Travel time when WFH

[Liverpoolxxx]

I’ve seen a job which is based at home but requires travel to different places - think similar to health visitor. Would the time taken to travel generally be included within the working day or outwith this?

Travel TO first and back from last is not included as you’re going to your first place of work usually

Only the employer in question could tell you that.

If it's NHS/public sector then it's usually included.

Things like care work might not be

I previously did a similar job going and had to start at the base office at a certain time. My travel time was unpaid. Any travel after my start time was within work time. We then had to be back at the base by X time.

Edited as I misunderstood that you would be travelling from home to clients homes. You'd have to check with the employer if its paid from your house or only from the 1st client's home.

Depends on contract

Terrifying thought but: ask them?

I would assume travel time to the first place/client is not included or your travel home.

Travel to and from work at the beginning and end of each day would not normally be included, but they should be paying you for the hours in between, plus vehicle mileage. Should be 55p/mile for the first 10k miles, then 25p thereafter. Ensure that your vehicle is insured for business usage for anything other than to/from work.

It will probably vary depending on your employer and contract.

I'm a social worker and fully work from home and all travel is included in my working hours. I’m 9-5 and if I travel outside of that I can take TOIL. (Not that I usually bother unless it’s a lot more time).

Travel time is usually included as part of your working day.

I've worked somewhere where it was calculated from leaving the house and returning.

My current role we need to calculate time from the office base (even if WFH), however if it's quicker to travel from home you've to use that time 🫤.
I.e. scenario 1: office to appointment is 45mins, but from home to appointment would be 60mins, can only claim 45mins as part of the working day.
Scenario 2: office to appointment is 30mins but home to appointment is 15mins, can only claim the 15 mins.

That will depend on what the policy is so best to look at it?

For non wfh jobs travel time is never included so is this the case that it is when you have to travel?

55p is the amount a company can pay you before you pay tax on. It isn't what they have to pay you. If you pay more you have to pay tax on it.

When does the 55p rate apply?
The approved mileage rules apply where an employee uses their own car or van for qualifying business journeys. Broadly, that means business travel such as visiting clients, travelling between sites or attending a temporary workplace. Ordinary commuting between home and a permanent workplace does not qualify.

If the employer reimburses qualifying mileage at or below the approved rate, the payment can normally be made free of income tax and national insurance contributions. If the employer pays more than the approved amount, the excess is taxable. If the employer pays less, the employee may claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the shortfall.

In non-wfh job, travel to appointments/visits/meeting within the working day is usually covered and included as part of your working day. Your travel to and from the workplace isn't but all other work related travel should be.

do you all actually do this?! In your example, would you travel from the office or home? What happens to the 15 mins?
does it change if the meeting is at 9am vs 10am?

genuine questions. I have never worked anywhere so petty. It would drive me mad to have to manage my time to such an extent.

It's not petty, it's sensible and quite normal ime. It's fair to everyone regardless of where they choose to live

It does sound ridiculous but there's reason behind it. I am pretty much always leaving from home, and usually I'd just claim from whatever time I left the house, nobody really monitors that closely and I don't live too far from the office base so it doesn't make a big difference.

Its a hangover from COVID, we still have office based contracts but in reality most of us work from home almost full time. But some people do live much further afield now and it's to stop them claiming many, many hours of travel time. Our office is in Edinburgh, but we have a staff member who lives in Newcastle (their choice), say they had a meeting in Stirling which is 45mins from Edinburgh, that's the max time they could claim, they couldn't claim the 3hrs+ from Newcastle each way. Unless the had prior agreement from their manager. It's to prevent the mileage and toil claims getting out of control. Also linked to funding we can project expenses from our office, it would be impossible to calculate all the expense scenarios for all project staff.

If you are contractually home based, travel time and expenses should be from home - because where else would they be measured from?

If you are contractually based in Depot X, but allowed to work from home when you are not on site visits, then I’d expect to deduct your “normal” commuting expenses and time to Depot A.

Ah yes, that makes sense.

Like most, when I worked in a similar sounding job, the first visit of the day wasn't counted as your work hours, nor for mileage in my case.

However, although I always wfh, I technically had an office base that was on the other side of the City and my visits were all on my side of the City, so my first visit would be the equivalent of my 'commute'. If, for any reason I had to travel further than the distance to my office, then I could claim the difference (in both time and mileage).

Same, in reverse at the end of the day. Travel between visits during the day was counted as work time, and work mileage.

Yes, I know. It was 45p for a very long time, and has only recently been raised to 55p. The point I was making was that employers should be paying business mileage to the OP for mileage over and above the 'to and from work' at the beginning and end of each day. What each employer pays is up to them, but in my long career in accounting, I've never known any to pay more than that limit.

During the early days of the COL crisis my employer at the time looked into paying more than the then 45p per mile but dropped the idea when they realized the tax implications and admin involved

Thanks everyone. I’ll apply for the job and see what happens. I’ve never had a job like this and if it was going to be changeable with regards to hours it wouldn’t suit but as it is it seems it’s worth trying.

i appreciate your advice.