Employers could insist all staff get vaccinated under health and safety law

Employers can insist that all of their staff get vaccinated against Covid under laws governing health and safety at work, ministers believe.

The idea of 'vaccine passports' - which would allow employers to insist upon proof of vaccination - have been dismissed by vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi as "discriminatory" and "not how we do things in the UK ".

However, the Telegraph understands that the issue is at the centre of a row in Cabinet, with some ministers arguing in favour of the scheme.

Whitehall sources believe that companies who adopt a "jab for a job" stance are protected by current health and safety laws which require workers to protect not only themselves, but also colleagues from harm.

One government source said: “If someone is working in an environment where people haven’t been vaccinated, it becomes a public health risk.

“Health and safety laws say you have to protect other people at work, and when it becomes about protecting other people the argument gets stronger.

“If there is clear evidence that vaccines prevent transmission, the next stage is to make sure more and more people are taking up the vaccine.

“If people have allergies or other reasons for not getting jabbed, then of course they should be exempt, but where it’s an unjustified fear, we have got to help people get into the right place.”

Some Tory MPs fear any such demands from employers could be used to justify demands for proof of inoculation in other circumstances. Allowing firms to discriminate on the grounds of vaccination is hugely sensitive because a disproportionately large percentage of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are against getting jabbed.

More than 12 million people have now received their first dose of the vaccine, with almost 1,000 jabs per hour administered at one point over the weekend. The Government is on course to beat its target of offering the vaccine to all over-70s and clinically vulnerable people by Feb 15.

Another 373 deaths were reported on Sunday, the lowest figure since December, as deaths, infections and hospitalisations continue to trend downwards.

Scientists and ministers agree that vaccines are the only way out of Covid restrictions, and want to make sure the maximum number of people are inoculated.

Mr Zahawi insisted on Sunday that while travellers could ask their GP for a certificate of vaccination if required by a foreign country, vaccine passports would not be introduced for domestic use because they would be “discriminatory”.

But some Cabinet ministers are sympathetic to the idea of vaccine passports if there is irrefutable evidence that the jabs prevent transmission.

A government source added that ministers had not ruled out fresh legislation to clarify health and safety laws on the subject of vaccines.

While tribunals have in the past upheld employers’ decisions to sack employees who disobeyed orders to stay at home when they had infectious diseases, the issue of sacking people who refuse to be vaccinated is not thought to have been tested in court.

Some employment lawyers have suggested people with strong anti-vaccination beliefs may be protected under equality laws.

Earlier this year Charlie Mullins, the chairman of Pimlico Plumbers, said he would refuse to take on staff who would not be vaccinated, and would rewrite the contracts of existing staff to require them to have the jab.

Mr Zahawi said at the time that the Government did not support Mr Mullins’ stance and that “we’re not that sort of country”.

Health and safety laws introduced in the 1970s place a duty of care on employees not only to take care of their own well-being, but also that of colleagues who may be affected by their actions.

There is a growing belief among some ministers that if new data on vaccines - expected next week - backs up initial evidence that they significantly reduce transmission, employers would be within their rights to demand workers prove they have been jabbed, once the vaccine rollout is complete.

Another government source said: “Businesses are increasingly interested in it because they think it can get them going sooner. It may become inevitable if other countries start doing it.

“Given the massive success of the vaccine rollout, we shouldn’t be ruling it out completely right now.”

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UK Hospitality, said vaccine passports would be a problem for the pub and restaurant trade because 60 per cent of workers are under 24, meaning they will not get vaccinated for months.

She said: “We can see that they would be useful for international travel, but until we get the large proportion of the population vaccinated, it is challenging domestically, especially for families.”

Asked by the BBC whether the Government was intending to introduce vaccine passports, Mr Zahawi said: “No, we’re not. And there are several reasons why we’re not doing that. One, vaccines are not mandated in this country...that’s not how we do things in the UK. We do them by consent.”

Steve Baker MP, a member of the Covid Recovery Group of Conservative MPs, said: “If British citizens wish to refuse to take a vaccine, they should be free to do so, without suffering discrimination and losing their liberty at home.

“Our country must never allow people to be required to prove vaccination status to enter a restaurant for example.

“We urgently need clarity from the Government on this issue. Vaccination passports run the risk of striking at the very heart of vaccinations being voluntary: our vaccination status must not determine our ability to live freely in our democracy.”