If your staff are working partly from home you could consider making payments to reimburse their additional household expenses. These payments are tax free if the conditions subject to certain conditions. These conditions are less onerous than those that apply if those same members of staff claimed the £6 deduction from their salary themselves.

Provided the homeworking is regular or follows a pattern, the days worked from home can vary from week to week.

The additional household expenses to be reimbursed may be difficult to quantify. Therefore, HMRC accepts that £6 per week or £26 per month for monthly paid employees can be paid to an employee working regularly at home without the employer having to justify the amount paid. Furthermore, if the £6 guideline rate is paid, the employee does not have to keep any records to demonstrate the additional expenditure.

However, you can also agree to a higher scale rate payment with HMRC provided that it is calculated to do no more than reimburse the average additional costs that the employee incurs working at home.