Can You Ask Employees to Work With COVID? Legal Guidance for UK Employers

No, you shouldn't require an employee with COVID-19 to attend the workplace if that would create an avoidable health and safety risk. There's no longer a general legal duty to self-isolate in the UK, but you still need to manage workplace risks, follow current public health guidance and make sensible decisions about sick leave, remote work and vulnerable staff.

For most employers, the practical rule is simple: if someone is too unwell to work, treat it as sickness absence. If they're well enough and their job can be done from home, let them work remotely during the advisory period. If the job must be done on site, pause before asking them in and check whether attendance is reasonably safe for your workplace, your customers and the rest of your team.

What Is The Short Answer For Employers?

There's no current UK law that automatically bans a person with COVID-19 from working. The legal requirement to self-isolate has ended, and most businesses no longer need a separate COVID-19 risk assessment just because COVID exists in the community.

That doesn't mean you can ignore it. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, you must protect the health, safety and welfare of your employees and others affected by your business so far as is reasonably practicable. That includes customers, contractors, visitors and, in some settings, vulnerable service users.

The Health and Safety Executive says it no longer expects every business to include COVID-19 specifically in its risk assessment unless the work activities create a higher risk of exposure, for example health or social care. You still have general duties to keep the workplace safe, and those duties can include proportionate steps around respiratory infections.

• HSE workplace COVID page: Coronavirus advice for workplaces confirms the current position on COVID-specific risk assessments.
• UK workplace guidance: Reducing the spread of respiratory infections in the workplace sets out practical workplace measures.

So, if you're asking, "Can I make an employee come in when they have COVID?", the better question is: "Would that be a reasonable and safe management decision in this particular workplace today?"

Can Employees Go To Work With COVID?

An employee isn't automatically breaking the law by going to work with COVID-19. However, official public health advice still encourages people who have symptoms or test positive to reduce contact with others.

In England, NHS advice says adults who have a positive COVID-19 test should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days after the day they took the test. They should also try to avoid meeting people at higher risk from COVID-19 for 10 days after the day of the test. Children and young people are generally advised to try to stay at home for 3 days after the day of the test. You can check the current NHS summary here: COVID-19 symptoms and what to do.

Public health advice is devolved, so if your staff work in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, check the relevant guidance too:

• Scotland:NHS Inform: Coronavirus.
• Wales:Gov.Wales guidance.
• Northern Ireland:nidirect advice.

If your business operates across the UK, it's usually safest to set a baseline policy that says staff should tell their manager if they have a positive test or significant respiratory symptoms, stay away from the workplace where possible during the relevant advisory period, and work from home only if they're well enough.

Can You Require Staff To Attend The Workplace If They Have COVID?

You can require employees to attend work where it's lawful, reasonable and consistent with their contract, policies and your health and safety duties. But asking someone who has COVID-19 to attend the workplace is higher risk than a normal attendance direction.

Before requiring attendance, consider:

• How unwell they are. If they aren't fit to work, it should be treated as sickness absence, not a conduct issue.
• Whether the role can be done remotely. Remote work is often the simplest and lowest-risk solution where the employee is well enough.
• The workplace layout. A small, poorly ventilated room is different from a large, well-ventilated site where the employee can work alone.
• Who they will be near. Risk is higher where staff work with clinically vulnerable people, older clients, pregnant employees or people with weakened immune systems.
• Your sector rules. Health and adult social care employers should follow sector-specific infection prevention and control guidance, including IPC in adult social care for acute respiratory infection and NHS England IPC resources: National IPC resources.
• Your own policies. If your sickness or remote work policy says employees should stay home after a positive test, apply it consistently.

If you decide on-site attendance is genuinely necessary, document your reasoning and put controls in place. That might include a separate work area, avoiding face-to-face meetings, improved ventilation, temporary task changes and clear hygiene measures. For many small businesses, however, the safer call is to keep the employee away from the workplace for the short advisory period.

What Should You Pay Staff Who Cannot Work?

