Living with Covid-19: The Latest News for Employers
The UK Prime Minister recently announced the living with Covid-19 strategy for England. All Covid legal restrictions will end in England on Thursday 24th of February and free testing will stop from Friday the 1st of April.
Here’s what employers need to know:
Self-isolation
Currently, if you test positive for Covid-19 you are legally required to self-isolate for ten days or five days following a negative lateral flow test on days five and six. From the 24th of February, this will be removed. A minimum five-day self-isolation period will still be advised, but workers are not obliged to tell their employers if they have tested positive and need to self-isolate. This change may cause some issues for employers.
Although the Government’s rules have changed, employers still have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm from occurring to their employees. Additionally, the relaxation of the rules will cause concern for employees who are fearful of contracting Covid-19. This may result in a reluctance to return to the workplace. Employers should continue to comply with the Government’s ‘Working safely during Covid-19’ guidance, which will remain in force until the 1st of April 2022.
Employers may advise employees to self-isolate for a minimum of five days following a positive Covid-19 test and may consider going further than Government guidance in the workplace. If they do, they will have to consider their position in relation to sick pay if the employee cannot work from home.
From the 24th of February, vaccinated contacts of a positive Covid-19 case will no longer be required to test for seven days and unvaccinated contacts will no longer have to self-isolate. Furthermore, from this date self-isolation support payment will also end. The support payments for self-isolation will also end on this date.
From the 24th of March, there will be changes to statutory sick pay and the employment support allowance will come to an end.
Testing
The Prime Minister also announced that the free universal symptomatic and asymptomatic lateral flow and PCR testing will be removed from April 1st. The UK Health Security Agency will decide who is entitled to free tests, but this will be limited to symptomatic at-risk groups and social care staff. Anyone else who does not fall into these categories will have to pay.
Numerous employers are relying on regular employee testing to keep their workplace Covid free. Once testing is no longer available for free, employers will have to determine a new approach. They may have to consider purchasing test kits for their employees.
Vaccination
The Government announced additional booster jabs for those ages 75 and over. Mandatory vaccination polices have been risky, they can lead to legal risks including, data privacy, unfair dismissal, and discrimination. The Government intend to revoke plans to make vaccination mandatory for all health and social care settings in England, however, it has not been officially confirmed when or if this will happen.
Hybrid Working
Aside from health and safety concerns, some employees may be reluctant to return to the workplace due to a change in lifestyle. Employers will need to consider whether their employment contracts contain a requirement to work at the workplace, and if so, whether it is reasonable to enforce such requirements. Many employees will have the right to request flexible working, to which the Government is working on considered responses to these requests. Employers should treat these requests very carefully. If an employee has successfully performed their role at home during multiple lockdowns, then it would be extremely difficult to refuse a flexible working request.
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