Working from home in winter: must your employer pay for heating?
There is no automatic heating allowance. Check what your employer promised, ask for tax-free reimbursement and do not confuse it with the tax relief that ended in April.
Your call-centre shift moves to the kitchen table. The phones still need answering, but now keeping warm is on your meter. Your employer does not automatically have to cover the extra heating. That gap matters this winter. From April 2026, even employees required to work at home lost the tax relief on costs their employer leaves them to pay.
- £6/wk
- tax-free employer payment under qualifying arrangements
- £26/mth
- monthly equivalent allowed by HMRC
- £0
- employee homeworking tax relief for 2026/27 onwards
Start with what your employer promised
Acas advises employers to discuss extra homeworking costs and who will pay. That guidance does not itself make reimbursement compulsory.
Search your contract, offer letter, handbook, homeworking agreement and expenses policy for “heating”, “household expenses”, “homeworking” and “allowance”. Keep a copy of the wording and any email approving payment. A contractual promise to reimburse additional costs can be enforced. A discretionary benefit or a policy expressly outside your contract is not automatically the same thing.
A collective agreement can also matter if its terms form part of your employment contract. Ask your union rep what was agreed. A verbal agreement may count too, but it is harder to prove. Record who said what and when, rather than assuming that no paperwork means no right.
The £6 payment and the tax relief are different
What your employer can still pay
Section 316A of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 allows qualifying employer payments for reasonable additional household expenses without income tax. The qualifying payments are also free of National Insurance. They must relate to work at home under homeworking arrangements.
The arrangement can be formal or informal, but must be genuine and involve working at home frequently or in a pattern. HMRC gives the example of three days in the office and two at home. An agreed voluntary hybrid pattern can qualify. Merely taking unfinished work home in the evening does not. See HMRC’s homeworking arrangements guidance.
Since 6 April 2020, employers have been able to pay £6 a week, or £26 a month, without requiring receipts or evidence to justify that amount. £6 is not a legal entitlement or a ceiling. Higher payments can be exempt if supported by evidence of the additional costs, or an agreed scale rate. HMRC explains the payment limits.
The exemption covers additional costs such as heating and lighting your work area, metered water and business calls. It does not cover your whole energy bill, rent or costs you would incur anyway. An existing fixed broadband subscription does not become an extra household expense because you use it for work. See HMRC’s guidance on eligible expenses.
What you can no longer claim yourself
From 6 April 2026, employees cannot claim income tax relief for unreimbursed additional household expenses incurred working at home. Finance Act 2026 section 21 inserted section 360B into the 2003 Act, with effect for 2026/27 and later tax years. The change covers costs such as extra heating and business calls. It does not abolish every other kind of employment-expenses relief.
The old flat-rate claim was a deduction from taxable earnings, not a £6 weekly payment. At a 20% tax rate, £6 of relief saved £1.20 in tax. Over 52 qualifying weeks, £312 of deductions saved £62.40. An employer paying the £6 allowance puts the full £6 in your pocket.
| Route | Conditions | What you receive |
|---|---|---|
| Employer pays £6 a week or £26 a month | Qualifying homeworking arrangements; employer agrees to pay | The payment without tax or National Insurance |
| Employer pays higher actual additional costs | Qualifying costs supported by evidence, or an agreed scale rate | The qualifying reimbursement tax-free |
| Employee claims household-cost relief for 2026/27 onwards | Relief abolished, including for required homeworking | Nothing through this relief |
| Employee claims for 2022/23 to 2025/26 | Must meet the old eligibility rules and claim in time | Tax saved at the applicable rate, not the whole expense |
Example: Aisha’s agreed hybrid pattern
Aisha, an NHS appointments administrator, agrees to work at home on two fixed days each week. Her employer could pay £6 a week tax-free under that arrangement, or £312 over 52 weeks of payments. If her evidenced additional costs were £9 a week, those could also qualify.
But Aisha chose that hybrid pattern. She would not have qualified for the old employee relief merely because her employer agreed to it. A voluntary arrangement can qualify for employer reimbursement without having qualified for a personal tax claim.
