Working From Home Tax Relief UK 2025/26: £6/Week If You Qualify

Quick answer

UK working-from-home tax relief has two regimes split by April 2022:

1. Pre-April 2022: Relaxed rules — even one day of required WFH per week qualified.
2. From April 2022: Tightened — you must be required to work from home, not just choosing to.

The relief amount (£6/week = £312/year) hasn't changed — just the eligibility test.

• Basic-rate taxpayers: £312 × 20% = £62/year tax saved.
• Higher-rate: £312 × 40% = £125/year.

For self-employed, separate (more generous) rules apply.

Who qualifies post-2022

Tightened rules require one of:

1. Contractual requirement to WFH (rare).
2. No office facilities provided by employer.
3. Geographic impossibility of commuting.
4. Government restrictions (like COVID lockdown).

Hybrid working by choice does NOT qualify even if you do 4 days/week from home. The employer must require it.

Common situations that qualify today:

• Fully remote employee with no office allocation.
• Field worker without assigned desk.
• Office permanently closed.

Common situations that DON'T qualify:

• "Flexible working policy."
• "I prefer home."
• "Mostly remote but I could go in."

The £6/week amount

HMRC's flat rate covers:

• Heating and electricity for your work area.
• Metered water (if work-related increase).
• Business phone calls.

It does NOT cover:

• Council tax.
• Mortgage payments.
• General home insurance.
• Broadband (mostly).

If your actual additional costs exceed £6/week, you can claim actuals with evidence — but the admin overhead rarely justifies it for employees.

How to claim

1. Sign into your Personal Tax Account at gov.uk.
2. Tax code → "Tell HMRC about a change to my income".
3. Add job-related expense → "Working from home".
4. HMRC adjusts your tax code within ~48 hours.

For backdated years, file a P87 form at gov.uk.

Backdating 4 years

You can claim for the current year + previous 4. For 2025/26 you can still claim:

• 2025/26 (current).
• 2024/25, 2023/24, 2022/23 (post-rules).
• 2021/22, 2020/21 (under relaxed COVID rules — almost everyone with any WFH qualifies).

A 4-year backdated claim including the relaxed-rule years can be worth £250-£500+ for higher-rate taxpayers.

Self-employed regime

Self-employed don't use the £6/week rule — see our Self-Assessment allowable expenses post for full detail.

Simplified flat rates:

Or proportional method: apportion actual household costs (council tax, utilities, insurance, broadband) by floor area and time of business use.

No "required" test. The deduction reduces business profit, saving both income tax AND Class 4 NI on the amount.

Common errors

1. Assuming you qualify because you work from home — choice doesn't qualify post-2022.
2. Forgetting to claim for 2020/21 and 2021/22 — relaxed rules applied; most are owed.
3. Claiming alongside employer reimbursement — can't double-claim.
4. Self-employed using employee £6 rule — use the simplified or proportional method instead.

Try the numbers

Sources

• HMRC: Tax relief for employees: working from home
• HMRC: EIM32760 Employment Income Manual
• HMRC: Simplified expenses if you're self-employed
• gov.uk: P87 form