The lowest temperature was -8C at Tulloch Bridge in Northern Scotland, but there were also freezing conditions in cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Hull and Newcastle.
It led to yellow ‘severe’ weather warnings for snow and ice being issued by the Met Office to most of the UK until 10am on Wednesday, albeit not for large parts of the South of England.
Although, snow still fell across London on Tuesday morning and is expected to return on Wednesday.
The warnings mean you’ll experience icy surfaces outside, possible travel delays on the roads and even power cuts for some rural communities.
Following the frosty start for many households, Network Rail apologised to travellers as a fallen tree on the line hit the East Midlands during rush hour. It then urged commuters to check their journey before travelling.
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With another day of weather warnings and potentially 10cm of snow in rural areas to come, here are your rights if the weather hampers your work plans.
Your rights if you can’t make it in
If you cannot make it into the office, then employers are not entitled to pay you for that shift or day missed. Your position will be largely dependent on the type of contract you have, as many firms will have a bad weather policy that covers you if you are a full-time member of staff. This might not be the case if you are on a temporary contract or employed on a freelance basis.
One thing to note is employees are expected to make ‘reasonable efforts’ to make it to work when there are severe transport disruptions or road closures.
Despite the expectation, Neha Thethi, head of employment at Lime Solicitors, said: “It is important to remember your employer should not force you to attempt the journey if there are legitimate concerns for your safety.”
But, after changes made during the Covid-19 pandemic, many employers have the technology ready so staff are able to work from home when needed.
Workplace closures
If your employer is unable to open the office, restaurant, shop or other relevant doors due to bad weather, they should usually still pay employees for that day.
Theti said: “Withholding pay when employees are unable to work through no fault of their own could be considered as an unauthorised deduction from wages.
“In those circumstances, employees may be able to bring a claim against their employer. However, it should be noted that some employment contracts contain a temporary ‘lay-off’ clause. If this is the case, employers can refuse to give the full amount of pay to employees for a limited time.”
Need to take time off for school closures?
As nearly 200 schools in the UK closed on Tuesday and more are set for the same fate on Wednesday, there could be millions of parents who are left without any care options for their children.
The Government has an online search tool that allows you to check which schools are closed due to the snowy conditions.
If there are no family or friends who can save the day, there might be no other option but to take time off.
Should your child’s school be on the list and you do not have any care available, that would constitute “an emergency relating to a dependant.”
Theti added: “In which case, you would be entitled to take time off as dependency leave.
“This type of leave does not have to be paid. Your employer cannot refuse you dependency leave if you have no other choice, and you cannot be disciplined or sacked for taking the time off.”
