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In short
- Meals bought while travelling for work or at a temporary workplace can be claimed.
- Meals at your normal workplace never can.
- HMRC benchmark rates your employer can pay tax-free: £5 for 5 hours, £10 for 10 hours, £25 for 15 hours and still travelling at 8pm. If your employer pays nothing, you claim the actual cost, with receipts.
- Drivers, security and offshore staff claim this most.
Most often claimed by agency drivers, offshore workers and construction workers on PAYE.
The temporary workplace rule
Subsistence follows travel. If a journey qualifies as work travel (see work mileage), food bought on it can be claimed. If the journey is an ordinary commute, so is the sandwich.
Benchmark rates
| Time away from home or base | Rate |
|---|---|
| 5 hours or more | £5 |
| 10 hours or more | £10 |
| 15 hours or more, and still out after 8pm | £25 |
Employers may pay these tax-free. If yours does not, you may be able to claim relief on actual costs instead.
What you need
A record of the days and journeys. Receipts help for actual cost claims but rotas and timesheets show the pattern.
Worked example
A directly employed driver at temporary depots 200 days a year, buying lunch each day, average £6. £1,200 of relief, £240 tax back a year at 20%.
Questions
I bring food from home.
Then there is no cost to claim.
Night shifts at one site?
A single permanent site is not a temporary workplace, so meals there do not count.
This guide is general information, not advice about your circumstances. Figures use HMRC rates for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. We are a paid tax agent and not HMRC.
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