Yesterday evening (23 March 2020) the Prime Minister announced “Travelling to and from work [is permitted], but only where it is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home”.

Very shortly thereafter, the Government published the guidance on staying at home which said “Travelling to and from work [is permitted], but only where this work absolutely cannot be done from home.”

Then Government tweeted “The only reasons you may leave home [are]: … to go to work (if you’re a key worker)” which suggested that any premises which are not key workers must close and that is the employee was not a key worker, he should not go to work.

Then the Mayor of Manchester tweeted “…Have now spoken to No10 & had it confirmed that people CAN leave home to work – as long as they fully observe the 2m distancing rule. Seems to me to be in conflict with the big #StayAtHome message. But that’s the official policy….”. If he is right, that suggests that people can go to work provided their work cannot be done from home. This favours those employers who insist that their employees come in.

We are hoping for clarity in the form of legislation soon but the regulations were only laid before Parliament yesterday to implement last Friday’s instruction to close bars, pubs and restaurants so there is a time lag in changing guidance to law.

So, in a nutshell: if your employee’s can carry out their work in the workplace and remain 2m apart, they can come in to work.

Please check along with our easy to follow flowchart: