17 August 2026
Working from home tax relief has been scrapped: what changed in April 2026
HMRC abolished the £6-a-week working from home tax relief for employees from 6 April 2026. Here's exactly what changed, what's still available, and how to claim for previous years.
Until 5 April 2026, employees who had to work from home could claim Income Tax relief for the extra costs involved, either a simplified flat rate of £6 a week with no receipts needed, or the actual additional costs with evidence. From 6 April 2026, the start of the current 2026/27 tax year, HMRC abolished this claim for employees entirely, both the flat rate and the actual-costs route. If you've claimed it before and are wondering why the option's gone, or why your accountant or tax software won't let you claim it for this year, here's what actually changed.
What was scrapped, exactly
The change removes the ability for an employee to personally claim tax relief from HMRC for unreimbursed homeworking costs, whether that's the £6-a-week flat rate or a claim based on actual bills. This applied whether working from home was your own choice or a requirement of your job. It doesn't matter which method you used to claim before; neither is available for 2026/27 onwards.
Why HMRC scrapped it
HMRC said that when it reviewed a sample of claims, over half turned out to be ineligible, often because the person wasn't actually required to work from home or hadn't genuinely incurred extra costs. Removing the relief is expected to save the Treasury around £115 million over five years from April 2026.
What the relief was actually worth
It's worth being clear about the numbers, since the £6-a-week flat rate is often misunderstood as a £312-a-year refund. It wasn't: you got tax relief on £312 of income, meaning that amount was treated as tax-free rather than handed back in full. In practice that meant a saving of £62.40 a year for a basic rate taxpayer, £124.80 a year at the higher rate, and £140.40 a year at the additional rate, a modest amount that's now gone for anyone who doesn't get it reimbursed by their employer instead.
What's still available
This change only affects your ability to claim relief personally from HMRC. It doesn't touch your employer's ability to reimburse you directly. If your employer chooses to pay or reimburse homeworking costs, either the £6-a-week flat rate or actual costs with evidence, and there's an objective requirement for you to work from home, that payment remains completely free of Income Tax and National Insurance for both of you, exactly as before.
In other words, nothing has changed if your employer already covers this. The door that's closed is the one where you claimed it yourself because your employer didn't.
Can you still claim for 2025/26 or earlier years?
Yes. 2025/26 was the last tax year the relief applied, so if you were eligible and haven't claimed for it yet, you still can. You can also backdate a claim for up to 4 earlier tax years if you were eligible and never claimed, currently as far back as 2022/23, the same standard time limit HMRC applies to other backdated claims like Marriage Allowance.
To claim for a past year, use a P87 form if you don't normally complete Self Assessment, or include it on your return if you do. Depending on how it's processed, you'll either get a direct refund or an adjustment to your tax code.
What to do now if you work from home
If you're genuinely required to work from home and your employer doesn't currently reimburse your costs, the only realistic option now is to ask them to start. Structured correctly, it costs your employer nothing extra in tax or National Insurance, and it's tax-free income for you, unlike the HMRC claim, which is gone for good from 2026/27 onwards.
Working from home relief was never reflected as a separate input in our calculators; if you were claiming it, it showed up as a reduction to your tax bill outside what our Income Tax Calculator and Salary Calculator model. From 2026/27, that's simply no longer part of the picture unless your employer reimburses you directly.