Reminder: withdrawal of the ‘representative occupiers’ concession for living accommodation from 6 April 2021

Historically, a non-statutory exemption has applied in respect of employees provided with living accommodation and treated as representative occupiers since 5 April 1977. This exemption has also applied to successors to the particular post that carried representative occupier status.

This exemption is an Extra Statutory Concession (ESC) and therefore not in legislation. HMRC have undertaken a review of all ESCs and determined that this one would be withdrawn with effect from 6 April 2021.

A number of schools, colleges and universities have relied on this concession possibly without realising that it was not a statutory exemption. Employers will now need to review posts at risk and consider whether any of the statutory exemptions will apply. This could see many employers in the education sector having to consider whether they can still provide some staff with accommodation.

In our update we look at three potential statutory exemptions available.