Businesses in Rutland are being urged to remember the latest national COVID-19 restrictions and support their employees to work from home, to avoid spreading the virus.

Rutland County Council understands that this has been an incredibly difficult time for businesses and having to adapt working patterns and environments has caused an additional strain.

The current lockdown rules for England state that people can only leave home for work if their job cannot reasonably be done from home. This includes, but is not limited to:

Critical national infrastructure

Construction

Manufacturing

Childcare or education

Essential public services

Essential retail, such as supermarkets and pharmacies

Employers are required to discuss working arrangements with their staff and ensure every possible step is taken to facilitate home working, including providing suitable IT and equipment to enable remote working.

All businesses must follow these guidelines, making sure that employees can work from home wherever possible and have access to support.

Mike Sandys, Director for Public Health at Rutland County Council, said: "The last 12 months have been extremely difficult for local businesses, who've been fighting COVID-19 on multiple fronts. Some have been forced to close because of the pandemic. For others, lockdown and other restrictions have meant a big drop in trade. Those businesses who are continuing to operate in line with restrictions are working hard to implement COVID secure measures, to keep staff and customers safe.

"With all these pressures in mind, it is absolutely vital that businesses adhere to the current guidelines around home working, to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Only certain businesses are allowed to operate at the moment and, wherever possible, staff should be doing their work from home. We have come across cases in Rutland where businesses are taking a lax approach to some guidelines – either allowing their employees to come into work without good reason, or, in some cases, putting pressure on staff to return to the workplace when work could be done safely at home.

"The latest rules are in place to help control the virus, which will ultimately allow more businesses to reopen with fewer restrictions in place. Until then, any business or organisation not complying with the guidelines is putting lives at risk and could face legal action. We urge all employees and businesses to abide by these rules if staff are in the workplace as we all have a part to play in keeping safe and reducing the spread of COVID-19"

Rutland County Council is taking steps to contact all local businesses – making sure they have access to the very latest workplace guidelines. The Council will also be providing advice on how businesses can support their employees can work remotely, or ensure the workplace is COVID-19 secure if remote working is not feasible.

The Government has produced a series of guides with specific advice for a wide range of industries including office work, factories and transportation.

These COVID-19 secure guidelines are freely available to read and are there to help reduce the risk of transmission across all sectors of the UK economy.