Late night transport for employees

Employers have a duty of care to their employees. But what is the extent of this duty when employees need to work unsocial working hours?

Under UK health and safety at work legislation (which is echoed in various forms in many other countries), employers are required to take all steps which are reasonably practicable to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees.

Ensuring that an employee gets home safely during unsocial working hours could fall within the employer’s ‘duty of care’. This is especially so in locations where the risks are greater, or where public transport is less available or reliable.

Often in these situations an employer will pay for a late night taxi for an employee to travel home from work.

There may be a taxable benefit where an employer provides free transport or pays for transport for an employee’s journey between home and a permanent workplace. However, in the UK there is a special tax exemption available where employees are required to work late ‘occasionally’.

The exemption applies where the following conditions are satisfied:

• The employee is required to work later than usual and until 9pm or later.
• The occasions are irregular.
• By the time the employee ceases work, either public transport has stopped, or it would not be reasonable to expect the employee to use public transport.
• The transport is by taxi, hire car or similar private road transport.

There is also an overall maximum allowance of 60 qualifying journeys in a tax year. No tax relief is available where employees work late by choice, where late working is a regular feature of employment or where the employer does not reimburse travel expenses.

Author Roger Williams, Quarmans Director