EIM32281 | Travel expenses: travel for necessary attendance: safeguards against abuse: changes to a workplace: example

An employee is employed on a construction site for a period that is expected to last no longer than 18 months. At the end of that time his employer buys an adjacent plot to extend the site. The employee moves to work on the new plot and is expected to remain there for a further 9 months. His journey to work (and, in particular, its cost) does not change significantly.

The first site is a temporary workplace. His attendance is for a limited duration, see EIM32075. The site is not prevented from being a temporary workplace by the further rule explained in EIM32080. Although he attends it in a period of continuous work (40% or more of his working time), the period is not expected to last more than 24 months. So he can deduct the cost of travel between his home and the first site for that 18 month period.

The second site is not recognised as a new workplace because the change of site has no substantial effect on the employee’s journey to work, see EIM32280. The two sites are treated as a single workplace. Although the attendance at that single workplace is for a limited duration the workplace is prevented from being a temporary workplace by the further rule explained in EIM32080. The attendance is in a period of continuous work that is expected to last for more than 24 months (18 + 9 = 27 months).