Our Cardiff UCU negotiators urged the University Executive Board (UEB) to agree to compensate staff for additional costs – electricity, heating, broadband – associated with working from home.

According to HMRC guidelines employers could reimburse staff £6 per week, and such payments would be non-taxable.

However, Cardiff University management have declined to show this gesture of good will, and instead have pointed out that staff can instead reclaim such costs from their tax bill. Unfortunately, this approach means that our most vulnerable members, i.e. those earning below the tax threshold, will not be able to claim any compensation.

We are also disappointed with management’s refusal to provide any assistance or guidance to staff on how to claim these tax benefits. We refer members to Martin Lewis’ blog for more information on how to proceed with claiming costs from HMRC