Roadmap delayed: government asks employees to work from home if they can for another four weeks

Last night, the Prime Minister announced that 'step 4' of his government's roadmap out of lockdown would be delayed by four weeks because of concerns about the spread of the Delta variant and the need to vaccinate more groups of adults. 

The advice to 'work from home if you can' is expected to apply until Monday 19 July at the earliest. The government has said that it will review the position again on or before 5 July but we don't expect them to move the date forwards.

Government guidance has been updated to reflect the new date and says that 'employers should take every possible step to facilitate their employees working from home, including providing suitable IT and equipment to enable remote working'.   

If your organisation has planned to start to re-introduce staff back to the office either on a full or hybrid arrangement from Monday 21 June, you will need to postpone your plans. 

If your staff can't work from home, you must continue to take steps to make your workplaces COVID-19 secure and help employees avoid busy times and routes on public transport. The guidance also encourages you to continue to give extra consideration to those people at 'higher risk' such as those who were previously required to shield. We explained the options open to you here.

Please note that COVID-secure rules, including social distancing requirements, continue to apply in the workplace. You can read the most up to date versions here. These were last updated on 18 May and reflect the lifting of restrictions under 'step 3' of the roadmap.

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