If your employer sends you home
A closed office, broken boiler or move to remote telephone work does not automatically create a heating allowance. Nor does an employer’s instruction make your home free to run.
Ask for the instruction, its expected duration and the expenses arrangements in writing. If your contract names an office as your workplace, ask your union or an adviser whether the change is permitted. Check any agreement covering temporary closures. Do not assume that an instruction to work at home also settles who pays.
A required regular pattern can meet HMRC’s homeworking arrangements test. If your manager says “HMRC stopped the £6”, point out that the employer-payment route remains available. The abolished relief is the separate claim an employee made to HMRC.
Example: Lorraine’s call centre closes for repairs
Lorraine is aged 21 or over and works 37.5 hours a week at £12.71 an hour, the National Living Wage from 1 April 2026. Her weekly gross pay is £476.63, rounded to the nearest penny.
Her employer requires her to work at home for six weeks. If it pays the qualifying £6 weekly allowance, she receives £36 tax-free. If it pays nothing, she cannot claim employee homeworking relief for those 2026/27 costs. She should keep the instruction and evidence of additional costs, check the expenses agreement and ask her union to raise payment for everyone affected.
If you are paid at or near minimum wage
HMRC’s minimum wage manual says deductions or payments for expenses incurred in connection with employment reduce minimum wage pay. It includes requirements imposed by the employer, but warns that the true nature of the expense must be established.
The guidance does not settle how additional home heating should be treated. We cannot promise that an energy bill produces a minimum wage claim, and the £6 tax allowance is not evidence that you incurred £6 of qualifying expenses. Keep the homeworking instruction, your hours, pay and cost evidence. Ask Acas or your union for a minimum wage assessment. You can report suspected underpayment through the official pay and work rights route, which directs minimum wage complaints to HMRC. Reporting does not require a tribunal claim.
Work out your extra cost, not your whole bill
Use your tariff’s unit price and the energy used because you are working at home. Do not divide the entire household bill by your working hours. Heating that would have been on anyway is different from heating an otherwise empty home for your shift.
Example: an illustrative winter budget
Suppose homeworking adds 12 kWh of gas use and 1 kWh of electricity each working day. Assume a tariff of 8p per kWh for gas and 25p per kWh for electricity. These are example assumptions, not current quoted rates or a claim about typical consumption.
The extra daily cost is £0.96 for gas plus £0.25 for electricity, or £1.21. Five days cost £6.05. At those same assumed prices and usage, 26 weeks cost £157.30. Your tariff, insulation, heating system and working pattern can produce a very different bill. Check your actual figures before asking for reimbursement above the flat rate.
Standing charges normally arise whether you work at home or not. For an actual-cost request, keep your bills, tariff and an explanation of how you separated additional work costs from ordinary household use.
Which payment route fits your situation?
A deduction from wages is a separate problem
Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 protects workers as well as employees in Great Britain. A deduction generally needs statutory authority, a relevant contractual term notified to you in writing beforehand, or your prior written consent. Limited statutory exceptions also exist. Your employer cannot simply invent a heating or equipment charge and take it from your wages.
Even an authorised deduction can cause a separate minimum wage problem. Keep the payslip and the supposed authority for the charge, then seek advice through our unlawful deductions guide. Paying your own utility provider is not, by itself, a deduction your employer made from your wages.
A cold home is still a work safety issue
There is no fixed statutory minimum temperature for your home office. Your employer still has health and safety responsibilities for homeworking and must assess the working environment. HSE’s homeworking guidance covers those duties.
If you cannot work safely in the cold, tell your manager what is happening and ask for a safe arrangement, such as access to a heated workplace. A risk assessment is not an automatic order to pay your gas bill, but “you work at home” is not an answer to a reported health risk. The separate guides on workplace temperature rules and home and hybrid safety cover the safety detail.
Ask for an adjustment if cold worsens a disability
In Great Britain, the Equality Act 2010 reasonable adjustment duty may apply where a working arrangement puts you at a substantial disadvantage because of disability. Not every condition meets the legal definition, and the employer’s knowledge of the disability and disadvantage matters.
