Remote Working Legislation, Laws & Regulations in the UK

There is currently no specific legislation relating to working from home, however the general health and safety requirements outlined below extend to home working. 

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) employers are under a duty to do all that is “reasonably practicable” to protect the health, safety and welfare of their workforce. This duty extends beyond the employer / employee relationship and covers contractors and temporary workers too. There are also a number of regulations which employers must comply with, including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (which require employers to conduct risk assessments) and the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (which require employers to conduct workstation assessments). These duties extend to those working from home. A failure to manage health and safety is a criminal offence with potential liability for both individuals and organisations. This means the courts can impose unlimited fines on organisations and individuals, as well as imprisonment for individuals and disqualification of directors. There is also the ever-present risk to organisations of individuals pursuing civil claims for personal injury when employers fail to engage with these risks.

Specific good practice and Health and Safety Executive (HSE – the UK safety regulator) guidance has been developed to assist employers in understanding the practical implications of their duties in relation to homeworkers. The HSE guidance  covers those who work from home permanently or for part of the working week (hybrid working). Organisations should carry out a risk assessment which covers stress and mental health, the use of computers and laptops, and the home working environment.  

Employers should try to meet specialist display screen equipment needs. Employers may also be required to provide equipment to employees as a 'reasonable adjustment' under the Equality Act 2010.

Working from home can be implemented through individual agreement with employees or in line with an employer's policy. 

Generally, an employer has no right to oblige an employee to work from home unless it is a clear requirement of the employee’s contract or an employer’s policy from the outset. However, in exceptional circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, work from home can be required in accordance with the Government's legislation and guidance.

No, an employer is not obliged to agree to an employee's request to work from home. 

An employee can make a request for flexible working (including homeworking) either as a statutory request (under s.80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996) or a non-statutory request. On 6 April 2024, the eligibility requirements for making a request changed and an employee can make a request from their first day of employment. There are specific steps which must be met as part of the statutory request process. Flexible working may also be governed by the employer's policy. An employer can reject an employee's request if there is a valid business reason for doing so. The legislation contains eight statutory reasons why an employer may refuse a request.

An employer who refuses a request to work flexibly (including remote working) in the UK would also need to be alive to any risks of indirect or direct discrimination on the grounds of sex or disability. For example, if a mother requests remote working for childcare reasons, then an employer should be prepared to objectively justify why this was not possible in order to defend any potential challenge on the grounds of indirect sex discrimination. If an employee is disabled then it may be a reasonable adjustment to allow a request to work remotely.

Employers are required to provide the equipment and technology to employees to enable to them to do their job. It is not regarded as reasonably practicable to provide employees with a full suite of office equipment.

However, employers should try to meet all specialist display screen equipment (DSE) needs. If they do provide DSE then the employer must comply with the specific health and safety requirements within the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 discussed in more detail in answer 8 below.

Employers may also be required to provide equipment to disabled employees as a 'reasonable adjustment' under the Equality Act 2010.

No, an employer is currently not obliged to reimburse the employee for work from home expenses. However, the company may choose to cover some expenses, and it is recommended that if this approach is taken that it is set out in a policy.

If an employer reimburses an employee for personal expenditure on homeworking equipment this is ordinarily taxable as a benefit. Many employers choose to provide equipment directly rather than reimburse an employee. Broadly, provided the equipment is used predominantly for work purposes, it will not be taxable. The UK tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs, allows employers to offer eligible home workers tax free payments to cover the additional costs of homeworking. The flat rate payment is £6 per week, and a more complex arrangement exists for reimbursing actual additional expenditure.

No, an employer is not obliged to grant the employee any allowance. 

Yes, Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 provides that employers are required to carry out risk assessments for their workers. This applies to risks where the worker is working from home, even if that is not their only place of work or, for example, they only work from home one day a week. It requires employers to "make a suitable and sufficient assessment of (a) the risks to the health and safety of [their] employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and (b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking".

However, whilst a risk assessment may be carried out by a trained health and safety person visiting the individual’s home, this is not mandatory, particularly where the work is low risk, office-based work, where the individual is not working with hazardous machinery or materials. It will still be “suitable and sufficient” if the individual carries out the risk assessment themself where they have had some training or guidance on this. The individual should then follow a risk assessment process, for example set out in a form provided by the employer where hazards and risks are identified, and later discussed with the employer. 

The UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identifies five steps required for carrying out a workplace health and safety risk assessment. These are:

• Identify the hazards;
• Decide who might be harmed and how;
• Assess the risks from the hazards and decide on appropriate precautions;
• Record any significant findings; and
• Regularly review the risk assessment and revise as necessary.

The individual should be advised that risk assessment is an ongoing duty, so steps should be taken by the employer to facilitate the reporting of any changes. 

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 also place a duty on employers to ensure the work equipment they own, operate, and have control over is safe to use at all times. The equipment that is supplied must be suitable for its purpose, maintained in good working order and inspected regularly.

As outlined above, in accordance with the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 if a homeworker is a DSE user an employer must:

• conduct a DSE workstation assessment,
• reduce risks, including making sure workers take breaks from DSE work or do something different,
• provide an eye test if a worker asks for one, and
• provide training and information for workers.

Further information on the steps to be followed is published by the HSE. Working safely with display screen equipment: Overview - HSE

Data protection is a key legal obligation to consider with home workers. Employees should be trained on keeping data secure while working at home. They should consider confidentiality when having conversations at home, and make sure that printouts are taken into their employer’s workplace to be stored or disposed of securely. Devices should not be shared and strong passwords should be used. Most employers will have policies and rules in place around the use of equipment and cyber security.  The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection, has produced Guidance  on working from home securely.

If an employer chooses to monitor an employee working from home this would trigger data protection obligations, in addition to other legal considerations.

The ICO has published guidance on monitoring workers, which should be consulted.  Our Law-Now Monitoring your workforce contains further information.

It is mandatory for employers to have employers’ liability insurance; every employer carrying on business in Great Britain must maintain insurance (with an authorised insurer) against liability for bodily injury or disease sustained by its employees, and arising out of and in the course of their employment in Great Britain. An employer's insurance policy should cover employees working from home and cover equipment.

Employees are advised to contact their household insurance provider to discuss specific insurance requirements and notify them of home working arrangements in case it affects their home insurance cover.

Further to the risk assessment of the worker's home, should they suffer a work-related accident or illness, whether the employer is liable will depend on the circumstances and whether the risks could have been prevented by implementing any measures to reduce the risks involved. A UK employer is not generally liable for a worker’s personal equipment, and workers are also under a duty to take reasonable care to avoid injury to themselves.

There may also be a duty to report an accident that takes place at home although it will depend on the circumstances. The HSE explains:

“Not every incident in a person's home will be reportable. An incident may be reportable under Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) if it occurred as a result of:

• the work activity being done, or
• the equipment you have provided to carry out that work”.

No.

Employees have duties both under the HSWA and associated regulations and common law. Employees must take reasonable care to avoid injury to themselves or to others through their work activities and must cooperate with their employer and others in meeting statutory requirements. The HSWA also requires employees not to interfere with or misuse anything provided to protect their health, safety or welfare. 

Employees must report all employment-related hazards to their employer and ensure that their homeworking environment stays suitable and appropriate in line with the workplace health and safety risk assessment.

There have been no updates made to the UK immigration rules in this regard – a visitor cannot come to the UK if their primary intention is to work remotely. As it stands, the Immigration Rules make it clear that whilst visitors can conduct general business activities whilst in the UK such as attending interviews, negotiating/signing deals and carrying out site visits etc, they should not be working from the UK unless they are undertaking a Permitted Activity.  That being said, there has been a recent update to the Home Office Guidance, which states that visitors can undertake activities relating to their overseas employment whilst in the UK such as responding to emails/answering calls, but the primary purpose of the trip must be for a permitted activity.

There is no standard legal definition of remote working in UK law, but it is a term used generally to refer to individuals who work away from their normal employer’s workplace, including from a country outside of the UK.

There is no specific UK employment law regulation, which governs remote working when an individual works outside the UK.

