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Self-isolating (staying at home) is no longer a legal requirement. But if someone has COVID-19 symptoms or has tested positive, they should follow the government guidance for England, Scotland or Wales.

Employers should review the government guidance, talk with their staff and any recognised trade union to decide what staff should do. It's good practice to agree a policy with staff on self-isolation so everyone understands the process to follow.

1. Self-isolation in England

In England, if someone has COVID-19 symptoms or has tested positive, they should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people.

When making a decision about self-isolating, an employer should take into account keeping the workplace safe for everyone and any concerns from staff.

Find out more about:

Self-isolation in Scotland and Wales

In Scotland and Wales, if someone has COVID-19 symptoms or has tested positive, they should stay at home.

Employers should support staff to isolate if they need to.

Check the:

If someone at work has COVID-19

If someone at work has COVID-19 symptoms or has tested positive, they should follow the government guidance for England, Scotland or Wales and any policy at work.

Employers have legal obligations for the health, safety and wellbeing of people at work so should consider how to support their staff to follow this guidance.

Find out more about what to do if someone at work has COVID-19

Supporting staff to self-isolate

If an employee or worker self-isolates, the employer should:

support them while they're at home, including their wellbeing and mental health
consider making changes to the workplace to stop further spread of COVID-19

If an employee or worker is not able to work because they're ill with COVID-19, they must get any sick pay they're entitled to.

Someone might have to self-isolate more than once because of COVID-19. Employers should support them each time.

Support payments for self-isolation

In Scotland, if someone has been told to self-isolate they could be entitled to a support payment.

In Wales, support payments ended on 30 June 2022. If someone was told to self-isolate in Wales before 30 June 2022 they had until 21 July 2022 to claim for a support payment.

In England, support payments ended on 24 February 2022. If someone was told to self-isolate in England before 24 February 2022, they had until 6 April 2022 to claim for a support payment.

For more guidance, see:

England – Test and Trace Support Payment on GOV.UK
Scotland – Self-Isolation Support Grant from the Scottish Government
Wales – self-isolation support scheme from the Welsh Government

Isolation notes – if the employer needs proof

The usual sickness absence process applies for staff who need to self-isolate and cannot work from home or are not well enough to work.

Check your organisation's absence policy to see what it says about proving sickness absence.

Employers might need to be flexible if asking for proof. For example, if someone is very ill, they might not be able to get proof straight away.

If someone is off work due to COVID-19 and their employer asks for proof, they can get an isolation note from the:

NHS website – for anyone in England, Scotland and Wales
NHS App – for those registered with a GP in England

Self-isolation or quarantine after travel

If someone has travelled from outside the UK, they will need to check the travel rules for England, Scotland or Wales, depending on where they're entering the UK.

Find out more about returning to the UK

The rules around Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for self-isolation for coronavirus (COVID-19) changed on 24 March 2022:

staff are no longer entitled to SSP for self-isolation, unless they're not well and are off sick
SSP is no longer paid from the first day of absence

Find out more about sick pay entitlement

2. Sick pay for self-isolation rules before 24 March

Before 24 March 2022, staff were entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if they could not work because they were self-isolating for any of the following reasons:

they had COVID-19 symptoms or tested positive
someone in their household had symptoms or tested positive
they were told to self-isolate by an NHS test and trace service
they were advised by their doctor to stay at home before going into hospital for surgery

To be eligible for SSP, they must have been off work for at least 4 days in a row, including any of their usual non-working days.

They were entitled to be paid at least SSP for every day they were off work. This was different to the usual rules for SSP where the first 3 days are unpaid.

Employers might have offered more than SSP – 'contractual' sick pay. Check your employment contract or workplace's policy to see if your organisation paid more than SSP.

If there's a disagreement over Statutory Sick Pay

Employees can raise disagreements with their employer about:

if SSP should have been paid
how much SSP should have been paid

It's usually best to raise the problem informally first.

If employees cannot resolve the disagreement, they can contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Contact the Statutory Payment Dispute Team at HMRC

Pay for self-isolating or quarantine after travel

Employees or workers are not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if they're in self-isolation or quarantine after travel abroad and they cannot work from home. But an employer can choose to pay them sick pay – at the same rate as SSP or a higher rate – if they want to.

Find out more about self-isolating after returning to the UK