Explain the effect of the cold and the adjustment you need. Access to a warm office, suitable heating equipment or a contribution to additional heating costs are possible proposals, not automatic entitlements. What is reasonable depends on whether the adjustment would work, its practicality, cost and the employer’s resources. You cannot be charged for an adjustment the employer is required to make.
Put the request in writing. Include any relevant GP or occupational health evidence you have, but do not wait for a report before flagging the problem. Your union rep can help with the request and any refusal. See reasonable adjustments for disabled workers. Northern Ireland has separate disability discrimination legislation, so use local advice rather than citing the Equality Act there.
Employees, agency staff and self-employed workers
Employment rights status and tax status are different questions. Do not assume that being called a “worker”, contractor or agency worker settles whether a payment can qualify for the employment tax exemption. Ask whoever operates your payroll to confirm the basis of any homeworking payment.
If an umbrella company employs you, ask it about the £6 payment and check the assignment’s expenses terms with the agency. Do not assume the end client is your employer or owes you its staff allowance. Workers who are not employees can still have minimum wage and wage-deduction rights.
If you are genuinely self-employed, the abolition of employee relief is not the end of your business-expenses route. Eligible sole traders and partnerships can use actual allowable apportioned costs or HMRC’s simplified homeworking expenses. The monthly flat rates are £10 for 25 to 50 hours, £18 for 51 to 100 hours and £26 for 101 hours or more of business work at home. Those deductions reduce taxable profit; they are not cash payments from HMRC. Limited companies cannot use this simplified-expenses scheme.
What to do if your employer refuses
- Keep the evidence. Save the contract or policy, the homeworking instruction, dates and pattern of work, rejected claims and any cost evidence. Keep copies you can access outside the work account.
- Ask for a written decision. Quote any payment promise. If none exists, ask for a £6 weekly or £26 monthly allowance under qualifying arrangements, or evidenced additional costs. Ask whether a heated workplace is available if homeworking is unaffordable.
- Bring in your union. A joint request makes this an expenses policy issue rather than your private budgeting problem. UNISON, Unite or the CWU may be relevant to NHS admin and contact-centre work; check who represents your workplace. Our union guide helps you find the right union. For advice, call Acas on 0300 123 1100 or contact Citizens Advice.
- Raise a grievance if a promise is being ignored. Say what is owed, how you calculated it and what resolution you want. Ask your rep to help. Do not assume the internal process stops a legal deadline.
- Check the correct legal route before claiming. A contractual expenses debt, an unlawful wage deduction, a minimum wage concern and a disability adjustment refusal are different claims. Ask an adviser to identify the route and deadline. Do not resign to make an expenses dispute fit a tribunal claim.
Contract claims have limits
A standalone employment tribunal breach-of-contract claim generally requires your employment to have ended, with the claim outstanding on termination. It is not a general debt-recovery service for employees still in the job. The tribunal’s contractual compensation limit is £25,000. A civil court claim may instead be available, including while you remain employed. Get advice on fees, costs risk and the appropriate court in your nation. GOV.UK explains the contract claim restrictions.
Do not assume that an unpaid expenses reimbursement is legally “wages” and can be recovered as an unlawful deduction. Ask an adviser to check the payment’s nature. A flat contractual allowance and repayment of an actual bill may need different analysis.
Watch the tribunal deadline
For most Great Britain claims concerning problems on or after 1 October 2026, the usual limit is six months minus one day. Problems before that date may retain the old three-month-minus-one-day limit. Scotland’s tribunal contract-claim extension is scheduled for 9 November 2026, not 1 October.
A claim’s starting date depends on its type. Wage claims usually run from the incorrect payment; tribunal contract claims generally depend on termination. Notify Acas within the applicable time limit before starting a claim, unless an exemption applies. Timely notification pauses the clock for early conciliation; it does not mean you can add a standard number of months yourself. A grievance does not pause it. Use Acas’s deadline guidance and our tribunal time limits guide to get the exact date checked.
What differs across the UK?
The employer-payment tax exemption, the £6 weekly guideline and the abolition of employee household-cost relief apply across the UK. The employment-law routes are not identical.
