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?

why do you think you should be paid London weighting? You’re not going in and therefore not meeting their criteria for the extra

youre getting to work from home every day as a reasonable adjustment but yet you also want the additional money that goes with commuting in

maybe speak to your union but you sound grabby and civil service work is paid for by the tax payer

This. In my part of civil service employees who aren't returning to a London office are losing their London weighting

Do people who walk to the London office get the weighting?

If so, how could they argue that the weighting is for commuting costs?

Thank JRM! My understanding from TU mumblings is 40% office attendance is required to keep London weighting payments.

I always believed that weighting was paid because of the higher living costs in London. When I worked in London - many years ago - I received the extra payment and I also had the benefit of a heavily subsidised travel pass to use on both the bus and the tube. If the weighting was just for commuting - why did I get given a cheap travel pass? Why didn't I just get the travel pass?

London weighting doesn't just offset the cost of travel. Rent, food, entertainment, almost everything a person encounters in their everyday life in and around London is likely to come at an inflated cost compared to the rest of the nation. Let's not also forget that there is currently a cost-of-living crisis.23 May 2022

This.

If your WFH is permanent rather than temporary reasonable adjustments, then your contract will change to a homeworker contract with the associated t&cs. You cannot get London weighting on a homeworker contract and that is entirely fair as the London weighting is based on your main office. Your main office is now anywhere in the UK and your salary should reflect that.

But that's now a choice OP, rather than an obligation. If you were attending the office twice a week this would require you to live within a reasonable distance, i.e. within the more expensive London area.
But if you are no longer going to be contractually required to attend the office at all, you aren't also not required to live in that more expensive London area (which is what the London allowance goes towards).
You may choose to, but that's different, that's a choice on your part, so you incur the additional cost of that choice, rather than your employer subsidising the cost via the London allowance.
There's literally nothing to stop you now moving to a significantly cheaper part of the country.

London Weighting: ‘Can my employer cut the perk as I’m working from home?’
What are the rules around reducing London Weighting?
Removing London Weighting from an employee’s wage would technically represent a change in the terms and conditions of their contract, unless there’s a specific term allowing the employer to make such a change.
Julie Duane, a barrister specialising in employment law at St Philips Chambers, says: “It really does depend what the contract states in each individual case.
“Also, there will be other factors to take into consideration in the current situation where an employee works from home. After all, there are expenses involved in working from home, such as the cost of heating and electricity, that should be considered in the contract between the employer and employee when working from home. This may however differ where the request to work from home is by the employee and not the employer,” she says.
Palmer adds that employers will need to seek the agreement of their staff before any changes to their contract.
“A reasonable period of time should be provided to staff in order to consult with them over this change to their contract. Once the change is confirmed, staff should be provided at least one month’s written notice.”
However, where an employee isn’t inclined to agree to this change and reduction in pay, Palmer says one option for employers is to dismiss and re-hire them under a new contract without the London Weighting element.
“Employers should proceed carefully here as, depending on how they approach this, they could face claims from an employment tribunal for constructive dismissal. If more than 19 members of staff are to be dismissed and re-hired, employers also have a legal obligation to consult with trade unions or elected staff representatives,” she adds.

Another Mumsnet thread on LW and working from home.

From your employers perspective, the allowance was to cover additional costs that you no longer have now that you are working from home.

It was never considered salary and was never supposed to increase your disposable income, where it did or not. I suspect it did given you want to hang on to it.

I think you need to approach it from an additional angle:-

1. Is there anyway to proof that things are cost neutral for you? I.e. can you evidence increased electricity? Broadband etc?

1. Is there any impact in terms of your pension as a result? Don't live in the UK so I don't know

1. Can you look for a pay review instead?

It is not a work requirement for you to live in London so why should they pay the London weighing?

@findingsomeone

But if you are working from home then your job doesn't require you to live in London so why should they pay London weighting?

Because if you have to go into the office then you have to live in or close to London. If you work from home then there is no requirement to live in an expensive area if the country.

To me a London weighting covers both housing and commuting costs, costs that are incurred because the employer wants you to be able to travel to a London office. As you no longer need to travel to a London office, it would make sense that you are not entitled to the weighting as your employer does not require you to live within commuting distance of the London office.

So will the staff who are working from home three days out of five get their London Weighting Allowance reduced accordingly too? If they are reducing yours, surely theirs should be pro rata?

Have you spoken to your manager about any possible adjustments in the office? Or is it the commute that is now the issue for you?

But they’ll still be required to live within commuting distance to go in to the office for those three days. Whilst there may or may not be a reduction in commuting costs, their living expenses will remain the same. That doesn’t apply to the OP. They won’t be required to live within commuting distance anymore, as they won’t be commuting at all.

Is travel that much more expensive in London than in the rest of the country? I've worked jobs where I've had to take the car and I've had to pay for a day's parking. Wouldn't that be more than the cost of a train ticket?

@KweenieBeanz literally nothing stopping me? Er, I have a pretty significant disability and get a lot of help from friends and family and my support network who are all in London.

But that’s your personal circumstances, not your professional circumstances, or am I missing something? If not, as far as I can understand, that’s not for your employer to compensate for. Do your disabilities entitle you to any benefit payments to assist with your personal circumstances?

Have you applied for PIP to help with the costs of your disability? It's not means tested and is not about whether you can work or not.

I get your point, it’s not a choice for you. That still doesn’t explain why you should receive the allowance though.

Travel in London is far far cheaper than the equivalent elsewhere in the country

Just of curiosity, is it a significant difference to your monthly budget, OP? You have not been commuting for some time and you won't have to anymore, how much have you been saving as a result? How does thos compare to what you're losing as a result of removing LW?