• Think about how you plan to get into work. Trains, buses and trams might be operating reduced timetables or be running earlier or later than normal. Car and bicycle travel may be delayed by road closures and slower driving.

• Have you arranged an alternative route or travel method to get in and get home? Have you considered the benefit to giving yourself a little extra commute time?

• Think about what arrangements you have in place if your child cannot get to school, your normal childcare provider is unavailable or if your child's school is closed. Do you have a practical back-up arrangement?

• Make sure you know how to get in touch with your employer if you are unable to get into work and that you have a means of communicating with them if you are going to be delayed.

• If you are affected by the weather, is there some way you can work around this or keep the difficulty to a minimum? Think about if you have the option to work from home, alter your hours or if there is anything else you could discuss with your employer to help the situation.

• Consider how your employer can deal with your workload in your absence. Can you let your manager know where everything is with a phone call? Do you need to let your employer know if any deadlines are at risk?

If you genuinely can't make it into work because of the weather you should contact your employer as early as possible to let them know. Your employer cannot force you to attempt the journey and in fact many good employers are sympathetic to conditions outside of your control. Unfortunately if you cannot get into work your employer is under no obligation to pay you.

In emergency situations an employee is entitled to take unpaid time off but this would not normally apply to a situation where the employee was required to look after their children as a result of not having any childcare arrangements. Check with your employer to see what their approach is but usually you would not be entitled to pay.

Employees are not legally entitled to receive payment if not at work but some employers realise adverse weather doesn't happen often and are flexible where possible. It can be frustrating if you can get to work and others haven't but not all situations are the same and it probably won't go unnoticed that you managed to hold the fort.

There are a number of ways that may make your staffing situation easier:

• Remind yourself and your staff of any procedures to help you communicate in emergency situations and ensure staff contact details are up to date. If you don't have procedures to deal with emergency situations, consider if there is a benefit in setting one up.

• Think about simple ways of helping your staff get to work. For example, is there a benefit to renting a minibus, arranging a carpool or being flexible on start and finish times?

• Engage with your staff. Ask them about their travel situation and any responsibilities for families/neighbours they may have and discuss if there is a solution that works for the business and the staff member.

• Consider your staffing levels - can you cope with some extra staff absences or do you need to check if a few staff can make themselves available at short notice?

• Consider your hours of operation - when is it most important to keep the business open and when is an answerphone or email enquiry service acceptable? Are your customers arriving in the usual numbers and at the usual times?
  
• Consider offering extra flexibility to staff, especially those with disabilities and who may be affected by school closures

• Have you thought about rearranging non-essential meetings, journeys and staff duties to be completed at a time when weather conditions are more suitable?

There is no legal right for staff to be paid by an employer for travel delays (unless the travel itself is constituted as working time or in some situations where the employer provides the transport). It is the responsibility of the employee to get to work. If the employee does not come to work, the employer is under no obligation to pay them.

Therefore unless there is custom and practice or the contract expressly states an employee will be paid in this situation (or if the employer has failed to provide transport if that is part of the contract) it is unlikely an employee is legally entitled to be paid. However, we would certainly advise employers to consider the best practice advantages to payment or arranging flexi or home-working alternatives to retain good levels of staff morale, engagement etc.

If you have a small workforce it can be very difficult to keep work going in these circumstances. However, employees have the right to unpaid time off to deal with emergency situations regarding their dependents but this would not normally apply to a situation where the employee was required to look after their children as a result of not having any childcare arrangements. In extreme weather conditions some this could be seen as an emergency.

It's important to point out to that this is Time Off for Dependents and as such an employee is entitled to as much unpaid time off as a tribunal decides is reasonable to make alternative arrangements for childcare. In other words, the right to time off may vary as per each individuals circumstance. Whilst some employers may offer this as holiday that is only with agreement from the employee and only if the employer wants to offer/accept it.

We would urge employers, if at all possible, to see if there are any ways which staff could work from home or work different hours and to be as flexible as possible.