Ellie Hand, employment lawyer at Bhayani Law
By Ellie Hand, Employment layer at Legal Futures Associate Bhayani Law
Whilst vaccination remains the first line of defence against COVID-19 as the Prime Minister sets out the Government’s plans to live with and manage the virus.
The vaccination programme was hugely successful and helped the UK to build up immunity across the population. To save lives and protect the NHS, unprecedented measures were taken to protect people’s lives and livelihoods. We saw the government spend billions of pounds on supporting a locked-down economy as the public stayed at home.
Rule changes from 24 February 2022
On 21 February 2022, the Prime Minister confirmed that domestic legal restrictions will end on 24 February 2022, as we begin to treat COVID-19 as other infectious diseases such as flu. The end to the restrictions means that:
- The legal requirement to self-isolate ends. The government has set out guidance, advising all adults and children who test positive for COVID-19 to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least five full days, until 01 April 2022. From April, the government will update guidance setting out the ongoing steps that people with COVID-19 should take to be careful and considerate of others;
- Self-isolation support payments, national funding for practical support and the medicine delivery service will no longer be available;
- Routine contact tracing is set to end, including venue check-ins on the NHS COVID-19 app; and
- Fully vaccinated adults will no longer be required to test daily after close contact with a COVID -19 positive person and those who are unvaccinated will no longer be required to self-isolate.
The government remains ready to respond if a new variant emerges and places unsustainable pressure on the NHS.
From 01 April 2022, the government will:
- Remove the current guidance on voluntary COVID-status certification in domestic settings and no longer recommend certain venues use the NHS COVID pass;
- No longer provide free universal symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the general public in England; and
- Remove the health and safety requirement for every employer to explicitly consider COVID-19 in their risk assessment.
What does this mean for businesses?
Many businesses feel they will be flying blind from Thursday when all COVID-19 restrictions in England end. The government’s phrase of living with COVID-19 doesn’t mean that employers should abandon the measures put in place to protect staff members – at least not yet.
We advise that organisations keep an “open dialogue” with their staff and respect their concerns about returning to the office. Employers have a duty under the common law to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to their employees. The £500 payment for those on low incomes who test positive for COVID-19 will be scrapped from Thursday, along with routine contact tracing, and workers will no longer be required to tell their employers if they have to self-isolate.
From 24 March 2022, employees with COVID-19 will also no longer be eligible for statutory sick pay (SSP) from day one of their illness – with SSP only being paid on the fourth consecutive day of illness.
Whilst many businesses will want to continue to ask individuals with COVID-19 to stay at home after the guidance changes, organisations will need to have a legitimate business case to explain why a COVID-19 isolation policy is needed – for example, to protect vulnerable staff or clients.
Employers will need to decide whether they want to make testing a requirement going forwards, and if so, whether they will provide testing kits to staff – and consider how the changing rules around SSP might affect the business.
Although the end of the extended SSP scheme for individuals who are COVID positive could mean lower costs for employers, the end of the SSP Rebate Scheme for smaller employers will also mean some organisations will see their SSP bill go up.
Employees may be confused by the new public messaging, and therefore it is advised that organisations clearly explain what rules they will have in place and why. This includes informing employees of how much they will be paid if they self-isolate and what may happen to members of staff who ignore the rules.
To find out more about Coronavirus and advice for both employers and employees, please click here.
On the back of this guidance, many employees and employers are asking what they should do about social distancing and work from home guidance, again considering the government’s living with COVID-19 announcement.
Common questions from businesses
This week we have been asked the following questions:
- Are we still required to take specific steps to protect pregnant employees?
- Do we still have to continue to follow the ‘working safely during COVID-19’ guidance?
- How do we protect those employees who are clinically vulnerable, or live with someone who is?
- Are we required to pay staff who choose to self-isolate, whether they have tested positive, or been in close contact with a COVID positive person?
- Can we ask staff to continue to test themselves on a regular basis? And if so, who pays for the tests when the free tests are removed?
- Can our employees refuse to return to work because they have fears over COVID-19?
How can we help?
If you want advice on dealing with the new government announcement, or you would like to discuss the above common questions, please contact us at hello@bhayanilaw.co.uk or call us on 0333 888 1360.
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