diff --git a/pkg/timeutil/timeutil.go b/pkg/timeutil/timeutil.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..abf1c99c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/timeutil/timeutil.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package timeutil
+
+import "time"
+
+// ToUTC returns a pointer to the same instant expressed in UTC.
+// Returns nil if t is nil.
+//
+// The go-sql-driver/mysql with loc=Local symmetrically converts on both
+// write (In(loc)) and read (parsed as loc), so the time.Time already
+// carries the correct instant; calling UTC() only normalises the zone.
+func ToUTC(t *time.Time) *time.Time {
+	if t == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	utc := t.UTC()
+	return &utc
+}
+
+// NowUTC returns the current time in UTC.
+func NowUTC() time.Time {
+	return time.Now().UTC()
+}