Winter in the UK hits different when you run a Limited Company.

Dark mornings. Freezing offices. Motivation on the floor and the kind of fatigue that makes your brain feel like it’s running on Windows 95.
The good news?
Your limited company can legally make winter far more bearable, boost your productivity and keep your mood from sliding into “seasonal existential crisis” territory.
Here’s how to survive the cold months using tax-efficient perks, smart expenses and a bit of common sense.

1. Get Yourself a SAD Lamp (Yes, Your Company Can Pay)
A SAD lamp under £50 qualifies as a trivial benefit.
It’s small, occasional and not linked to performance.
In other words, your company can absolutely gift you some artificial sunlight to fight off the gloom.

2. Heated Desk Pad or Foot Warmer
Also a trivial benefit.
Cheap, cheerful, and honestly life-changing for anyone who works at a desk and has ice blocks for feet between November and March.

3. Upgrade Your Actual Office Environment
If you work from a dedicated home office, your company can improve the workspace:
• Better lighting
• Ergonomic chair
• Monitor risers
• Insulated curtains
• Desk lamps
• Space heater (reasonable, not nuclear reactor level)
These are business assets because they improve your place of work.
Not a taxable benefit, just sensible, allowable spending.

4. Subscriptions That Keep Your Brain Online
Focus apps, meditation tools, productivity platforms…
If they support your performance at work, they’re usually allowable business expenses.
Directors often forget how much these small tools help with winter sluggishness.

5. Ergonomic Desk Support
This is the cleanest category of all.
Your company can buy anything that keeps your workspace safe and prevents strain:
• Vertical mouse
• Wrist rests
• Lumbar cushions
• Footrests
• Monitor stands
Totally allowable. No dual-purpose arguments.

6. A Proper Strategy Retreat (Yes, Really)
Not “a holiday disguised as work”.
A real, structured, documented strategy retreat. If the trip is wholly and exclusively for business (this is key) – planning, reviewing, forecasting, strategising – then travel and accommodation are legitimate business expenses. Make sure the trip is fully documented.
Winter is the perfect time to do it, because your environment massively affects your thinking.

7. Training and CPD
Your brain needs something to focus on when daylight disappears at 4pm.
Courses, workshops, professional development…
All fully allowable and brilliant for keeping you motivated through the darker months.

8. Hot Chocolates While Travelling for Work
If you’re travelling for business – a client meeting, conference, site visit, overnight stay -subsistence is allowable.
Food, drink, coffees, and yes, that hot chocolate.
But let’s be clear:
Personal errands don’t count. A Tesco run is not business travel.

9. Cosy Trivial Benefits
You can absolutely give yourself (or your staff) small winter comforts as trivial benefits:
• Fluffy socks
• Hats
• Gloves
• Scarves
• Hand warmers
As long as they’re under £50, occasional and not rewards for performance, you’re good.

10. Stop Suffering Through Winter Alone
Most directors just “get on with it” while quietly freezing, squinting at gloomy screens, sitting on uncomfortable chairs and drinking overpriced coffees they could have legitimately claimed.
When you use the tools your limited company is allowed to give you, winter becomes far more bearable and your productivity improves.

Need help making the most of what your limited company is allowed to do?

This is exactly what we help directors with every day: the rules, the grey areas, the smart decisions and the stuff other accountants never explain properly.
If you want real support this winter – clarity, calm and someone who actually tells you what you can claim – get in touch.
Your company can’t fix the British weather, but it can absolutely make the season less miserable.