Government Confirms That Employees Should Return To Working From Home If They Can

Due to the rise in Covid-19 cases, the Government has rolled out measures in an attempt to combat the spread of the virus, which includes employees returning to working from home, if they can.

Other measures announced by the Government include:

• Employees of retail and hospitality businesses having to wear face masks; and
• Pubs and restaurants being required to close at 10pm from Thursday (24th September).

Boris Johnson commented in the House of Commons:

 “This is the moment where we must act. If we can curb the number of daily infections… we can save lives, protect the NHS and shelter the economy. A stitch in time saves nine.

“We are once again asking office workers who can work from home to do so. In key public services and in all professions where home working is not possible such as construction or retail, people should continue to attend their workplaces.”

The Prime Minister added that businesses and employers should expect these measures to be in place for up to six months.

These measures follow the UK’s coronavirus alert level being upgraded from three to four on Monday, which means a high or rising level of virus transmission.

What do the measures mean for employers?

Fundamentally, businesses who have recently had their employees return to the workplace will have to revert back to their staff members working from home, if employees can do so effectively.

As when the lockdown was first announced back in March, we recommend businesses check/review and/or update their home working policies – or implement a policy if one doesn’t already exist – to make sure employees know what is expected of them.

As it appears likely that these measures will be in place until Spring, employers should think about procedures for keeping in touch and how to use technology to communicate with their members of staff, if they haven’t already done this.

Employers will also need to make sure, again if they haven’t already done so, that their employees have the required equipment they need for home working. This will require consideration of IT provision but also HR policies around working from home, removing IT equipment from the office and using personal devices for work.

What about businesses whose employees cannot work from home? Are they allowed to go into work?

Certain businesses and venues which have remained closed throughout the entirety of lockdown (e.g. nightclubs, sexual entertainment venues and hostess bars) will continue to remain closed, however, other businesses, whose employees cannot work from home, can remain open to the public – e.g. education settings. Workplaces which are open need to make sure they continue to comply with the requirement to be Covid-19 secure.

Workers who are clinically extremely vulnerable and are not able to work from home, can go to work on the basis that the workplace is Covid-19 Secure.

Employees with Covid-19 symptoms should not attend work, and should self-isolate and get tested.

Updates to the Covid-19 Secure safety guidelines for businesses

From Thursday (24^th September), certain businesses will be legally required to put in place the following key Covid-19 Secure measures:

• Food and drink venues (except takeaways) have to provide table service to their customers to prevent queuing. Additionally, customers have to be seated when consuming food and drink inside a business’ premises.
• As previously mentioned, venues will have restricted opening hours, which will require certain venues having to be closed to the public between 10pm and 5am. Those venues include:
  • Venues selling food and/or drinks (including cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants);
  • Social clubs:
  • Casinos;
  • Bowling alleys;
  • Amusement arcades (and other indoor leisure centres of facilities);
  • Fun fairs;
  • Theme parks;
  • Adventure parks; and
  • Bingo halls.
• Venues which sell food and drink which is to be consumed away from the business’ premises (e.g. takeaways, or those who operate a delivery or drive-thru service), can continue to do so.
• Theatres, concert halls and cinemas can remain open after 10pm, on the basis that the show/film began before 10pm. These venues should not serve food and/or drink after 10pm.

From Monday 28^th September, further Government measures will also become law, these include:

• Further leisure and entertainment venues, services provided in community centres and close contact settings will become legally obligated to the Covid-19 Secure requirements. This includes these venues reminding their customers to wear face coverings where legally required.

The rule of six does not apply to work gatherings, and where a group includes a person who is working, that person is not counted within the rule of six limit. For example, a working tradesperson is able to enter a household of six people without breaching the limit.

Businesses who fail to comply

Where employers do not comply with the public health legislation and guidance to control public health risks, the enforcing authority, e.g. the Health and Safety Executive or the business’ local authority, will provide specific advice to the business to improve the control of workplace risks linked to the coronavirus.

The enforcing authority may decide to issue an improvement notice, which a business must respond to within a specific period of time, or a prohibition notice. If the business does not comply with the advice and/or notices, then this could be deemed to be a criminal offence, potentially leading to imprisonment and/or fines. The enforcing authority can also place certain restrictions on the business or close it, if they deem it to be necessary to help stop the spread of Covid-19.