If an employee is too unwell to work because of COVID-19, manage it under your normal sickness absence process. Any contractual sick pay should be paid according to the employee's contract and your policies.

Statutory Sick Pay, or SSP, is still relevant where an eligible employee is off sick. The current rate, eligibility rules and waiting-day rules should be checked on GOV.UK at the time you're processing payroll, especially because SSP reform has been moving through implementation. Use the live official guidance rather than relying on old COVID-era rules.

• GOV.UK current calculation guidance: Manual SSP calculation.
• Government announcements on reforms: News release and policy papers such as the SSP reform summary (PDF).
• ACAS overview of current eligibility and waiting days: ACAS SSP.

If the employee isn't too sick to work but you decide, for health and safety reasons, that they shouldn't attend the workplace, consider whether they can work from home or do alternative duties. If they can't, check the contract and your policies before deciding whether the absence is paid, sick leave, special paid leave or another arrangement.

Avoid pressuring someone to describe detailed symptoms or prove a positive test unless it's genuinely necessary and proportionate. Health information is sensitive personal data, so only ask for what you need to manage attendance, pay and safety.

What Health And Safety Steps Should Employers Take?

You don't need to bring back 2020-style controls for every workplace. The aim is proportionate, practical risk management that reflects your setting.

• Risk assessment. You must assess and manage workplace risks proportionately. HSE no longer expects every employer to include COVID-19 specifically unless work activities create exposure risk. See HSE's overview: HSE coronavirus workplace page.
• Ventilation. Regulation 6 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires adequate ventilation. See HSE ventilation guidance: Ventilation in the workplace and the regulation text: Regulation 6.
• Consult staff. Speak with employees or safety representatives about measures that affect them. Consultation is especially important if you're changing attendance expectations.
• Hygiene and cleaning. Keep basic measures in place, such as handwashing facilities, hand sanitiser where useful and cleaning of high-touch surfaces.
• Face coverings. You usually don't need a general mask rule, but you can allow staff to wear face coverings if they choose and consider them for close-contact or higher-risk settings.
• RIDDOR reporting. Most ordinary community transmission isn't reportable. Reporting may apply where infection is attributed to occupational exposure or a dangerous occurrence. See HSE: RIDDOR and COVID-19.

If you're checking your wider compliance processes, a Legal Health Check can help you spot gaps in policies, contracts and employment documents.

How Should You Handle Vulnerable Staff, Refusals And Data?

COVID-19 decisions can quickly become employment law issues if a staff member is disabled, clinically vulnerable, pregnant, caring for someone vulnerable or worried that the workplace is unsafe.

Under the Equality Act 2010, you must consider reasonable adjustments for disabled staff. Depending on the role and the risk, adjustments might include temporary home working, a quieter work area, changes to duties, staggered shifts, avoiding close-contact tasks or extra protective measures in higher-risk settings.

Employees also have protections under the Employment Rights Act 1996 if they reasonably believe there's a serious and imminent danger and take certain steps to protect themselves or others. That doesn't mean every COVID-related refusal is automatically protected. It does mean you should take concerns seriously, check the facts, review your controls and respond calmly before considering disciplinary action.

For example, if a team member refuses to work next to a colleague who has just tested positive, it's usually better to separate the employees, allow remote work or adjust duties than to jump straight to a warning. A paper trail showing your risk assessment, consultation and reasonable steps will help if the decision is later challenged.

Data protection also matters. COVID status and symptoms are health information, so they're special category data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. If you collect or share that information, you need a lawful basis, an Article 9 condition, a clear reason for processing it, minimal collection and sensible retention limits. The ICO has guidance here: Data protection and workers' health information.

In practice, tell managers not to announce that a named employee has COVID unless there's a genuine need. Usually, it's enough to say that someone in the workplace has reported a respiratory infection and to remind staff of your measures.

What Should Your COVID Attendance Policy Say?

Clear, well-communicated policies make decisions quicker and reduce disputes. Your policy doesn't need to be long, but it should tell staff what to do and give managers a fair process to follow.

