Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the classification of (1) all people aged over 70, and (2) all pregnant women, as ‘clinically vulnerable’ to COVID-19, whether (a) employers are entitled to deny such people the same chance to work as others, regardless of their health, and (b) voluntary organisations are entitled to ban such people from volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic. [T]

It is against the law to discriminate against someone because of their age or because of being pregnant or on maternity leave.

Under Health and Safety legislation, employers have a legal responsibility to protect workers and others from risk to their health and safety. They should do everything reasonably practicable to minimise the risks. Clinically vulnerable individuals, who are at higher risk of severe illness, have been asked to take extra care in observing social distancing and should be helped to work from home, either in their current role or in an alternative role.

If clinically vulnerable individuals cannot work from home, they should be offered the option of the safest available on site roles, enabling them to stay 2m away from others. The Health and Safety risk assessment should reflect this.

The Health and Safety Executive has guidance for business on how to manage risk and risk assessment at work along with specific advice to help control the risk of coronavirus in workplaces.