I know some people on here are good at giving advice on employment mattes so am hoping they could answer my query
My daughter works from home for a company who is based quite a long way from her home. She has worked for them for several years.

Originally when she had to go into the office they paid her expenses but recently they have decided that they will only do this if she has to go to a different office but not her normal office.
This will cost about £50 per day or £150 pw if she gets a season ticket on the train (DD can't drive due to health problems).

DD has had to pay to go into the office to get her laptop repaired when it broke and also for training. Seems a bit unfair she has to pay to get her equipment fixed. They have now asked her to go in next week for training. Problem is DD at this time of year with expenses it will be very hard for her to find the money to get there. She has just told them that she will go but only if they pay her expenses.

Apart from anything else having to travel into the office the week before christmas will be very difficult and mean leaving her children. They want her to go in Monday - Friday. Traveling time means she is usually out from 8-6.30 each day.

She has told them she can't afford to come in next week but has not had a reply as yet. Does anyone know if they can change the rules on expenses like this and force her to come into the office at short notice?

Just depends what her original contract says really.

Hi,

It's worth a check of the original contract - the key here is where the 'fixed' or 'regular' place of work is listed.

We have an office base (that I work in) and a lot of field or home based staff; I can't claim expenses for coming into work as the office is my regular place of work, but the home based people can, as their home is listed as their regular place of work in their contracts.

If the company have always paid expenses to travel to the office I feel it's quite unfair of them to change the rules suddenly - was this communicated in an official email or letter that went to ALL home based employees, or was your daughter told verbally by someone else? This can also be key in whether it's an official change, or just an individual manager wanting to try & cost save where possible.

At worst, if your daughter does end up having to cover her own travel costs, she can claim tax relief (assuming she's using her own car, not a company supplied one) on the rate the company should be paying her, which is 45p per mile (tax relief on any other unpaid expenses can also be claimed I understand). She will need to print & fill in form P87 from the HMRC website.

Hope that helps,

Claire

Edited to add I've just seen the part about her not driving, so ignore the latter part of my message!!!

Thanks, will get her to read exactly what her contract says.

As far as I know thee was no formal announcement of the policy change. She said she just talked to her manager and he told her that they would no longer pay.

Do you know if she can claim tax relief for the cost of the train fares to the office?

Yes agree with Daisy.

If her contract states that she has an office as a base then they are within their rights to say they will not pay expenses if it also states that she may have to go into the office for training etc.

If they have changed the rules they should have put this in writting as a change to her terms and conditions . There can also be flexility to the rules if they have multiple offices then you can get away with going for an office base that is in the opposite direction to where training courses are normally held. I did this with a company who I used to work at and put the Birmingham office as my base but did most of my client travelling and office based work south of where I live so always got paid for travelling :-)

> not a company supplied one) on the rate the company should be paying her, which is 45p per mile

I believe the OP's daughter can't drive.

Companys do not have to pay 45p per mile - this is the limit of tax free allowance. Companies can pay as little/as much as they choose for mileage :)

The others are absolutely right, but looking at this a slightly different way (I hope I've understood this correctly), your daughter has health problems which mean she can't drive and the cost of getting to the office by train will put an unreasonable strain on her financial and family commitments. Read the contract to see whether it specifies an office base, and get your daughter to call the Acas help line for employees (tel 08457 47 47 47) about any implications for custom and practice (e.g. working from home as an accepted alternative) and the significance of health issues with reference to your daughter's home working arrangements--employers (assuming they employ over a certain number of staff) would be expected to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate employee disability.

I would contact the ACAS advice line. I think if it went to a Tribunal there is something called " Custom and Practice " If something has been established practice for a length of time then they can not change the rules.
Also welfare rights or the citizens advice bearue may be able to give advice, if your daughter is on a low income she could be eligible to get free legal advice and WR or CAB should be able to give her the relevant local contact details.

If your daughter has a disability there are other regulations that protect people with disabilities, if she has a health condition that is going to last for more than 12 months and effects the type of work she can undertake she could register at the Jobcentre as disabled, she would need to get a form from them to take to her GP but the process is realatively straight forward, just a form to fill in.
If she is registered disabled this would give her access to other help to either gain or keep employment such as travel expenses.
Good Luck and be persistant !!!

Well much as she didn't want to  daughter went into the office this week, only to find that her manager had gone on leave and no-one else knew she was coming in or what training she was supposed to do! so she did her normal work that she could have done more effectively from home on the Monday.
Some training was organised for the Tuesday and Wednesday but only took an hour or so each day. As the week before xmas is so quiet there was little to do. Apparently if she had gone in the new year there would have been a lot more work and therefore much more point to going into the office. They told her there is no point her going in for the next 2 days even though she has the train ticket for a week.

Anyway while she was there she visited the HR dept and they got out her contract and went through it and they have now confirmed that she IS entitled to claim expenses for travelling to the office so she can claim back the train fare for this week and will also put a claim in for other visits where she has paid.

And the best news of all the manager has been promoted so will not be her manager any more.

Good news all round :-)

> And the best news of all the manager has been promoted so will not be her manager any more.

This is called a 'Thanksgiving Promotion' - short for, pass the turkey!  Happens all too often...

Great news, glad it all worked out.