Business closures clarification - Workers travelling to work
We are receiving a lot of questions from both employers and employees on whether businesses in our sector can remain open - and it has been brought to our attention some employees are now being questioned on their travel to work by authorities (in job roles where it is not possible to work from home).
The current guidance from Government is clear - there is no requirement for businesses to close unless they are on the Businesses and Venues that must remain closed list however, employees should only be travelling to work where it is not possible for them to work from home.
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Going to work
The UK government advice is as follows:
“As set out in the section on staying at home, you can travel for work purposes, but only where you cannot work from home.
With the exception of the organisations covered above in the section on closing certain businesses and venues, the government has not required any other businesses to close – indeed it is important for business to carry on.
- Employers and employees should discuss their working arrangements, and employers should take every possible step to facilitate their employees working from home, including providing suitable IT and equipment to enable remote working.
- Sometimes this will not be possible, as not everyone can work from home. Certain jobs require people to travel to, from and for their work – for instance if they operate machinery, work in construction or manufacturing, or are delivering front line services.
If you cannot work from home then you can still travel for work purposes, provided you are not showing coronavirus symptoms and neither you nor any of your household are self-isolating. This is consistent with advice from the Chief Medical Officer.
Employers who have people in their offices or onsite should ensure that employees are able to follow Public Health England Guidelines."
Government Links
"To travel for the purposes of work......where it is not reasonably possible for that person to work, or to provide those services, from the place where they are living”
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made
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DO I NEED TO PROVE MY STATUS TO GO TO WORK?
Employees can travel for work purposes, but only where they cannot work from home. Employees should not need to provide evidence that they are travelling for work, but it is becoming increasingly useful to be able to do so, and the Police may challenge your staff.
BOSS have been asked by members to help provide guidance for a letter template - which we have uploaded in the member area www.bossfederation.co.uk/coronavirus. This will help your staff prove that they have valid reasons for travel, but, please ensure that you and your staff only travel for work where this really cannot be done from home - otherwise we risk an even wider set of restrictions.
To emphasise: all employees should work from home "where it is possible to do so".
For further information on H&S for workers, please login and go to www.bossfederation.co.uk/coronavirus.
If you are not a BOSS member, and require support at this time please email hello@bossfederation.co.uk and we will put you in touch with our teams to discuss requirements.