Research Shows Few Job Adverts Require COVID-19 Vaccination
With the pandemic continuing to develop as we head into winter, workers in regulated care homes must now be vaccinated against COVID-19. From 1 April 2022, vaccination will also become mandatory within the health and social care sector.
Within other sectors, vaccination is not currently mandated as part of Government policy.
Recent research by job site Adzuna of the UK job market has found that 1 in 526 roles currently require applicants to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Job advertisements requiring vaccinations included health and social care sector roles, but also roles within the charity sector, and the domestic and cleaning sector.
Comment
Job vacancies where COVID-19 vaccination is a mandatory requirement remain very much in the minority. This is in line with what we would expect given the Government's current policy on vaccination, and the accompanying advice issued by ACAS (which encourages employers to support and encourage staff to get vaccinated without making it a requirement) and the EHRC, which has warned blanket mandatory vaccination policies may be unlawful if applied inflexibly. Employers who do wish to make vaccination mandatory should be confident they can explain why this is necessary, and should also assess the risk of discrimination claims if such vaccination were to be mandated.
Whilst few job roles might require vaccination as a condition of employment, the Government is nevertheless encouraging employers to be vocal in supporting the vaccination effort. As part of these efforts, employers may wish to consider a written vaccination policy, dealing with matters such as time off for vaccinations, where employees should go to access accurate information on the vaccination programme, and how information relating to vaccination status is to be shared and held by the employer.