How should employers arrange home charging for company car drivers?

Agree installation, electricity payment and exit arrangements before your employee receives the car. HMRC lists a home advisory electric rate of 7 pence per business mile from September 2026 [S1]. That reimbursement route differs from paying evidenced company-car electricity costs. Check the chosen method and tax treatment with your accountant, and provide alternatives where home charging is unsuitable. Checked October 2026.

Last checked 16 October 2026

What should you agree before an employee charges a company car at home?

Start with the vehicle and the employee’s parking arrangement. Confirm whether it is an employer-provided company car or an employee-owned car used for business. HMRC treats those situations differently [S2]. This guide focuses on company cars; check the tax and payroll treatment with your accountant before adopting a policy.

Private use of the company car itself can still attract company car tax [S8]. Check that separately with your accountant.

Our suggested agreement records who pays for the charger, who owns it, how electricity is reimbursed and who handles faults. Include what happens when the employee changes car, moves home or leaves. Give the employee a usable explanation before installation rather than relying on a billing-service brochure.

Use your fleet roadmap to schedule the car and charging together. Ask the driver whether charging can support their duties, including early starts and travel away from home. Keep an alternative available while suitability is assessed.

What installation checks does a company car home charger need?

Have an installer survey the parking place, electrical supply, cable route and proposed equipment. Government connection guidance says the installer determines whether the distribution network operator, or DNO, must be involved before or after installation [S5]. A DNO manages the local electricity distribution network.

Request a written scope covering equipment, electrical work, reinstatement, commissioning and handover. Ask who obtains property permissions and who pays if the survey identifies additional work. Where the employee rents or shares parking, check the proposed permissions and access arrangements with the property owner and, where necessary, your solicitor.

Eligible private chargepoints sold in Great Britain are covered by smart chargepoint requirements [S4]. Ask the installer to identify the applicable rules for the installation’s nation and equipment. Use the smart chargepoint guide to frame that question. Do not assume an app connection alone demonstrates complete compliance.

How do you work out what electricity payment is owed?

Choose and document a method. HMRC’s advisory electric rates concern specified company-car business reimbursements and private repayments. From September 2026, the listed rates are 7 pence per mile for home charging and 15 pence for public charging [S1]. For mixed charging, HMRC permits fair and reasonable apportionment. Check the method with your accountant.

A separate HMRC explanation says reimbursement of electricity solely for the company car does not create a separate charge under the benefits code [S2]. That is not permission to reimburse the whole household bill. Ask your accountant to confirm the records and payroll handling, including the National Insurance position.

For an illustration of measured reimbursement, assume 300 kilowatt-hours, or kWh, attributable to the company car at an evidenced 24 pence per kWh. The energy amount is 300 × £0.24 = £72. Both values are assumptions, not a tariff recommendation. A kWh measures energy; a kilowatt, or kW, measures power.

Keep that calculation separate from a mileage claim for the same energy. Ask the billing service to demonstrate a mixed-use household, a tariff change and a correction. Read the reimbursement guide before choosing the administration process.

Can an employer get a grant for charging at an employee’s home?

OZEV’s Workplace Charging Scheme guidance includes employer installations at employees’ homes for company vehicles where they cannot charge at work. It requires evidence of employment and permission to install [S3]. Eligibility is conditional, so ask the authorised installer to check the specific arrangement before work starts.

The scheme’s published cap is £500 per socket, within its wider applicant limits, with support available until 31 March 2027 [S3]. Do not assume each employee has a separate employer allowance. Have the scheme applicant maintain the grant record and obtain the required voucher before installation.

Ask the quote to show the gross installation cost, any eligible grant deduction and the balance payable. Do not combine assumed awards into the fleet ownership-cost model. Have your accountant confirm how any actual grant affects the accounting treatment.

How should you support employees who cannot charge at home?

Do not make driveway ownership the unstated condition of your fleet plan. The official commercial-van research examines charging patterns and barriers [S7]. Use that as a prompt to ask about access rather than assuming every driver can install equipment.

Our suggested alternatives review compares workplace charging, suitable public locations and the driver’s duty pattern. Test parking access and the time available before agreeing the car arrangement. Set a payment process for the alternative as clearly as for home charging, including who resolves a failed payment or charging session.

Explain how workplace charging fits the policy. HMRC’s employer guidance distinguishes charging an employer-owned or hired fully electric car from charging an employee-owned vehicle [S6]. Check the treatment with your accountant rather than copying a rule between arrangements.

What happens when the employee moves home or leaves?

Agree this before buying equipment. Suggested terms cover charger ownership, software access, future maintenance, transfer, removal and reinstatement. Ask your solicitor to review any proposed employee repayment obligation and the property arrangements.

Treat a new address as a new suitability assessment. Update the payment records and equipment access when a vehicle or driver changes. Have the employee report faults through a known route, and specify an alternative charging process while the equipment is unavailable. Retain the commissioning and service information where the responsible team can retrieve it.

What should you do next?

Prepare a company-car charging policy, an employee suitability questionnaire and a quote brief. Confirm the reimbursement method with your accountant and the property and exit terms with your solicitor before installation.

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