Its that time of year again - the usual annual questions come out. Its the UK - its often cold, dark and with snow and ice in some parts of the country in the inter. If its Scotland or the north of England and 12inches of snow fall - carry on - its a normal part of life. On the other hand if in London and the south east... 1/2 inch of snow - call in work, don't go as you are snowed in. All of the buses and trains will be cancelled. Motorways will be grid locked as cars get stuck in the deep snow drifts that might get to 1 inch deep (maybe more).

We have a summer policy. But then I work at Wimbledon and weather is very much an important factor for us during the summer.

As some people have said “Do you really need a winter policy?” it depends on your business and how important it is for people to get into work. Eg a hospital might expect staff to make more effort for its staff to get into work than an office where people could conceivably work from home. Last year I got caught up in an argument with a manager in another part of the country who wanted advice as to whether to send his people home. He was rather upset when I suggested he look out of his window and make the decision based on local circumstances rather than trying to follow a policy written in another part of the country largely dealing with different sorts of workers. ( In the civil service a lot of these sorts of policies are based on the assumption that everybody works in London and that the key factor is the state of the Tube)

Adverse weather is included on some of our risk assessments but don't generally have a "policy" for it