: - **Recorded by** - the Support Worker who recorded the travel - **Odometer Start** - **Odometer End** - **Start Time** - **End Time** Times are shown in the support's timezone, and anything the worker didn't record shows as a dash (-). ![The Remove recorded travel? dialog explaining that removing the travel permanently deletes the readings and any evidence photos, listing Recorded by, Odometer Start, Odometer End, Start Time and End Time, with Cancel and Remove travel buttons.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-remove-recorded-travel-confirmation-guide.png) Choose **Cancel** to keep the travel, or **Remove travel** to take the row off the form. This is a confirmation, not a block - you can still remove the travel if you need to. Remember to click **Update** afterwards to save the support. The same confirmation applies in both places you manage travel on an existing support: - **Update Travel** on a support - **Update Group Travel** on a group support Travel items with nothing recorded against them are removed straight away, with no confirmation. > **Only odometer readings and recorded times trigger the confirmation** > > The dialog mentions evidence photos, but the confirmation is only triggered by odometer readings or recorded start/end times. A Travel item that has an [evidence photo](#travel-evidence-policy) but no odometer readings and no recorded times is removed without a confirmation. If your organisation relies on photo evidence, check the [Audit Trail](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-audit-log#travel-removed-from-a-support) - it records whether odometer photos were attached to travel that was removed. > **Where the confirmation doesn't apply** > > The confirmation only covers the **Remove** option on a Travel row. It doesn't appear when: > > - **Applying the change across a schedule** - if the support is part of a schedule, ticking **Update travel for all future shifts in this schedule** (or **Update travel for all future group supports in this schedule**) applies the removal to the later supports in the series without a further confirmation for each one. Check the affected shift count shown in that dialog before confirming. > - **De-selecting a Participant from a group travel row** - removing a Participant from **Participants in Vehicle** removes that Participant's travel from the group support without a confirmation. > > Unscheduled travel - travel a Support Worker starts themselves in the app rather than travel you scheduled - isn't listed on the **Update Travel** form at all, so it can't be removed from there. > > Every travel removal is recorded on the [Audit Trail](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-audit-log#travel-removed-from-a-support), including the ones that don't ask you to confirm. ## Travel Setup Errors If the selected travel settings conflict, a validation message appears below the Travel items. Follow the message and correct the settings before saving the support. ![The Update Travel form with a During Support row whose Charge Behaviour is set to Kilometres only and outlined in red, above a validation message saying Charge Behaviour must not include kilometres because this Charge Item Set has no kilometres-during charge item configured.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-error.png) ### Charging Kilometres Requires a Travel Charge Item Whenever a Travel item's Charge Behaviour includes kilometres, the Charge Item Set applied to the support must hold a travel Charge Item for that type of travel. Each travel type draws on a different one: | Travel Type | Charge Item required on the Set | | --------------------------- | ------------------------------- | | During Support | Travel During Support | | To Support and From Support | Travel Before/After Support | Where the required Charge Item isn't configured, there is nothing for the kilometres to be billed against, and the support can't be saved until either the Charge Item Set or the Charge Behaviour changes. This is the expected outcome when a support is billed from a Support Category with no activity based travel line item - Supported Independent Living or Assistance with Self Care, for example. On a recurring support the same check runs across the series, so it is enough for one support in the series to be missing the Charge Item. There are three ways to resolve it. Which one is right depends on where the kilometres should be billed: 1. **Add the travel Charge Item to the Charge Item Set** - use this where kilometres should be charged from the set on every support that uses it. It resolves the error for all of them at once, with nothing to configure per support, and it is the only option that covers travel to and from a support. See [Adding Travel Charge Items to a Set](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/charge-items/managing-charge-item-sets/creating-updating-charge-item-sets#adding-travel-charge-items-to-a-set). 2. **Set a [Travel During KM Charge Item Override](#travel-during-km-charge-item-override) on the support** - use this where kilometres should be billed to the Participant's own transport funding rather than from the set. It applies to travel during the support only. 3. **Set the Charge Behaviour on that Travel item to one that doesn't include kilometres** - use this where the kilometres aren't being charged to the Participant, such as travel in a company vehicle that is charged by time alone. > **An override won't resolve this for travel to or from a support** > > A [Travel During KM Charge Item Override](#travel-during-km-charge-item-override) doesn't satisfy the kilometres requirement on Travel To or Travel From Support, because those trips always bill against the Charge Item Set. To charge kilometres on travel to or from a support, add a Travel Before/After Support Charge Item to the Charge Item Set, or set the Charge Behaviour on those Travel items to one that doesn't include kilometres. > **Ad-hoc travel isn't stopped