The Prime Minister has today announced that all Plan B measures will be dropped from next Thursday but that ahead of that the guidance to ‘go to work if you must but work from home if you can’, will end from the end of today, 19 January 2022.
Employers are therefore now entitled to require employees to return to their place of work in accordance with their general contractual obligations. Employers do still need to ensure that they have undertaken and update their risk assessments for the workplace to ensure that everyone’s health and safety is protected, however these obligations are significantly lighter given the government’s guidance that the risk level has dropped greatly from December.
The government has also announced it’s intention to review the requirement for individuals to self-isolate if they test positive for COVID. The Prime Minister announced that unless something material changes it is likely that these rules will be allowed to lapse on 24 March 2022 when the regulations are due to expire and it is possible that this will be brought forward by some weeks. An announcement on this is expected in the coming days.
If you are affected by this change or want to know what this means for you and your staff please do contact our Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.