Government rules out working-from-home allowance for public service personnel

The Government has said it will not pay any daily allowance to staff in the public service for working from home during the current Covid-19 crisis.

Unions are understood not to have sought any such payments, however sources said some claims may have been made by individuals for a €3.20 daily allowance permitted by the Revenue Commissioners.

In updated guidance to public service employers, the Department of Public Expenditure said on Friday that they “should not pay a daily allowance (e.g. €3.20 per day) to their employees in respect of working from home”.

“It is open to employees to make claims directly from Revenue in respect of actual costs incurred in working from home at the end of the relevant tax year, in accordance with the relevant tax laws. Any claim in this regard is solely a matter for the individual concerned.”

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The Department of Public Expenditure said that “following the dramatic rise in working from home as a result of the Covid -19 crisis, queries have arisen on working from home (WFH )policies for public service employees”.

The department also said managers should “ realise the importance of making sure that employees are still using their annual leave entitlement”.

“Taking a break from work from a health and wellbeing perspective is a chance to recover from the demands of work. The benefits of taking annual leave are not limited to going on holiday; it can also be the taking time away from work to spend on personal interests,” it said.

“ Even without Covid-19, time away from work is directly correlated with reducing stress. Regular breaks from work have been shown to reduce ill-health and overall absenteeism.”

It said employers should “facilitate requests for annual leave where possible so that once the crisis passes, organisations can meet increased demand without having to cater to a large volume of annual leave requests”.