by this check** > > The check runs when a support is saved, so it only covers travel you scheduled. A Support Worker can still record [unscheduled travel](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-worker-app/during-a-shift/record-travel-during-a-shift) on a support whose Charge Item Set has no travel Charge Item. Those kilometres can't be charged either - the approver is warned in the approval dialog instead. See [Kilometres With No Travel Charge Item](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/shift-approvals#kilometres-with-no-travel-charge-item). > **Find travel that was approved but never charged** > > The [Travel Charge Variance Report](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/reports/travel-charge-variance-report) lists supports where the approved kilometres or travel hours don't match what the Participant was charged, and flags the ones where no kilometre Charge Item was available to bill against. ## Company or Accessible Vehicles When an organisation supplies a company or accessible vehicle, the worker's kilometre pay and the Participant's kilometre charge may differ. Configure each behaviour to match the service agreement, employment arrangement, and organisation policy. Astalty does not decide whether a kilometre charge is claimable. To adjust travel behaviour for company or accessible vehicles: - Open the shift in question and select **Update Travel** on its **Travel** tab. - Locate the **Charge Behaviour** and **Pay Behaviour** fields on each Travel row. - Adjust the travel behaviour as required. ![The Update Travel form with To Support and From Support rows, and the Charge Behaviour and Pay Behaviour fields highlighted on each row, both set to Time & km.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image3-1757922308.png) ![The Update Travel form with the Pay Behaviour drop down open and highlighted on the From Support row, listing None, Time only, Kilometres only and Time & km.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image4-1757922327.png) ## Travel During KM Charge Item Override By default, the Charge Item used for travel kilometres is determined by the Charge Item Set applied to the support. The **Travel During KM Charge Item Override** lets you charge activity based transport against a Participant's transport funding line, even when the support itself falls under a different category such as Supported Independent Living (SIL) or Assistance with Self Care. This means you can point the kilometre charge at a specific activity based transport line item (for example `04_590_0125_6_1`) drawn from the Participant's Services, without changing the rest of the support's charges. It removes the need for workarounds or manual adjustments when a shift includes transport that should be billed to the Participant's transport funding. > **The override only applies to travel during the support** > > The override is only used for travel recorded as **During Support**. **Travel To Support** and **Travel From Support** always bill kilometres against the Charge Item Set applied to the support - the override is ignored for those trips, because travel to and from a support is provider travel rather than activity based transport. Kilometres are resolved like this: | Travel Type | Charge Item used for kilometres | | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | During Support | The override, if one is set. Otherwise the Charge Item Set's kilometres-during Charge Item. | | To Support and From Support | Always the Charge Item Set's kilometres-not-during Charge Item. The override is never used. | Unscheduled travel recorded by Support Workers in the app always counts as travel during the support, so it uses the override too. Workers don't need to pick a Charge Item per trip - it's configured once on the support. > **Existing kilometre charges aren't updated** > > Kilometre charges created before this change aren't updated automatically. If a support recorded travel to or from the support against an overridden Charge Item, review and adjust those charges manually. > **Confirm the correct line item first** > > Before applying an Activity Based Transport Charge Item to a support, we recommend reaching out to the Participant's Local Area Coordinator or NDIA Planner to confirm which line item you should bill against for Activity Based Transport. This is especially important when delivering Supported Independent Living or Assistance with Self Care supports that don't have an existing activity based transport line item in the price guide. ### Scope of the Override The override is held on the support itself, not on the Participant's profile or their Charge Item Set. There is no profile-level setting that applies it to future supports automatically, so it is configured on each support that needs it - though a recurring support can be updated as a series, and cloning a support or copying a row on the Weekly Schedule carries the override with it. This makes the override the right tool where the transport arrangement is specific to the support being delivered. Where kilometres should instead be charged from the Charge Item Set on every support that uses it, add a travel Charge Item to the set and no override is needed or offered. See [Adding Travel Charge Items to a Set](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/charge-items/managing-charge-item-sets/creating-updating-charge-item-sets#adding-travel-charge-items-to-a-set). ### Making the Charge Item Available to Select The override selector lists only Charge Items assigned to a Service in the Participant's NDIS Plan, and it has no option to create one. The transport line item therefore has to exist on the Participant's plan before it can be selected on a support - an empty selector means it hasn't been added yet. To make it available: 1. Open the Participant, go to their **NDIS Plan** and select **Services**. 2. Either create a Service for the transport funding, or open the Service the transport should be billed from. 3. Add the transport Charge Item to that Service's **Charge Items**. 