Right to Switch Off

Policy

The ‘right to switch off’ was referenced in the Plan to Make Work Pay but was not one of the legislative changes included in the Employment Rights Bill.

The Next Steps document indicated that the Government would be taking forward the ‘right to switch off’ through other means via a statutory code of practice (mirroring approaches taken in Ireland and Belgium) rather than via a statutory ‘right to disconnect’.  Recent press reports have rumoured that the Government is dropping this proposal. However, the announcement on 4 March 2025 is silent on this, so we wait for confirmation. Given there is no confirmation that this policy is being dropped, we set out details of what this might look like below.

If introduced, a statutory code of practice, potentially issued by Acas, would likely require employers to agree policies and practices regarding expectations of normal working hours and when staff should expect to be contacted. Earlier Government announcements suggested that the purpose of the code of practice will be to prevent employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances, to allow them the rest and recuperation they need to give 100% during their working hours. 

If the code of practice were to operate in a similar way to other Acas codes of practice, such as for disciplinary and grievances, we could see Employment Tribunals being granted the power to increase compensation awards if an employee is successful in another claim for an employer’s failure to adhere to guidance regarding the ‘right to switch off’. For example, as we see in other areas, we may see an Employment Tribunal having the ability to increase compensation awarded by up to 25% for an employer’s failure to follow the code of practice.

Finding a balance between working flexibly and giving clear boundaries for when an employee can ‘switch off’ is no easy task. If the Government proceeds with this reform, then any code of practice will need to find a solution that considers different sectors and roles rather adopting a blanket one-size fits all approach.

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Timing and developments

Not included in the Employment Rights Bill.

This was listed as one of the ‘non-legislative’ reforms that the Government will look to develop alongside the Employment Rights Bill’s passage and beyond it becoming law. However, there are rumours that this has been dropped by the Government, although official confirmation has not been provided. We await confirmation.