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19

Mar 2021

Last Updated: 19/03/2021
Politics
Politics

Union dispute over cost of Harrogate council staff working from home

by Calvin Robinson

| 19 Mar, 2021
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Unison has lodged a dispute over the costs incurred by Harrogate Borough Council staff working from home. The council says it has made all staff aware of tax relief available for those who have to work remotely.

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Harrogate Borough Council offices at Knapping Mount.

Union officials have lodged a formal dispute to Harrogate Borough Council over the cost of staff working from home.

Unison said the authority refuses to cover any additional costs incurred by remote working and had been doing so for a full year.

It added that union officials had made “reasonable and legitimate” requests for the borough council to pay a tax free allowance of £6 a week for those who have no choice but to work from home.

But, the council said less than 50% of its staff are working from home and it had ensured that all of them are aware of the tax relief available from HMRC for working from home.

The tax relief offered by the government offers people who have to work from home the chance to claim costs based upon the rate in which they pay tax.

For example, a person who pays 20% basic rate claiming relief on £6 per week would receive £1.20 per week.



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David Houlgate, branch secretary for Unison Harrogate Local Government branch, said the relief from HMRC “does not come close” to covering increased costs of working from home.

He said:

“Staff have incurred increased gas, electric and water bills as a result of working from home and are in effect being asked to subsidise the council in delivering its services. Against this are the savings in these very same utilities that we believe the council is making by way of staff working from home and council sites being closed or sparsely occupied.
“It should be noted that we do not accept any argument that staff are saving on travel costs. This may benefit some but by no means all.
“The dispute also includes an issue around mileage because of a deferral by the council on a decision relating to Unison’s request for the council to change its policy on mileage to reflect the fact that the workplace has now in effect changed by way of staff being forced to work from home. 
“Ordinarily staff who use their own vehicles on council business can claim for mileage when doing so but only from the established workplace. Unison believes that the workplace is no longer the office but is in fact the home.”


In response, a council spokeswoman said:

“In a time when many employers are going out of business, making redundancies or putting staff on furlough we have managed to ensure no one has been put in this position. This has been achieved by being in a relatively strong financial position before the pandemic, redeploying staff to other council services and being extremely cautious with our finances over the last 12-months.
“We have ensured that staff who are working at home as a result of the ongoing global pandemic – which we believe to be less than 50% of all employees – are aware of the HMRC tax relief for additional household costs. This tax relief is backdated for the 2020/21 tax year and equates to £62.40 for the basic tax payer. Any member of staff who believes they have higher costs than £6 a week, can claim via the HMRC.
“A vast proportion of office-based staff are also saving on travel costs, whether public transport or their own vehicles.”