New requirement for 14-day post-travel quarantine: FAQs for employers

Updated 24 November 2020

The government has today (24 November 2020) announced that from 15 December 2020, a new testing strategy will be introduced to cut the 14-day quarantine period for those who test negative for coronavirus. Under the plan, passengers arriving into England from countries not featured on the government’s travel corridor list (which are exempt from the need to quarantine) will have the option to pay a fee to take a private Covid-19 test after 5 days of self-isolation. If the test returns a negative result, the passenger will then be released from the need to self-isolate further, unless they become symptomatic, or are otherwise required to self-isolate under the standard stay at home rules. 

Starting from today (8 June 2020), new regulations come into force, which require most travellers entering England to fill in a passenger locator form upon arrival and undergo a 14-day period of post-travel self-isolation (quarantine). This article considers some of the questions we are most frequently asked by employers about the 14-day post-travel quarantine and its implications for the employment relationship.

What do travellers entering England need to do?

Unless they benefit from an exemption (see below), a traveller entering into the UK must complete a passenger locator form (which provides details of where they will be staying and how they can be contacted). Official guidance confirms that they must travel directly to the place at which they are to self-isolate. They must then self-isolate (quarantine) for 14-days at their home, the home of a friend or family member, or at a hotel, hostel, bed and breakfast accommodation, or another suitable place. During the 14-day quarantine, they are not allowed to leave, or be outside of, the place they are self-isolating, except on certain grounds for example, to seek urgent or recommended medical assistance, or to obtain necessary food or medical supplies that cannot be obtained in another manner.

When does the 14-day quarantine start and end?

The 14-day quarantine starts upon arrival in England (although the traveller can travel to their place of self-isolation using public transport if necessary). The quarantine ends on whichever is the earlier of:

• The end of the 14th day after the day on which they arrived; or
• The passenger’s departure from England.

So, for example:

• Passenger A enters England on 10 June, so the 14-day quarantine ends at midnight on 24 June
• Passenger B enters England on 10 June and departs on 17 June, so the period of quarantine ends on their departure from England

What are the exemptions from quarantine?

There is a long list of exemptions from quarantine, but the main exemptions employers need to be aware of are listed below:

• Travellers from within the Common Travel Area (Ireland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands) – unless they arrived into the Common Travel Area from outside it in the previous 14-days
• People who live in the UK but work in another country and travel between the UK and country of work at least once a week
• People who live outside the UK but work in the UK and travel between their country of residence and the UK at least once a week
• Drivers of goods vehicles or public service vehicles and other employees of community licence holders for the international carriage of goods or passengers by coach and bus

Can I require my worker to work during their 14-day quarantine period?

The first thing to note is that the 14-day quarantine is a legal requirement; there is no element of choice on the part of the employee. If they fail to self-isolate, they commit a criminal offence and can be returned to their quarantine address, or detained to undergo quarantine at accommodation provided by the state. In England, if you do not self-isolate, you can be fined £1,000. If you do not provide an accurate contact detail declaration – or do not update your contact detail form in the limited circumstances where you need to move to another place to self-isolate – you can be fined up to £3,200. Therefore, an employer should not require (or allow) a worker to physically attend their workplace within the 14-day quarantine period, because to do so would amount to encouraging the employee to commit a criminal offence and subject to a fine, which the employer may end up paying. However, the quarantine regulations do not prevent the worker from working, provided they can do so without leaving their place of self-isolation. Therefore, assuming the worker can work remotely, they can be required to do so.

Do I have to grant additional holiday for the 14-day quarantine period?

This depends on the precise wording of the employment contract and any holiday policy, but in our experience, it is unlikely that an employer will be obliged to grant additional holiday in these circumstances. The employer can exercise its discretion to do so, but the worker may not have sufficient annual leave remaining and/or there may be concerns about them having insufficient annual leave for the remainder of the leave year. The government have not yet amended the SSP regulations because of the 14-day quarantine, so it is unlikely a non-symptomatic employee can claim sick pay, unless they are covered in some other way (e.g. because a member of their household is self-isolating with symptoms). The employer and worker may agree that the 14-day quarantine period will be considered unpaid leave. In the absence of it being sick leave, annual leave or unpaid leave, then it will be unauthorised leave. However, because breach of self-isolation amounts to a criminal offence, an employer should tread carefully in deciding whether to discipline the worker for unauthorised absence. We recommend that advice be sought.

Can we require a worker to take their annual leave for the 14-day quarantine period?

In many situations, it is possible for an employer to require an employee to take some of their annual leave at a time chosen by the employer. The starting point is to check the employment contract to make sure if there are any contractual provisions, which allow the employer to designate a specific period of annual leave (such provisions are very common). Secondly, check if there is any ‘relevant agreement’ under the Working Time Regulations, which permits the employer to force an employee to take annual leave. If the contract or relevant agreement contains such provisions, the employer should comply with those terms (which may include giving a minimum amount of notice of a period of leave). In the absence of such express provisions, an employer requiring an employee to take leave at specified times, must give notice equivalent to at least twice the period of leave to be taken. For example, the employer must give two days’ notice to take one day’s leave, or two weeks’ notice to take one week’s leave. However, the worker may not have sufficient annual leave remaining and/or there may be concerns about them having insufficient annual leave for the remainder of the leave year, so see the question above for consideration of alternatives.

Can I instruct my employee not to go on holiday overseas?

Assuming they are not doing anything illegal, it is unreasonable for an employer to seek to dictate what the employee does in their leisure time. However, the employer does have a degree of control over the worker’s ability to take annual leave. The starting point will be to check the precise wording of the employment contract and any holiday policy, to see if these contain provisions that allow the employer to cancel annual leave after it has been approved. If they do, then the employer should follow the requirements of those provisions. In the absence of such express provisions, the working time regulations do permit an employer to give the worker notice not to take a period of leave. The employer must give an equal amount of notice as the amount of leave to be cancelled. For example, seven days’ notice must be given to cancel seven days’ leave. Assuming the annual leave has been already pre-approved, then it ought to only be cancelled if it is reasonable to do so (e.g. there is a strong business case to support the cancellation of the leave). It is also widely accepted best practice for an employer to refund any travel costs that cannot be recovered under any travel insurance policy.