Adverse Weather Policy

The Company recognises that in certain circumstances adverse weather conditions can prevent employees from attending their normal place of employment or may require them to leave early in order to get home.

It is expected that employees will make every reasonable effort to reach their normal place of employment or, where applicable, an agreed alternative location. However, employees should not put themselves at risk.

It is recognised that there will be occasions when weather conditions are so severe that some employees will be unable to get to their normal place of work on time or will be unable to get to work at all. Where it is too dangerous to travel for work purposes no employee will be required to attend for work if it is unsafe to do so. Managers are expected to ensure that the safety of employees is not compromised in any way. Advice should be sought from the HR department as necessary.

In circumstances where an employee is unable to attend for work or will be late arriving at work it is the employee’s duty to report the fact to their Line Manager at the earliest opportunity. Managers should, where possible, adopt a flexible and consistent approach in such cases.

Arriving Late - Where the Line Manager is satisfied that an employee has genuinely been prevented from attending work by their normal starting time, any lateness will not be penalised under any of the Company’s Policies. Employees who arrive for work late due to adverse weather will normally be paid for their standard working day

Leaving Early - Line Managers will be responsible for deciding whether any request to leave early is warranted, bearing in mind any weather/travel information obtained, the home address of the employee and their usual mode of travel. Where early leave is considered to be justified, the Line Manager will authorise the

Working from Home - In certain circumstances Line Managers may agree that an employee can work from home. The work to be undertaken at home must be agreed with the Line Manager and will be the subject of normal managerial procedures on return to work. Where home working is authorised, the employee will normally be paid for their standard working day.

Provision of Care for a dependant - There may be circumstances where an employee’s inability to attend work is caused by a need to provide emergency care for family purposes (e.g. school closures). In such circumstances, guidance should be sought from the Line Manager or HR department. Further details may also be found in our Time off for Dependants Policy.

Inability to Attend Work - There may be circumstances where an employee cannot get to work and is unable to work from home. If this is the case, and the Line Manager is satisfied that an employee has genuinely been prevented from attending work, then the employee will be given a choice of how their absence should be processed. The employee may choose to treat the time off as:

Closure of Place of Work - Where a decision is taken by the Company to close a place of work due to adverse weather, employees will be entitled to be paid for their normal hours of work for the duration of the closure.