Minimum working temperature for homeworkers?
Place of work
Where the homeworking arrangement is a permanent or hybrid one, you’ll have various legal obligations. For example, the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 require you to carry out a risk assessment of an employee’s workplace and this applies equally to homeworkers.
Heating costs
One of our subscribers has been approached by a homeworking employee who’s referred to workplace temperature, noting that their home is their also their place of work.
This employee says that they “can’t afford to heat their home to the minimum workplace temperature of 16°C” so they want our subscriber to contribute towards their heating bill. Can a homeworker make this sort of demand?
Workplace legislation
The starting point here is the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992(the Regulations) which also apply to homeworkers. They state that “during working hours, the temperature in all workplaces inside buildings shall be reasonable” .
Whilst the Regulations don’t set out specific temperatures or parameters, an HSE Approved Code of Practice gives advice on how to comply with your obligations (see The next step ).
It states that the temperature inside an indoor workplace should “normally be at least 16°C” where sedentary work, e.g. desk-based, is undertaken and at least 13°C if the work involves rigorous physical effort.
Guidance only
It’s important to bear in mind that these temperatures are only a guideline, not a legal requirement. So, our subscriber’s employee is wrong in their claim that there is a minimum legal workplace temperature of 16°C.
On the other hand, our subscriber must give its homeworkers practical advice on how they can maintain a safe working temperature during colder months. This could include wearing suitable clothing, using portable heaters, working in the warmest room and consuming hot drinks.
No contribution needed
However, our subscriber isn’t expected to ensure that its advice is followed by homeworkers. Neither are they legally required to contribute towards a homeworker’s heating bills or provide heating equipment or warm clothing.
Tip. If you wish to contribute to a homeworker’s heating costs, you can pay them £6 p.w. tax free. The downside here is that this payment must be given to all homeworking employees which could be costly.
Tip. For smaller employers, the better option might be to direct the employee to submit a claim for tax relief for home heating costs via HMRC’s online portal (see The next step ).
For the HSE’s Approved Code of Practice and to submit a tax relief claim to HMRC, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 25 issue 2.
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