WFH costs taxpayers

Post-pandemic WFH costs £100m in tax reliefs Since the end of pandemic lockdowns, the public purse has lost £100m due to tax breaks for home workers, with an estimated 300,000 claimants in 2023/24, a significant increase from just 16,000 in 2018/19. The relief allows employees to claim for additional household costs incurred while working from home, such as energy bills. Critics argue that the trend of working from home is impacting productivity and should be reassessed to better support taxpayers. John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “The work from home trend does not seem to have had the benefits to the economy that many predicted, suggesting that this is not an ideally targeted tax relief.”