A practical COVID and respiratory illness policy should cover:

• When staff should tell you. For example, if they have a positive COVID test, a high temperature or symptoms that make them unfit for work.
• When staff should stay away from the workplace. Link this to current NHS or devolved public health guidance rather than fixed outdated rules.
• Remote working. Explain that home working may be approved where the role allows it and the employee is well enough to work.
• Sick leave and pay. Cross-reference your sickness policy, contractual sick pay rules and SSP process.
• Higher-risk workplaces or workers. Explain when managers must carry out a more careful risk review or seek HR/legal input.
• Health data. Say what information you may ask for, who will see it and how long it will be kept.
• Review dates. Public health advice can change, so build in regular review.

A lawyer should tailor your policy to your sector, workforce and contracts. A useful outline is:

1. Purpose. State that the policy helps manage COVID-19 and other respiratory infections safely and consistently.
2. Who It Applies To. Cover employees, workers, contractors and visitors where relevant.
3. Reporting Illness Or A Positive Test. Set out who staff should contact and what information they need to provide.
4. Attendance And Home Working. Explain when staff should stay home, when remote work may apply and who approves it.
5. Sick Pay And Absence Recording. Cross-reference contractual sick pay, SSP and absence reporting rules.
6. Workplace Controls. List ventilation, hygiene, cleaning, PPE or sector-specific controls.
7. Vulnerable Staff And Adjustments. Explain how staff can raise concerns and request reasonable adjustments.
8. Data Protection. Set out how health information is collected, used, shared and deleted.
9. Review And Updates. Name the owner of the policy and when it will be reviewed.

Worked Example: A Positive Test In A Small Workplace

Imagine you run a small design studio in Manchester with 12 employees. On Monday morning, Alex, one of your account managers, says they have tested positive for COVID-19. Alex has a cough and feels tired, but says they can still answer emails and join short calls from home.

Using the England guidance, the 5 days after the day of the test are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The sensible outcome is that Alex doesn't attend the studio that week. Because Alex is well enough to work and the role is laptop-based, you approve remote work from Monday to Friday, cancel in-person client meetings and ask Alex to avoid meeting higher-risk people for 10 days after the test day.

Now change the facts. Alex is a barista in a busy cafe, can't do the role remotely and has a high temperature. In that case, you should treat the absence as sickness absence, process sick pay under the contract and current SSP rules, and avoid asking Alex to come in while they're unwell. If staffing is tight, the safer management response is to adjust the rota, reduce opening hours if necessary or bring in cover, rather than require a COVID-positive employee with symptoms to serve customers in a close-contact setting.

For a quick decision, follow this checklist:

1. Check fitness to work. If the employee is unwell, use sickness absence.
2. Check public health guidance. Look at the current advice for the UK nation where the employee works.
3. Check remote work options. If they're well enough and the job allows it, approve home working temporarily.
4. Check workplace risk. Consider ventilation, close contact, vulnerable people and customer exposure.
5. Check policies and contracts. Apply your sickness, remote work and health and safety policies consistently.
6. Record the decision. Keep a short note of the facts, your reasoning and any agreed adjustments.

Key Takeaways

• There's no general UK law banning people with COVID-19 from working, but you must still meet your health and safety duties.
• The safest approach is usually sick leave if the employee is unwell, or remote work if they're well enough and the role allows it.
• Don't rely on old COVID self-isolation rules. Check current NHS, devolved government, HSE, ACAS and GOV.UK guidance when making decisions.
• Take extra care with vulnerable staff, disabled employees, health and social care settings, and employees who raise safety concerns.
• COVID status is health data, so collect and share only what you need and handle it in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
• A short, tailored workplace policy can prevent inconsistent decisions and reduce the risk of disputes.

If you'd like help with sickness and remote work policies, COVID-related attendance decisions, health and safety processes or employee health data, you can reach us at 08081347754 or team@sprintlaw.co.uk for a free, no-obligations chat.