Home and hybrid working: an employer's guide to health, law and wellbeing

On 23 March 2020, as COVID-19 spread, the Prime Minister announced that people could travel to and from work "only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home". In April 2020, 46.6% of people in employment did some work at home, and 86% of them did so because of the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Many of those arrangements were set up in days and were not expected to last. Some have since been formalised. Others have continued informally, and some have never had a risk assessment, a written agreement or a review. The law is changing again too, with new rules on refusing flexible working requests due in autumn 2027.

From lockdown to hybrid working

The same ONS figures showed that around a third of people working from home worked more hours than usual (30.3%). Longer hours are still one of the risks HSE highlights for home workers.

Once restrictions ended, many employers moved to hybrid working. More than a quarter (28%) of working adults in Great Britain hybrid worked between January and March 2025, according to the ONS, and the proportion has risen gradually since March 2022. Access is uneven. Disabled workers were less likely to hybrid work than non-disabled workers (24% compared with 29%).

Minimum attendance is now common. In the CIPD's 2025 survey, 65% of organisations required people to be in the workplace a minimum number of days a week or month. In the same survey, 80% of employees said working flexibly had improved their quality of life.

The right to request flexible working

Since 6 April 2024, every employee has had a statutory right to request flexible working from their first day in a job. A request can cover hours, times or place of work, so working from home falls within it. An employee can make two requests in any 12-month period.

The employer must deal with a request in a reasonable manner, consult the employee before rejecting it, and decide it, including any appeal, within two months unless the employee agrees to an extension. The Acas Code of Practice on requests for flexible working, which tribunals take into account, says employers must agree to a request "unless there is a genuine business reason not to". A refusal of any request, including one to work from home, must rest on one or more of the eight business reasons set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996.

In the Wilson case below, the employer relied on the effect on quality and performance. The Code treats appeals and allowing a companion as good practice, and a tribunal can award up to eight weeks' pay for a breach of the procedure.

The tribunal decision in Wilson v Financial Conduct Authority (2023) shows how pandemic arrangements and the statutory scheme meet. A senior manager who had worked from home since early 2020 asked to work entirely remotely after her employer introduced 40% office attendance. The request was refused because she could not train and coach her team in person or take part in in-person meetings. Before deciding, her manager checked whether the request related to a health condition that needed occupational health input. It did not.

The tribunal accepted that the manager had weighed the individual merits, including the claimant's strong performance, and had not simply applied the attendance policy. It said there is at present no right to insist on working exclusively from home, only a right to have a request considered under the statutory scheme. The employer was still ordered to pay a week's pay because the appeal outcome came after the deadline then in force. It is a first-instance decision and binds no other tribunal.

What changes in autumn 2027

On 15 September 2026 the government published its response to the consultation on improving access to flexible working. It confirmed that two changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025 are intended to take effect in autumn 2027.

The first is a reasonableness test. An employer will only be able to reject a request where it is reasonable to do so on one or more of the eight existing grounds, and must explain why. The second is a set process before any rejection. The employer must meet the employee within the two-month decision period, after giving fair notice of the meeting and its purpose. The meeting must consider whether the request is feasible and, if it is not, explore alternatives, with a view to reaching agreement. The outcome of the meeting and the final decision must both be confirmed in writing.

There will be no statutory right of appeal or to be accompanied. Acas will consult on an updated Code, due before Parliament in early summer 2027, and will publish guidance on the reasonableness test later in 2026.

Much of this is already good practice under the Acas Code, and the government also encourages trial periods and time-limited arrangements. Employers who meet the employee, discuss alternatives and give written reasons that show how a business ground applies to the specific role will be well placed for autumn 2027.

Legitimate reasons to refuse a request

Employers do not have to agree to every request. The Acas Code accepts that not every type of flexible working will suit every role and organisation. The government's response says the 2027 reforms do not remove an employer's ability to refuse where it is reasonable to do so and a business reason applies. Among employers who responded to the consultation, 59.6% had refused at least one statutory request since April 2024.

Common legitimate reasons are practical. Some work needs a physical presence, for example hands-on tasks, specialist equipment or face-to-face customer service. Some roles involve training, supervising or coaching others in person, and in the Wilson case the tribunal accepted that remote working is less suited to fast-paced discussion and to reading non-verbal cues. Cover is another common reason. Employers told the government that, after agreeing several similar requests, they reached a point where no more could be accommodated. A planned restructure is a business reason in its own right.

A refusal is easier to justify when it rests on evidence about the specific role. In Wilson, the tribunal contrasted the manager's careful analysis with an earlier case, Commotion Ltd v Rutty, where a request had been refused without proper enquiry. Consider whether part of the request could work, such as fewer days at home, a time-limited arrangement or a trial period.

When a request is about health

Many requests to work from home are linked to health. Someone may have a fluctuating condition such as long COVID or multiple sclerosis, be recovering from surgery, be experiencing menopause symptoms or be living with a mental health condition. For some, working at home reduces the strain of commuting and makes symptoms easier to manage.

The duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 is separate from the flexible working procedure, and disabled people do not have to use the flexible working route to access adjustments. The tests differ. A flexible working request can be refused on a business ground, while an adjustment must be made wherever it is reasonable to have to make it. The duty arises where a disabled person is at a substantial disadvantage and the employer knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, about the disability and the disadvantage. Failing to make a reasonable adjustment is discrimination, and compensation is uncapped.