Unlike some countries, the UK has not created a ‘digital nomad’ style of visa for overseas workers when they work in the UK temporarily. Those looking to work remotely in the UK from their home country will need to ensure they have the ability to do so under UK immigration rules. They will need to ensure they have the appropriate visa/permissions in place. While there is a standard visitor visa it is very restrictive in terms of activities that can be undertaken. Immigration advice must be taken before working remotely in the UK from overseas.

The relevant labour law that applies when a UK employee travels abroad will depend on where the employee is working and the length of the trip. Generally, for short trips abroad the employee will continue to be protected by UK employment rights. Depending on how long the employee works abroad they may also obtain the protection of local employment laws, which may be more generous than the UK, such as in relation to holidays, health and safety and data protection. In some countries, local laws may conflict with the company’s position on D&I. Therefore, any cultural or equality-related issues (e.g. LGBT rights) should be assessed before agreeing to remote working abroad. Overall, the nature of the rights involved will vary between countries and local advice should be taken.

Advice should also be taken to consider the impact on the terms of the contract and whether there is a need to provide additional documentation/letters to the employee to cover the time abroad and deal with variations in labour law, tax, social security and insurance/benefits.

In addition, certain UK regulated employers, such as those operating in the financial services sector, have additional requirements to satisfy before an employee can carry out their role effectively overseas.

For overseas employees who are working in the UK, depending on the length of their stay, they may enjoy certain UK statutory employment rights. For example, there are specific rules on working hours set out in the Working Time Regulations and rates of pay contained in National Minimum Wage Regulations.  There can be questions in some cases as to whether the employee should have wider UK employment rights, and individual circumstances will need to be considered to take a view on those risks and the impact of this. 

Social security should be considered separately to tax. Generally, social security rules are based on where the employee is physically working. The UK’s social security system is funded by National Insurance contributions (NICs) involving employee and employer contributions.

If a UK employee is temporarily working abroad, an employer should check to determine what rules are in place between the UK and the country where the employee is based. For countries in the EU and a network of other countries who have entered into a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK, it is possible for the employee to stay within the UK social security regime for a period of time. Under the rules with the EU, this can apply for a period working abroad of up to 24 months. This means that an employee who is temporarily posted abroad can continue to pay UK social security contributions without also paying local contributions.

If a UK employee temporarily works abroad, and there is no reciprocal agreement in place, the NIC rules say that a UK employer must continue to make NIC deductions for the first 52 weeks away. They may also have to pay social security in the host country.

For employees from the EU, who are temporarily working in the UK with a Portable Document A1 (PDA1) issued by an EU social security institution, the employee will not have to pay UK NICs.

For short-term remote working abroad, an employer should continue to deduct income tax in the UK. For many countries, the UK has a Double Tax Treaty (DTT), which will often include a “short-term business visitor” exemption. If the conditions for this exemption are met, including only short periods of working abroad (fewer than 183 days) and where the employee is a tax resident of the UK, the employee will not need to pay income tax in the host country in respect of the employment.

Even where an employee is working abroad for fewer than 183 days, there may also be reporting and withholding obligations in the overseas country. Hence, local advice should be taken.

Tax residency in the UK will generally depend on a combination of the number of days in the UK along with connecting links to the UK. If an employee spends more than 183 days (or six months) working abroad, there is a risk of becoming a tax resident in that country (noting that countries have varying rules to determine tax residency under local rules). The employment income of employees will generally be taxable in the UK if they are tax residents in the UK or if they are otherwise performing their duties while in the UK.

If a UK employee is working abroad, another factor to consider is whether the employer could be regarded as having a permanent establishment for corporate tax purposes overseas. Although the risk is low, the repercussions are significant in relation to potential corporation tax liabilities.

Creating a permanent residence status will greatly depend on the type of role that the individual is carrying out, but could arise if the individual habitually exercises the authority to conclude contracts in the employer’s name in the foreign jurisdiction. This will be a question of fact and cases are normally determined on a case-by-case basis. Steps can be taken by the employer to manage the risk of creating a permanent establishment.

The statutory right to request flexible working changed in April 2024. The main change involves the removal of the 26 weeks service threshold before an employee can make a request. From 6 April, an employee will be able to make a request from the first day of employment. Other changes to the process are also expected to come into force on 6 April 2024.