We are encouraging employees to return to work since productivity is an issue within our organisation. remote contracts are offered to mainly freelancers

In reply to Marini:

Hi Marini... and welcome to the Community.

I assume you mean 'return to the office/workplace', rather than "return to work"!

It would be interesting to learn what sector/industry you work in and more detail on how the business measures productivity and performance.

Hi Lorna... but has the business ever paid for commuting to the office?

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Hi Steve, the business did not pay for commuting pre covid. The landscape has changed and during the Covid/lock down period we recruited several employees on remote contracts that don’t live within daily commutable distance of the office, although once a week would be reasonable for most. We are trying to encourage these employees to attend the office for infrequent business and team meetings.
Thanks for getting back to me. Lorna

In reply to Lorna:

It sounds potentially quite complicated to have a distance limit/ criteria for both situations and potentially may be seen by other employees as unfair. I think I would manage this by looking at what was offered at the time to employees- so were those recruited during covid told they would not need to come into the office or were they aware this could change? I would also be carrying out a thorough business review of the hybrid working and what worked for the business and whether other roles could be offered remote working before making any changes. On the expenses I would allow anyone with a contract stating their home as their place of work to claim the costs of commuting in, but not those with their place of work as the office. That is straightforward and in line with regulations and avoids any unfairness.

In reply to Gail:

thanks Gail

Hi Lorna and welcome. I'm with Gail on this one. I've recently worked with a client who had two offices and might add more but their contract of employments stated they were remote first so their home was their place of work. This meant a number of things including advising on their home work set up and taking care of health and safety for example. It also meant paying for them to come into the office as and when they did.

As they were a tech firm they came in for events or a purpose or because working remotely was very difficult due to a lack of space for example. Having a clear expense policy helped managed costs. They took the view if you want to access the widest pool of talent, this is the best way to do it. I think creating a mileage radius around the office could be complicated and hopefully you've considered the tax allowance limits for mileage in any case.

Other clients go with the approach Gail has mentioned already. If your contract says the office is the base, you pay to go in, if it's a home based contract they'd pay for reasonable expenses to get to the office and those are clearly controlled with a policy etc.

Finally, I'm an interim and my contracts (for services) have always stated either home or office as the contracting base. It depends on the company/client. Productivity tends to be about having a clear purpose, direction and good management, rather than be based on geography / office or home working.

Hi Lorna
If you were to pay expenses for travel to the usual workplace there would likely be tax implications for you as an employer/the individual - I suggest you contact HMRC for tax advice on this to help inform your decision.

In reply to Sam:

That's a good point Sam. Most finance folks, accountants and the HRMC site is a good source for this. I don't think the mileage rate and allowance has changed for quite some years but always best to check; just in case.

In reply to Sharon:

I attended an HMRC webinar on the subject of home/office bases for work and claiming travel, etc.
The HMRC bottom line is that an employee can only be designated as a homeworker when there is no office at all for them to attend, even if there is no space for them to do their regular work in the office that exists – if there is an office, and if they attend it at all, (say for meetings), or attend meetings close to the office, then their travel from home to those meetings will be considered usual commute and not a non-taxable reimbursable expense.
They also said that ‘where someone lives, in relation to the office, is personal choice and has no bearing on the rules’.

In reply to Sharon:

thanks Gail

In reply to Sharon:

thank you Sharon

In reply to Jan:

Its interesting that HMRC advised that in a webinar, as that seems to be against the guidance they issue to employers. They give a number of examples and number 8 on the attached specifically says that home is considered to be the base if there is no room at the office. The certainly reflects the understanding HMRC have given in the previous place i worked - if the employer is unable to provide the person with office space, and they therefore have to carry out their work from home, they are classed as a homeworker

www.gov.uk/.../eim32790

There are also examples around distance from the office, but it does depend on where the work is required to be carried out

In reply to Teresa:

Teresa, I've noted the examples, and agree that home can be the base if there is no room at the office, and if (CRUCIALLY) the person is NEVER required to come to the office for meetings etc. The original poster asked about the company considering paying travel costs/ mileage to attend the office for infrequent business meetings for remote workers. That's covered by example 1 (quoted below) in which the answer was 'that travel would be taxed and there is no tax deduction because her home is not accepted as a workplace'
Example 1
A member of an NHS trust board attends meetings of the board in Exeter. She has no office facilities available to her in Exeter to prepare for meetings. She receives papers from the NHS trust at her home in Salcombe and reads the papers at home. This takes several hours and she would not be able to take a full part in meetings if she did not do this work at home. She requests a deduction for the cost of travel between her home and her permanent workplace in Exeter.

No deduction should be permitted for either the costs she incurs while working from home or the cost of travel. Her work at home is preparatory in nature and not part of the duties of her employment. Home should not be accepted as a workplace.

In reply to Jan:

Its weird as that contradicts another couple of examples they give when talking about when homeworkers can claim business mileage (3.37 and 3.38 in the link below) In both these cases there is an office available, but the example says that they are entitled to claim the business mileage.
www.gov.uk/.../ordinary-commuting-and-private-travel-490-chapter-3