Taxing care staff during Covid for taking sensible precautions

Credit to Tim Wye for gaining the following written response:

Question:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the cost of taxi trips for care home staff that were paid for by the Infection Control Grant are treated by HMRC as a benefit in kind for employees and so are taxable; and if he will instruct HMRC to publish updated guidance on that matter.

Answer:
The provision or reimbursement of the costs of taxis, or similar road transport, for travel between an employee’s home and workplace will not be taxed if all the following conditions are met:

the employee has to work later than usual, and until at least 9pm,
this happens irregularly,
by the time the employee finishes work, either public transport has stopped, or it would not be reasonable to expect them to use public transport.

Where the employer funds the provision or reimbursement of costs of transport using the Infection Control Grant, the same conditions apply.

Where the conditions are not met, the provision of transport or reimbursement of the costs of transport to employees for travel between the employee’s home and workplace will be taxable.

HMRC updated its guidance on paying or refunding transport costs during coronavirus (COVID-19) on 23 March 2021: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-treat-certain-expenses-and-benefits-provided-to-employees-during-coronavirus-covid-19#paying-or-refunding-transport-costs