Glossary · UK
What is Right to Switch Off?
A proposed employment right allowing staff to disconnect from work communications outside contracted hours without facing detriment, likely to be implemented as a code of practice rather than a hard legal ban on out-of-hours contact.
Full Definition
The 'right to switch off' refers to a proposed employment protection intended to stop the expectation, increasingly common with widespread email, messaging apps and remote work, that employees remain reachable and responsive to work communications outside their contracted working hours. Rather than a blanket legal ban on employers contacting staff out of hours (as exists in some other countries, such as France's 'droit à la déconnexion'), the UK approach under discussion has generally centred on a statutory or Acas code of practice, requiring employers to agree clear expectations with staff — for example through a written right-to-disconnect policy — about when employees are and are not expected to respond to calls, emails or messages. Under a code-of-practice model, failure to follow the code would not itself be directly enforceable, but could be taken into account by an employment tribunal when assessing related claims, such as unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal linked to excessive out-of-hours pressure. The precise legal mechanism and any code's content were still being finalised as employment law reforms progressed.