The Chancellor’s launch of a new scheme to protect jobs hit the headlines last week. There have also been a number of other significant national developments over the last few days.
These include:
- revisions to Government guidance on working from home
- an important joint statement on managing redundancies
- new legal obligations on employers to support self-isolation
Job Support Scheme
This new Scheme will run for six months from the beginning of November. The aim is to support viable jobs by providing financial assistance for short-time working. All SMEs automatically qualify for this support, but there will be eligibility requirements for larger businesses.
For more information see our FAQ document which collates what we know about the Scheme so far. Formal guidance with more detailed information is expected shortly.
Work from home if you can
Guidance has now been published, following the Government’s change of direction on 22 September about whether workers should return to the office. Revised guidance now states that “office workers who can work effectively from home should do so over the winter”.
As with previous iterations of the guidance, this leaves the decision about the precise arrangements to make in the hands of the employer, subject to the overriding legal requirement that the health risks of returning to the workplace must be reduced to the lowest practicable level. As previously, employers are encouraged to consult with their staff about the exact arrangements to be adopted.
New criminal sanctions to support test and trace
New regulations which came into force on 28 September impose new duties on employers to support test and trace. Relevant measures include imposing criminal sanctions on an employer if they “knowingly permit” a worker who is self-isolating to attend the workplace, though they may of course continue to work from home if they are self-isolating there.
The regulations also impose a legal obligation on workers to tell their employer they are self-isolating.
ACAS/CBI/TUC joint statement on handling redundancies
A joint statement from ACAS, the CBI and the TUC, issued on 24 September, encourages employers to “exhaust all possible alternatives before making redundancies”. This message is supported by articulating five key principles to help employers get the process right.
Publishing a joint statement like this is an unusual step, and it is safe to assume that employment tribunals will take note of it when assessing the fairness of any future redundancy process. However, the principles it sets out are well established, and it does not have the status of a formal code of practice.