Family Early Help
Claiming Tax Relief if you’re Working from Home
HMRC have simplified their system to claim tax relief on working from home expenses – and if you are currently working from home you can now apply to get the whole year’s tax relief at £6 per week.
This equates to a gain of £62 a year for a basic 20% rate taxpayer, and £124 a year for a higher 40% rate taxpayer.
To process claims, HMRC has set up a new dedicated working-from-home microsite that will automatically apply the whole 2020/21 tax year's relief via your tax code.
You can claim from when lockdown started on 23 March 2020 and you will get tax relief for the whole of this tax year (which started 6 April 2020) and two weeks extra on top.
To claim these expenses, you will need a Government Gateway user ID and password. You can create a user ID if you do not already have one.
You will not receive a cheque for the money instead your tax code will be amended to increase your tax free allowance. Your tax code is what tells Camden how much tax to take from your pay.
This should be amended in your personal tax account within a couple of days. The result will be less tax taken off each month for the rest of the year.
Find out more about claiming tax relief for working from home here.
Buying A Chair for Home Working (updated 22 October 2020)
If you do not currently have a suitable chair at home and feel you would benefit from one as part of your home workstation set-up, Corporate have said you can now purchase your own chair and they will reimburse you up to a maximum total cost (including delivery etc.) of £100.
If you decide to buy a chair, Corporate say it is your responsibility to make sure that the chair you buy is suitable for your home workstation, and Corporate have developed guidance for you to consider. The primary aim of the chair should be to allow you to achieve a comfortable position. You can read Corporate guidance on buying a chair here
After you make your purchase, you will need to complete the expenses claim form (and provide a digital receipt) to claim for your purchase.
Please note: If we have already provided you with an office chair as part of our earlier loan scheme, you will not be eligible for this offer.
To support this process people managers will need to review the expenses claim form as per our usual procedure. When doing this please remember that we will reimburse up to a maximum total cost of £100 (including delivery etc.), and that staff who have already received a chair as part of our earlier loan scheme are not eligible for this offer.
Ordering Chairs and Monitors (updated 20 October 2020)
On 22 June 2020, Camden said we could request a chair or monitor to support our home working setup. If you want to request a loan of an office chair or monitor for homeworking purposes, please complete the Workstation Request form.
More information here:
Ordering/Replacing Agile Kit (updated 20 October 2020)
The agile kit you received when you started working in Camden should include a laptop, laptop riser, keyboard, headset/phone handset and mouse.
If you need to replace an item of your agile kit, Corporate have said it is currently quicker and more efficient for you to purchase the item from an online retailer and claim back the cost using the expenses claim form.
Below you will find the maximum amounts we will reimburse for each item. Please note, the cost of ordering or replacing agile kit will come out of team budgets.
• Mouse - £7
• Headset/phone handset – £30
• Laptop riser - £35
• Keyboard - £13.
To support this process people managers will need to review the expenses claim form as per our usual procedure. Please be aware of the maximum amounts we will reimburse for each item of kit.
Ordering Any Additional Home Working Equipment (updated 20 October 2020)
Corporate are advising all staff who feel that they may need additional equipment – over and above their agile kit or chair – to speak to their line manager to discuss their circumstances and requirements.
To support this process people managers will need to:
Discuss the member of staff’s individual circumstances and requirements with them, to help determine if additional equipment – such as a monitor for example – is required.
To access a monitor: either you, or your member of staff will need to complete our IT contact e-form and provide a cost code.
To access any other equipment:
We have developed lots of advice and information to help staff to set up their workstations at home safely on this page. Corporate advise us to work through the information on it and complete a workstation assessment form (at the bottom of the essentials page) to review your working environment. This is to help you and your manager to know if any additional equipment is required.
Once you have reviewed the completed workstation assessment form, if you believe you need additional home working equipment, please seek specialist advice by contacting your Safety Advisor and/or Occupational Health.
Replacing a damaged laptop
If your laptop is damaged while working remotely, please call the IT service desk in the first instance. If you are unable to do this through your laptop, you can use a mobile phone and call 020 7974 4321.
The service desk will find out more about the issue and attempt to fix it remotely.
If this is not possible and a replacement laptop is required we will arrange for a courier to deliver a laptop to your home address, and collect the damaged laptop from you. This will be done in contact-free way.
Council guidance on working remotely
Working remotely: 12 top tips – featuring advice to help you to structure your day, connect with your colleagues and look after your wellbeing
Practical Guide to Working Remotely on Essentials
More Camden Guidance on Working Safely At Home
Here is more information from Camden about working safely at home
https://lbcamden.sharepoint.com/sites/intranet/communications/Pages/support-to-work-from-home.aspx
Employees are encouraged to use existing furniture at home and make minor adjustments such as using a pillow or towel roll for back support, using riser and separate keyboard and mouse, taking adequate breaks
However, in future this may be reviewed if the lockdown were to be extended further.
The HSE has stated that there is no increased risk from DSE work for those working at home temporarily and employers do not need to do home workstation assessments. See more on this at Protecting Homeworkers
On that webpage there is a good HSE video on Temporary Working at Home - Workstation Setup that employees may find useful when setting up their workstation and some simple steps that can be taken to minimise aches and pains:
- breaking up long spells of DSE work with rest breaks (at least 5 minutes every hour) or changes in activity
- avoiding awkward, static postures by regularly changing position
- getting up and moving or doing stretching exercises
- avoiding eye fatigue by changing focus or blinking from time to time
Camden also offers a range of supporting resources such as:
- Video available to assist with safe agile working with your laptop video.
- ELearning module on how to set up your workstation safely on L&D Working with Display Screen Equipment (DSE) which provides further information and training on how to set up your workstation safely.
- Desk Exercises that you can do at your desk at https://www.justonebody.com/exercises-and-stretches/
Simple Exercises for Homeworkers
This guide with pictures takes you through some simple and gentle exercises to do each day
New E-Book and Guide on Working From Home
Camden have issued a new e-book on working remotely to help us work safely and healthily from home.
Here is a copy and there is a link to the book here
Working from Home 2020_The Temporary Homeworkers Guide
And here is a link to the new working from home guide (issued 13 July)
Data Protection While Working At Home
You need to consider the same data protection security measures when homeworking that you would use in normal circumstances.
When working from home, we abide by all of LB Camden's policies and procedures regarding data protection and information security which can be found here.
Corporate have put together some guidance on making sure we protect data whilst we are working at home. You can find this here
Working from Abroad
Camden has introduced a longer-term approach to working from abroad. Depending on the circumstances, Camden has agreed to allow employees to work from abroad for an extended period of time as long as: they can fulfill all duties remotely; accept liability for any additional fees and incidents related to the travel; and return to work in Camden for a set period of time agreed by the service.
If you are considering working from abroad in the future, please look at the Corporate Risk Assessment and the updated Working Remotely from Abroad FAQs for more information on how these requests will be managed.
In light of the latest government guidance and national lockdown measures which take effect from 5 November – 2 December 2020, employees must only travel for essential and legally permitted reasons. Click here for more information.