THE £6 working from home tax relief has been cut by the government during the Budget as business owners called it “a further slap in the face for workers”.
From April 2026, the £6 will be scrapped for employees, even for those who are required to work from home because there is no office or they need adaptations, the government announced.
Right now, if you are required to work from home you can either claim the flat £6 a week, or claim actual extra costs – you can normally backdate for up to four tax years if you were eligible and never claimed.
This measure, HMRC calculates, will impact an estimated 300,000 individuals by removing the tax relief on home working expenses, which will result in a tax increase of £62 for basic rate taxpayers and £124 for higher rate taxpayers.
From April 2026, that “no questions asked” route goes.
The only tax free option will be the employer reimbursing actual extra costs and being able to evidence them.
If you have never claimed but were required to work from home in recent years, you may still be able to claim for the current and up to four previous tax years.
Prove every penny or else
Kate Underwood, Founder at Southampton-based Kate Underwood HR and Training, said it will hit workers who have no office.
She added: “If you worked from your spare room to keep things going, the government’s thank-you gift is basically: ‘About that £6 a week, we’ll have that back now’. From April 2026, this hits for six people who have no office to go to or need adaptations just to work.
“They are already paying extra to heat the house and run the kit. That simple £6 a week was one of the few nods that working from home is not free. Now it becomes ‘prove every penny’ and hope HMRC agrees.
“For small businesses, it is yet another quiet job dumped on your lap. You either pick up some of the cost, drown in receipts or risk losing good people who simply cannot afford to work from home any more.
“If you or your team have been required to work from home and have never claimed, talk to your accountant now and consider backdating what you can. Then get clear on who is genuinely home-based, what you will cover after 2026 and build it into pay and policy.”
Extra burden will drive businesses to AI
Colette Mason, Author & AI Consultant at London-based Clever Clogs AI, said the move was “spectacularly short-sighted”.
She continued: “If the goal of this Treasury change was genuinely to save a few pennies or to push workers back into city centre offices, it is spectacularly short-sighted.
“By layering complexity and administration onto small firms, the very firms that drive employment growth, Westminster is pushing the economic tipping point towards replacing people with software.
“No business gladly accepts more red tape. Automation does not pay National Insurance. It does not pay Income Tax. It doesn’t need its expenses policing as businesses become ‘acting unpaid’ inspectors.
“The small amount the Treasury saves by scrapping this relief will be dwarfed by the long-term loss of revenue from wages and payroll taxes as businesses automate office jobs they can no longer justify retaining due to bureaucratic friction.
“This isn’t clever accountancy; it’s yet another instance of Labour’s self-sabotage of the working population.”
Government should take another look
Samuel Mather-Holgate, Independent Financial Adviser at Swindon-based Mather and Murray Financial, said the government needs to look again at the change.
He added: “The flat rate £6 per week was seldom claimed by homeworkers, and due to the modest relief it’s no wonder it was an easy revision for the government to make. For fairness, there should be a carve-out for disabled people unable to work in the office and the government should look again at this cohort.
“The massive increase in the minimum wage will make up for the cutting of this relief and then some, in those on lower pay. Reviewing the system, this is something that employers should factor into their overall proposition so it’s no surprise the government wants rid of subsidising the private sector.”
David Stirling, Independent Financial Adviser at Belfast-based Mint Wealth Ltd, said it was another hit for workers in a Budget that was already harsh.
He continued: “This is a further slap in the face for workers. From April 2026, HMRC is axing the simple £6 per week homeworking tax relief to be replaced by actual, evidenced costs.
“Homeworkers will now need to provide receipts, face extra admin and the delightful task of proving they boiled the kettle. Remote workers, consider yourselves quietly squeezed by the Chancellor.”
Photo by Maximalfocus on Unsplash