Home working, or fewer days in the workplace, can be a reasonable adjustment. Whether it is reasonable in a given case is ultimately a matter for an employment tribunal, and our article on what counts as reasonable explains the test. The government has decided not to require a question about adjustments in the flexible working meeting, so employers need to spot a health-related request themselves.

A management referral can ask whether the person has a condition that affects their work, and whether home working would reduce a disadvantage or support recovery. The report can also cover how long the need is likely to last and what else would help. Home working can reduce fatigue and help someone manage symptoms, but it can also reduce contact and support when the person needs them. An occupational health assessment weighs both.

Pandemic-era arrangements need particular care when they end. Home working may have been accommodating a condition the employer was never told about, and a change to attendance rules can bring it to light. As in the Wilson case, it is worth asking, with care, whether health is part of the reason for a request.

Decisions must also be free of discrimination. Acas gives the example of agreeing a father's hybrid working request but refusing a mother's on the assumption that she will be distracted by her children, which is direct sex discrimination. A fixed number of office days for everyone can be indirect discrimination if it puts people with a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage and cannot be objectively justified. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has guidance on disabled workers and hybrid working.

Health and safety when people work at home

HSE's guidance states that employers have the same health and safety responsibilities for people working at home as for any other worker. That applies to long-term home workers and hybrid workers alike, and HSE says that most of the time the risks will be low and the actions needed straightforward.

The risk assessment must cover home workers, but in most cases a home visit is not needed. HSE suggests advice on the set-up, self-assessment questionnaires and phone or video calls instead, with a visit for particular needs, such as a disabled worker's. Workers cannot be charged for any action the assessment identifies. If a home is not a suitable place to work, HSE advises agreeing an alternative, such as the workplace. It also notes that some people prefer the workplace for wellbeing or mental health reasons.

Much home working is screen-based. Where the DSE Regulations apply, each user needs a workstation assessment. It can be a self-assessment if the worker has been trained, and for hybrid workers it should cover both places. A laptop on a dining table with no separate keyboard, mouse or riser is one of the home set-ups we see most often. Our guide to DSE and homeworking has more detail.

Employers are responsible only for the electrical equipment they provide. Agree what home workers should do in an emergency and what you will do if you cannot reach someone, and apply the usual lone working controls. An incident at home may be reportable under RIDDOR if it arises from the work activity or from equipment you provided.

Supporting mental health and wellbeing

Work-related stress, depression or anxiety affected an estimated 964,000 workers in Great Britain in 2024/25, with 22.1 million working days lost, according to HSE. The duty to assess and act on the risk of stress applies to home workers as it does to everyone else.

HSE's guidance on home workers highlights three concerns. Isolation can bring on stress or aggravate existing mental health problems. People at home can work longer hours, which can leave them tired and stressed. Without day-to-day contact, it is harder to see that someone is struggling. Acas adds that home workers can feel under pressure to work while ill, and that employers should encourage them to take sick leave. Since 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay has been payable from the first day of illness.

Bullying and harassment can happen remotely too, and home is not a safe place to work for everyone. Acas has guidance for employers on domestic abuse and working from home.

HSE's Management Standards give a structure for a stress risk assessment that includes home workers. All six areas – demands, control, support, relationships, role and change – apply. Workload that runs into the evening is a demand, contact with a manager and colleagues is support, and a new attendance rule is change. Our guide to workplace stress risk assessment explains the process.

Agree how and when teams keep in touch, hold regular one-to-ones and leave gaps between online meetings. Acas notes that constant contact can itself cause stress. Encourage clear start and finish times, breaks and annual leave, and make sure no one feels obliged to answer emails outside working hours. Ask people how they are, and notice changes in behaviour or tone of voice. Give new starters a structured induction, and make sure everyone knows what support exists, including any employee assistance programme and occupational health. HSE's Talking Toolkit helps managers structure these conversations.

Where someone is struggling, a management referral can assess how a mental health condition is affecting their work and what adjustments would help, including where and when they work. Our mental health and neurodiversity service also provides organisational stress risk assessments built on the Management Standards.

Policies, contracts, pay and monitoring

Acas recommends a written home and hybrid working policy. It should explain how to make a request, which arrangements are available, how roles are assessed and how decisions are made. Check contracts at the same time. If a contract names a specific workplace address, a move to hybrid working may need a contract change. Where it does not, confirm the arrangement in writing, and consider a trial period with a review date before it becomes permanent.

Acas suggests managing performance by the quality of work rather than time at a desk. Home and hybrid workers should have the same access to training, development and promotion as everyone else.

The tax position changed on 6 April 2026. Since then, employees have not been able to claim tax relief from HMRC for the extra household costs of working from home. Employers can still pay up to £6 a week, or £26 a month for monthly paid staff, free of tax where an employee regularly works from home under an agreed arrangement. Work equipment is exempt where any private use is insignificant. The policy should say whether you pay the allowance and who provides and maintains equipment.

Monitoring needs care. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) says workers' expectations of privacy are likely to be significantly greater at home than in the workplace. Employers should only monitor in ways workers would reasonably expect, and any monitoring must be lawful, fair and proportionate. Health information shared in a request is special category data under UK GDPR and should go only to those who need it.

A checklist for employers

Where health is part of the picture, or someone working from home is struggling, occupational health advice gives managers specific recommendations to act on. We carry out management referrals and ergonomic and DSE assessments, including by video, and provide the occupational health content for workplace health policies.

This article is general guidance for employers and is not individual medical or legal advice. If you are unsure how it applies to your organisation, contact our team.