Working From Home Tax Relief 2025-26: How to Claim the £6 Per Week Flat Rate

If your employer requires you to work from home — even for part of the week — you may be entitled to tax relief on the additional household costs you incur. HMRC offers a flat rate of £6 per week (£312 per year) for 2025-26, which you can claim without having to provide receipts or detailed calculations. This guide explains who qualifies, how to claim, and what the relief is actually worth in pounds.

What is the working from home tax relief?

When you work from home, you typically use more electricity, gas, and broadband than you would if you commuted to an office. HMRC recognises these additional costs and allows employees to claim tax relief either on the actual extra costs (with evidence) or at the approved flat rate of £6 per week. Most people use the flat rate because it requires no receipts and is straightforward to claim.

The flat rate has been £6 per week since April 2020, when it was doubled from £3 per week in response to the pandemic forcing millions of people to work from home. It remains at £6 per week for 2025-26.

Who qualifies?

To qualify for working from home tax relief as an employee, you must meet all of the following conditions:

• Your employer requires you to work from home — you cannot claim simply because you choose to work from home when an office is available.
• You use your home as a workplace, not just for the occasional check of emails.
• You incur additional household costs as a result of working from home.

Self-employed people are not covered by this specific relief — they can instead claim a proportion of actual home costs (or use the simplified expenses flat rate of £10–£26/month depending on hours) against their self-employment profits.

How much is the relief actually worth?

The tax relief is worth the tax you save, not the full £6 per week. The calculation depends on your tax rate:

• Basic rate taxpayer (20%): £6 × 52 × 20% = £62.40 per year
• Higher rate taxpayer (40%): £6 × 52 × 40% = £124.80 per year
• Scottish intermediate rate (21%): £6 × 52 × 21% = £65.52 per year

For most people the saving is modest — around £1.20 per week for a basic rate taxpayer. But it is free money that requires perhaps 10 minutes to claim, so it is worth doing.

How to claim working from home tax relief

Option 1: HMRC online portal (easiest)

HMRC has a dedicated online service at gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home. You log in with your Government Gateway account, answer a few questions confirming you work from home because your employer requires it, and HMRC updates your tax code. The relief is then collected automatically through PAYE — your tax code increases by the equivalent amount, meaning slightly less tax is deducted from each payslip going forward.

Option 2: Self Assessment tax return

If you already complete a Self Assessment return, you can claim working from home expenses in the Employment section under "other expenses and capital allowances". Enter £312 (£6 × 52 weeks) for a full year, or the appropriate amount if you only worked from home for part of the year.

Option 3: P87 form

If you cannot use the online portal, you can submit form P87 to HMRC by post or phone. This is the traditional route for claiming employment expenses not covered by your employer.

Claiming for previous years

You can backdate claims for up to four tax years. If you worked from home in 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 without claiming, you can claim all four years at once through the HMRC portal. This could be worth up to £249.60 for a basic rate taxpayer (4 years × £62.40).

Can you claim actual costs instead?

Yes. If your actual additional costs exceed £6 per week, you can claim the higher amount — but you must have evidence. HMRC may ask you to demonstrate the additional household costs attributable to work. In practice, most people find the flat rate simpler and HMRC is unlikely to query it. Actual costs typically include a proportion of electricity, gas, and broadband, calculated based on the number of rooms in your home and hours worked. Unless you have a dedicated home office with very high energy usage, actual costs rarely exceed the £6 flat rate significantly.

What your employer can pay tax-free

Separately from the HMRC claim, your employer can pay you up to £6 per week (£26 per month) tax-free to cover homeworking expenses, without the need to justify the amount. If your employer already pays you a working from home allowance, you cannot also claim the HMRC relief for the same period — you would be double-claiming. Check your payslip or employment contract for any homeworking allowance before making a claim.

Frequently asked questions

I work from home two days a week and in the office three days. Can I still claim?

Yes, provided your employer requires you to work from home on those days. Hybrid working qualifies as long as the homeworking element is employer-required rather than employee choice. The full £6 per week flat rate applies regardless of how many days you work from home — there is no pro-rata for partial weeks.

My employer has paid for my office equipment. Does that affect my claim?

No. Equipment provided or paid for by your employer (laptops, monitors, office chairs) is a separate matter from the working from home expenses relief. Employer-provided equipment for homeworking is generally exempt from benefit-in-kind tax, and it does not affect your ability to claim the £6 per week relief for additional household running costs.