Martin Lewis: Claim £250 under Boris Johnson's new Covid Plan B measures

Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday that work-from-home guidance will return, Covid health certificates are to become mandatory in large venues and mask rules will be extended to combat the rapidly-spreading strain in England.

But despite the strengthening of the rules he said Christmas parties and nativities could go ahead, as he set out the move while under increasing pressure over the event in No 10 last December.

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The introduction of Plan B measures will see millions more once again being asked to work from home in an attempt to tackle the concerning rise of Omicron variant cases.

Martin Lewis explains how workers can claim tax free cash

In wake of the new Covid measures, Martin Lewis has reminded workers they can claim working from home tax relief.

In response to Boris Johnson’s announcement, the Money Saving expert founder shared advice from April last year to his 1.2 million Twitter followers.  

Now employers are being told to get staff to work from home where possible (again). Employees, who haven't yet, are eligible to claim tax relief if you incur extra costs. My full guide to it here... https://t.co/ZEDHijjYRj

— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) December 8, 2021

The cash-saving guru regularly provides financial advice through weekly newsletter and TV appearances including his own ITV show, The Martin Lewis Money Show.

At the turn of the new tax year HMRC made changes to their website to include news details on working from home tax relief.

Over 2 million claimed tax relief last year after Martin Lewis urged workers to apply both on his website and on his ITV show.

If you are yet to claim, you still can with a total gain of up to £250.

Before the pandemic, people could only claim for time spent at home however that changed a few months into lockdown.

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HMRC told Martin Lewis at the time: "We recognise that the working-from-home situation is very fluid this year, so we're accepting claims for the full year's expenses, even if people have only worked from home for some of the year, to avoid needing to contact us if you have to work from home again."

How much can you claim from working from home tax relief?

The Government website explains how working from home tax relief works:

You can either claim tax relief on:

• £6 a week from 6 April 2020 (for previous tax years the rate is £4 a week) - you will not need to keep evidence of your extra costs
• the exact amount of extra costs you’ve incurred above the weekly amount - you’ll need evidence such as receipts, bills or contracts

You’ll get tax relief based on the rate at which you pay tax. For example, if you pay the 20% basic rate of tax and claim tax relief on £6 a week you would get £1.20 per week in tax relief (20% of £6).

More advice new tax year must-dos can be found on the Money Saving Expert website.