Renfrewshire Council

We want to make home working as comfortable and productive for everyone as possible. We are committed to providing you with the appropriate support and equipment to help you work from home in line with the demands of your role.

On this page:

• set up your work environment at home
• claim tax relief for working from home
• looking after your health and wellbeing
• continue your learning and development at home

Set up your work environment at home

ICT and office equipment

To help make working from home more comfortable for everyone we have introduced a safe process for requesting and collecting appropriate ICT and office equipment.

You should use existing equipment where at all possible. If you can't use or collect council furniture or equipment, your manager should follow the usual procurement process for new equipment. The cost of any new equipment must be covered by each directorate.

Assess your current working environment

To assess your current working environment, you must complete:

• the mandatory Display Screen Equipment (DSE) awareness course in iLearn
• your DSE self-assessment form on Business World.

See more advice and guidance on how to set up your workstation and other good practice for working from home [89KB] .

If you have any questions about setting up your home working environment, talk to your line manager for more information.

ICT Support

ICT will continue to provide support to staff who are working from home, and if you experience hardware, software or network issues you should report the fault or make a request in the usual way by contacting the ICT self-service portal.

Get safe online

You should follow the same online security precautions at home that you use in the workplace, including:

• choose, use and protect passwords carefully, and use a different one for every online account
• make you always have internet security software on your computer, laptop, mobile, tablet or other online device
• always apply updates to operating systems and software on your computer and apps on your mobile devices.
• never assume that public Wi-Fi hotspots in places like cafés, bars and hotel rooms are secure, so don't use them when you're doing anything confidential online.
• always consider that online or on the phone, people aren't always who they claim to be.
• don't click on links in emails, posts, tweets of texts - and don't open attachments - if you don't trust the source
• never pay for anything by direct bank transfer
• never reveal too much personal or financial information online, over the phone or in person
• always report fraud or abuse to the appropriate authorities.

You can find more advice about how to protect yourself and stay safe online on the Get Safe Online website. 

Claim tax relief for working from home

If you've had to work from home as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, you can claim tax relief on the expenses incurred for additional household costs. Follow the quick, step by step process on the HMRC website.

Look after your health and wellbeing

Our section on looking after your health and wellbeing has useful tips and information on staying emotionally and physically well while working at home. You'll find information about being safe at work, ideas on exercise, healthy eating, emotional wellbeing and information on what other supports and services are available to help you.

Continue your learning and development at home

Learning and development is just as important while you are working from home.

We'll let you know about new online learning programmes. You should discuss any learning and development requirements you have with your manager regularly.

iLearn

You can access a range of online learning through iLearn. It has hundreds of e-learning courses and other resources to help you develop your skills. You can take courses and gain skills when you need it, at a pace and place that is most convenient for you.

There are also interactive guides to support managers and teams to adapt to home working, maximise the benefits of home working and enhance digital skills.

Microsoft Teams

There is also an online learning guide for Microsoft 365 [1MB] with links to short videos about different Microsoft products and to the guidance produced by ICT on how to use Teams. 

Contact the team at hrpolicy@renfrewshire.gov.uk if you have any questions or feedback, or if you need advice and guidance on accessing any of the online learning resources and iLearn.