The Government announced that from 17 May non-essential foreign travel is legal. In addition to legalising non-essential foreign travel, the Government announced a traffic light system that determines the risk of travel to a country. Under the current government guidance, travel to Amber and Red List countries is not recommended. The amount of countries on the Green List is very limited, with the majority of popular holiday destinations absent from the list.
The UK government are now advising against non-essential travel to any Red or Amber List countries.
- Green – travel to the UK without needing to quarantine
- Amber – travel to the UK with a 10-day quarantine period
- Red – travel to the UK with a 10-day quarantine period in a government controlled hotel
How should you deal with an employee travelling abroad?
Due to current government travel advice, travel to an Amber or Red List country is possible and some people will be required to self-isolate for 10 days at home when travelling to the UK from Amber List countries. People arriving in the UK from Red List countries will be required to quarantine in a government managed quarantine hotel at their own cost.
Employers should check the latest rules on the status of countries to advise employees on foreign travel (please note that there are differences to the rules on who must self-isolate in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales). Employers should make it clear to employees that non-essential travel to an Amber or Red List country is not recommended and if the employee returns with a need to quarantine, they may not be paid for the period.
If an employee requests annual leave to travel abroad in circumstances that would require them to self-isolate on their return, you should consider whether this period of quarantine can be accommodated. If the employee cannot naturally work from home to fulfil their full job requirements, then you should not accommodate working from home due to the employee needing to isolate.
If an employee is currently working from home, or can work from home during the quarantine period, then an issue is unlikely as they can continue to work during self-isolation. However, we would advise not to allow employees to have this option and to be consistent to all members of staff. We would also advise to continue to apply the School/Trust’s Leave of Absence Policy.
If the employee cannot work from home, or from a government-managed hotel, you may ask them to extend their annual leave request to cover the period of self-isolation, if the employee has enough annual leave available or to offer them a period of unpaid leave.
You would be entitled to refuse the employee’s request for annual leave if the School/Trust cannot accommodate the length of the employee’s absence, if the employee does not have sufficient annual leave to cover the whole period or if it is within term time.
You should take into account the employee’s reasons for travelling abroad, as there may be exceptional circumstances that require them to travel. You may agree to a period of paid or unpaid leave to cover the quarantine period e.g., where the employee is dealing with a family emergency or bereavement. However, normal leave of absence requests should be submitted and dealt with using the normal process.
If you have any queries relating to absence management or HR queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your HR consultant or call one of our team on 01924 827869 or contact us.
