paying for more work uniform

[lifesabeach]

at my place of work all uniform is issued as 2 tshirts and 1 jumper , and any extra itemms you have to pay for yourself. surely if you are working 5 days a week, 38-40 hours a week you shouldnt be expected to pay for extras?how does anyone else feel about this?

It sounds a bit tight but I think you can claim tax back on replacement clothing.

thanks for that, seems a bit of a faff though imo but i guess its better than nothing....

Definately a faff and I don't bother to be honest. Every year builds up more clothing as we have a new allowance every year. Tend to buy our own if we want extras but that's not the point (and not really allowed).

We offer 2 tops and 1 skirt or trousers to anyone doing over 25 hours contract, 1 of each to those doing less with the option to pay to top up. Our stuff dries quickly and doesn't need ironing if handled properly.From working in large dept stores this seems about the average.

No, as long as you are given a wash one wear one situation then that seems fair. You buy more for your convenience, not an actual necessity.

There's no legal obligation for your firm to provide you with uniform at all - they could charge you for the lot, or expect you to buy your own to whatever dress code they chose.

It's harsh, but there's not much you can do.

You can claim back the tax on any extra through, and you can add to your tax free allowance by about £300 a year, because you are laundering the uniform. It would make a standard tax code 652L for this year instead of 647L, and that is worth doing.

Just being nosy, but surely to get that tax allowance you'd need to get your own tax form (whereas most employed people don't see a tax form at all), and that's not something I'd suggest unless you think 300 quid will cover for the hassle and worry.

Sorry Webdude, you're wrong. You don't need any kind of form at all and you certainly don't need to complete a tax return to get the extra allowance.

All you need to do is call your tax office, tell them you have a logoed uniform for work that you're required to wash yourself and they add the extra allowance to your tax code. I think you may have to write in for previous tax years though.

Also, it isn't worth anywhere NEAR £300 per year, more like £30. I'm guessing that may have been a typo.

OK - always happy to learn - and the explanation serves also to inform anyone who might want to claim - as I {obviously} got the wrong impression that the only way it was likely was with a full tax form.

As for 300 or 30 it may help if someone who is claiming explains whether they set a figure and the tax office agreed, or whether the tax office already has set amounts for certain allowances (and are they index-linked!!!!)

I think that allowance is tight.

When we had our business, the staff that needed a uniform got 6 tops and 2-3 pairs of trousers and an allowance for shoes - they would get replacement tops when I thought they were looking a bit shabby to go out to customers.

One to wear and one in the wash - it wouldn't have happened. Our uniformed staff were guys, mostly 18-25. We didn't want them turning up looking scruffy - so we provided adequate uniform to encourage that.

We worked on the theory that they should be able to do one 'work' wash a week and be presentable to work 'in our name' for the 5-6 days a week they were working. (6 days was by their own choice and nicely paid )

At one stage we had about 20 uniformed staff.