4. Save the Service. The Charge Item is then available in the override selector on any support for that Participant. See [Plan Services](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/participants/ndis-plan/services) for the full walkthrough of creating Services and assigning Charge Items, and [Why can't I assign a Charge Item?](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/task-faq#why-cant-i-assign-a-charge-item-to-a-task) if a Charge Item still doesn't appear. ### Setting the Override on a Support On the **Create Shift Event** form, once you have selected the Support Type, Participant and Charge Item Set, expand the **Travel During KM Charge Item Override (optional)** selector. Search for and select the transport Charge Item you want kilometres billed against. ![The Service & Billing section of the Create Shift Event form with the SILR Charge Item Set selected, and the Travel During KM Charge Item Override (optional) selector open and highlighted, searched for activity and listing two Activity Based Transport Charge Items.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/travel-km-charge-item-override-services-guide.png) The override can be set or changed on a support that already exists just as well, from the same selector on the **Update Support** form. Changing it repoints the kilometre charges already recorded against travel during that support, so those charges don't need adjusting by hand. Clearing it returns those kilometres to the Charge Item Set, or drops the charge where the set has no travel Charge Item to fall back to. Kilometre charges on travel to and from the support are never repointed, since those always belong to the Charge Item Set. > **Can't see the override selector?** > > The selector only appears once you've chosen a Participant and a Charge Item Set, and only when that Charge Item Set has no kilometres-during Charge Item configured - the exact situation the override exists to solve. If the Charge Item Set already has a kilometres-during Charge Item, travel during the support bills against it and no override is offered. On a group support's Participant row, the selector also stays visible once an override has been selected. ### Applying the Override Across a Recurring Support Updating the override on a recurring support offers the same options as any other change to the support: - **Update this support** - applies the override to that occurrence only. - **Update this and following supports** - applies it to every remaining occurrence in the series. - **Update this and select following supports** - applies it to the occurrences you choose. Applying it to following supports is how an ongoing transport arrangement is set across a roster without editing each support in turn, and is generally preferable to setting the override occurrence by occurrence. ### Setting the Override on a Group Support On a group support the override is chosen **per Participant**, alongside that Participant's Charge Item Set, so one Participant can bill against an override while another falls back to their Charge Item Set. On a group support that already exists, a Participant's **Update Charge Items** action changes their Charge Item Set and their override together. See [Adding a Group Shift](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/adding-shifts/adding-a-group-shift#selecting-participants). ### Video Walkthrough for the Travel During KM Charge Item Override > **Recorded before this field was renamed** > > This walkthrough was recorded when the field was called **KM Charge Item Override** and applied to every travel kilometre on a support. The steps for selecting a Charge Item are still correct, but the field is now named **Travel During KM Charge Item Override** and applies only to Travel Type - During Support, as described above. Video walkthrough: km charge item override. ## Travel Evidence Policy You can configure how Support Workers record travel by requiring either odometer readings only, or both odometer readings and photo evidence. This helps ensure accurate records and supports compliance requirements. To update your Travel Evidence Policy: 1. Go to **Settings** from the main menu. 2. Select **Scheduling**, and click **Edit** on the **Scheduling & Travel** card. ![The General page of Scheduling settings, with Settings under Configure in the main menu marked 1 and the Edit button on the Scheduling & Travel card marked 2. The card shows Travel Evidence Policy set to Odometer Only.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/scheduling-settings-1a.png) 3. Scroll to the **Travel Evidence Policy** section. 4. Choose either **Odometer Only** or **Odometer and Photos**. ![The Travel Evidence Policy section of the Scheduling & Travel settings form, highlighted, with Odometer Only selected and Odometer and Photos as the other option, and an arrow pointing to the Update button.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/scheduling-settings-2a-guide.png) 5. Click **Update** to save your changes. Once updated, Support Workers will be prompted to provide the required information in their app based on your selected settings. See [Record Travel During a Shift](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-worker-app/during-a-shift/record-travel-during-a-shift) for the Support Worker workflow. Photographic evidence will be available in the drop-down menu during Shift Approval processing. ![A shift on the Shift Approvals page with Shift Hours on the left and Start Travel on the right, where the Odometer Photos section is highlighted, showing a Start photo and an End photo.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/odometer-evidence-1-guide.png) ## Video Walkthrough for Setting up travel for Direct Supports Video walkthrough: adding travel to a direct support. ## Video Walkthrough for Setting up travel for Group Supports Video walkthrough: group travel configuration.