UK Government explores options on giving workers the ‘right to switch off’

In comments reported by BBC News and confirmed to Safety Management by the Department for Business and Trade, the Prime Minister’s deputy spokesperson said the Government is looking at models in countries including Belgium and Ireland, which give employees the right to disconnect from work outside office hours.

The UK Government will consider "a range of approaches on the right to 'switch off'". Photograph: iStock/staticnak1983

The spokesperson is quoted as saying the move is aimed at ensuring that homes do not become “24/7 offices”, and that “we’re not inadvertently blurring the lines between work and home life”.

In a statement, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said: “This government is proud to be delivering the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation. Our plan to Make Work Pay will consider a range of approaches on the right to ‘switch off’ that work for businesses and employees alike.”

A DBT spokesperson added that further details would be set out “in due course”.

The Labour Government said in July that consultations on a new Employment Rights Bill would begin during the first 100 days of taking office. Proposals to reform workers’ rights, including the right to switch off, a plan to ban zero-hours contracts, end fire and rehire practices and introduce flexible working rights from day one, were outlined earlier this year in Labour’s New Deal for Working People.

A Code of Practice on the Right to Disconnect came into effect in Ireland in April 2021. The code states that employees have the right to not routinely perform work outside normal working hours and to not routinely receive emails or calls from their employers outside hours.

In Belgium, legislation was introduced in April 2023 which states that companies with more than 20 employees must include the right to disconnect in collective bargaining agreements.