Time travelling, but who pays?

James Howarth, Associate

In the case of HMRC v Taylors Services Ltd [2025], the courts were asked to consider whether time spent travelling between workers’ homes and work assignments constituted “time work” under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 (the “NMW Regulations”), and was therefore eligible to the National Minimum Wage.

Taylors Services engaged workers on zero-hour contracts to carry out work at various locations nationwide. Although these workers had a ‘base premises’, Taylors Services would facilitate worker travel, by providing a minibus to collect workers from their homes which would then take them to their assignment, wherever that might be. It was not uncommon for the travel time to be up to four hours each way. Workers were not paid for this travel time.

HMRC issued notices of underpayment to Taylor Services, arguing that the time workers were travelling to their assignment warranted National Minimum Wage payments according to the NMW Regulations. Taylor Services disagreed, saying it should be unpaid.

This decision was challenged by Taylor Services through the Tribunal system, with differing decisions reached in the Employment Tribunal, who supported HMRC’s view, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”), who determined that travel time did not constitute “work” under the NMW Regulations, and could therefore be unpaid.

HMRC then challenged the EAT decision in the Court of Appeal (“CA”). The CA ruled that time spent travelling between workers’ homes and work sites does not constitute “time work” under the NMW Regulations, even when journeys were lengthy and undertaken in employer-provided transport. Important to this decision was that, during this travel time, workers were not required to undertake any work activities for Taylor Services, and in fact often spent that time sleeping, socialising or looking for alternative employment online.

The CA did say however, that if the minibus travel was from the workers’ ‘base premise’, and not their home, then this would have likely been considered to be “time work” which would have required the minimum wage to be paid.

NMW Regulations are complex, and we would encourage employers to take expert advice on how they apply, especially given the risk of HMRC enforcement action, being ‘named and shamed’, and the significant penalties that can be levied. That being said, this decision does provide some clarification around travel time between a worker’s home and their assigned place of work, and that it is unlikely to constitute time work for national minimum wage purposes.

Speak to a member of the Employment team if you have any questions on this case or general national minimum wage queries.