Reduce my pay because of working from home?

[Psm92]

Long story short, a few months ago I was diagnosed with a disability that causes a lot of fatigue, pain, etc. As such I have been wfh for the past few months. Other colleagues work from home 3 days a week, and attend the office twice a week. As my wfh is due to a health condition/disability, I would have thought this is a reasonable adjustment to enable me to let me do my job. I live in London.

My workplace is now saying they will have to reduce my salary because as my "principal workplace" is now the office, I do not qualify for the London weighting. Feeling really upset by this. Any advice?

Well by the time they've got rid of 90,000 civil servants and reduced their redundancy payments, the London weighting will seem irrelevant.

Yeah, this won't happen. The amount of civil servants due to retire in the next few years means there will be very, very few redundancies needed due to natural wastage. Just the usual media/JRM unnecessary drama

Are you a member of a union OP? I recommend speaking to them, if Occupational health have suggested this then I don’t think they can take away your allowance. London allowance is also for the higher cost of living in London.

@Floralnomad I'm not sure they drag themselves in. As they're healthy and have fully functioning legs, and no medical conditions or disabilities, I imagine they are able to get into this office reasonably comfortably. I do not have that privilege.

@Autumndays123 Not sure why you think I "want to" work from home permanently. I explained in my post that it is a necessity that enables me to do my job.

Thank you for all helpful responses. I'll definitely contact ACAS. Unfortunately I'm not a member of a union.

Your employer is right. London weighting is to cover commuting costs. You are no long commuting and and therefore not entitled.

Before that why not write to HR asking for the policy details & how it is applied? In the public sector this will be straightforward & will inform your next step.

Someone else made a very good point OP.

If you're not contracted to be in the London office then if you do go in. Even if once a week (and apologies if you aren't able to do that I wasn't sure) then they will need to pay your travel costs. It might end up being similar depending on where you live. You may even be able to claim things to do with car transport or get a bluebadge or a spot in work car park if there's one. At my civil service job we can claim lunch etc

They still have to get dressed , get public transport or drive themselves and then get themselves back home again - you have the luxury of doing none of this which is why they get the extra money . How do you know that none of them have medical conditions

@Floralnomad Lol, the "luxury" of doing none of that. I sincerely hope you never become diagnosed with a long-term disability that causes you daily chronic pain and impedes your ability to walk and move around independently.

Definitely do this.

I am in a public sector organisation with civil service conditions. We are just taking formal requests for hybrid working and homeworking, and anyone who becomes a homeworker will lose an enhancement if they aren’t working in the same region for which they currently get the enhancement. I think you’re framing this as being treated different because of your disability, when in fact it might equally apply to anyone moving to permanent, full time homeworking.

Uh yeah, this. What is it that makes you feel entitled for an increased salary when your costs have decreased?

@ANewNameANewDay That's an interesting idea. So if your costs change - say you get a cheaper mortgage, or your partner gets a huge pay rise, or you suddenly find you don't spend as much on travel...would you expect your pay to decrease? Or would you still feel "entitled" to your former pay?

Thanks , I have a few .

@Floralnomad Really? It strikes me as odd that someone with a disability that significantly affects their physical functioning would describe it as a "luxury".

They still have to get dressed , get public transport or drive themselves and then get themselves back home again - you have the luxury of doing none of this which is why they get the extra money . How do you know that none of them have medical conditions?

What a horrible post. They may have medical issues that the choose to not disclose. The OP has a disability isn’t just sitting on her arse at home.

Some of the comments on here have been awful. I always understood London weighting was for housing costs not transport. The OP has a disability, she’s not choosing to work from home.

If all homeworkers are paid less, then you will be included under that irrespective of disability l think. My dss works in the civil service from home. He doesn’t receive less than the colleagues who go in twice a week.

The same logic would seem to mean that your colleagues should have their salary reduced on a pro rata basis. If you suggest this you may find the idea's dropped pretty sharpish.

You got paid extra to cover costs you no longer have.
Nothing to do with partner, or mortgage

That's a bit dense. You're arguing over a supplement which allows for additional costs that you are not incurring. That is literally what the London wage is for. Your reply makes no sense.

I think another way of looking at is. They've agreed to flexible working adjustments. In your case home working full time. I have flexible working as I care for someone with a disability. I work from home and always have in this role so don't get London weighting. I used to get it in another PS role but I used to commute in. So you will be on the same circumstances as people like me theoretically.
If your change isn't permanent and is only when you're not well/fit enough to travel in then I expect they'll treat that as reasonable adjustments not a change of work location and you won't lose it. But you'll need to discuss this.

Actually at my (public sector) company it's to cover the increased cost of living in London and the general surrounds, which may also include commuting costs.

@ANewNameANewDay I don't think the London weighting is exclusively for transport costs. It covers the higher costs of living in London more generally. Everything is more expensive here.

If this goes ahead and you have no requirement to go into the office then save yourself a fortune by NOT living in London !

Sell up or move your rental property to a place a lot less expensive and you will actually be a lot better off if you no longer need to be in one of the worlds most expensive cities .

(Providing you don't have a partner who does need to be there of course!)

I'm aware of a number of Civil Service Departments who have told they're staff the same. Return to the office in some capacity (40% time at least), or lose the London Weighting.

If they are allowing you to work from home, they've met their obligation under "reasonable adjustments", the London Weighting is a separate allowance as many people have already stated.