England, Wales and Scotland share the main employment rights described here, subject to the Scottish tribunal contract-claim timing difference. Civil court procedure also differs in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, wage-deduction protection is in article 45 of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. Contact the Labour Relations Agency on 03300 555 300 for local employment advice and use its early conciliation route. Do not apply the Great Britain tribunal deadline or Equality Act route without checking the Northern Ireland position. See our Northern Ireland employment guide.
What is in force, and what is still scheduled?
This guide states the law as at 1 October 2026. The relevant tax change is already in force; a promised employment-law reform is not a heating allowance.
- Employee household-cost relief ends
Effective for 2026/27 onwards. Qualifying employer reimbursement remains tax-free, and eligible claims for earlier tax years remain possible.
- Most Great Britain tribunal limits extend
Usually six months minus one day for problems on or after this date. Check transitional rules and the claim type.
- Scottish tribunal contract-claim extension scheduled
Not yet in force at this guide’s legal cut-off. The previous three-month-minus-one-day limit remains relevant until the change.
Questions people ask
Does my employer have to pay my heating if the office closes?
Not automatically. Check binding expenses terms and any closure agreement. Ask for the instruction and payment decision in writing. If cold makes homeworking unsafe or disadvantages you because of disability, raise that separately rather than accepting “no expenses policy” as the final answer.
Can I still claim the £6 a week from HMRC?
Not for household homeworking costs in 2026/27 or later tax years. You may still claim relief for an eligible earlier year. The relief saves tax at your applicable rate; it is not a £6 weekly cash payment. Your employer’s separate £6 tax-free payment route remains available.
Can I back-claim for working at home during Covid?
As at 1 October 2026, the four previous claimable tax years are 2022/23 to 2025/26. The temporary pandemic eligibility rules applied to 2020/21 and 2021/22, not those later years. For the years still open, you need evidence that your duties required homeworking, not simply that your employer permitted it.
Does choosing hybrid work rule out an allowance?
No. An agreed regular pattern can qualify for tax-free employer payment even if you requested it. That tax treatment does not force your employer to pay. The former personal tax relief had a stricter necessity test, which is why the two routes must not be confused.
Is £6 a week the most my employer can pay?
No. It is the guideline amount payable tax-free without evidence of the amount spent under qualifying arrangements. Your employer can reimburse higher qualifying additional costs with evidence, or use an agreed scale rate. It can also pay a more generous allowance, though any non-exempt amount needs the correct tax treatment.
Can I take an unpaid heating claim straight to a tribunal?
Not simply because your employer refused payment. First establish a legal right to it and the right forum. Standalone tribunal contract claims generally require the employment to have ended. Wage deductions and disability claims have different rules. Speak to your union, Acas or an adviser before deciding how to enforce the right.
Sources
- Expenses and equipment for homeworking, Acas.
- Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, section 316A, legislation.gov.uk.
- EIM01472: homeworking arrangements, HMRC.
- EIM01476: how much can be reimbursed, HMRC.
- EIM01474: additional household expenses, HMRC.
- Finance Act 2026, section 21, legislation.gov.uk.
- Claim tax relief for working from home, GOV.UK.
- Removal of tax relief on non-reimbursed homeworking expenses, HMRC policy paper, 26 November 2025. Source for the estimate of 300,000 affected people and the rounded annual tax impacts in the first reality check.
- Dealing with employment contract problems, GOV.UK.
- Employment Rights Act 1996, section 13, legislation.gov.uk.
- Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, article 45, legislation.gov.uk.
- NMWM11100: expenses and minimum wage pay, HMRC. Does not determine the home-utilities question.
- Pay and work rights helpline and complaints, GOV.UK.
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, GOV.UK.
- Managing home workers’ health and safety, HSE.
- Equality Act 2010, section 20, legislation.gov.uk.
- Simplified expenses for working from home, GOV.UK.
- Characteristics of homeworkers, Great Britain, September 2022 to January 2023, ONS. Source for the earnings comparisons in the second reality check.
- Employment tribunal time limits, Acas.
- Employment Rights Act 2025 changes and commencement timetable, Acas.