“Introducing a work stoppage threshold protects workers’ physical and mental health.”
The Campaign for Labour Party Democracy has released the following motion template for Labour members to submit to this year’s Labour Party Annual Conference.
Conference notes:
- On August 11th the UK Meteorological Office announced that the summer of 2026 was likely to be the hottest on record. Moreover, the number of days this year when the temperature somewhere in the UK has exceeded 30°C is the highest ever recorded.
- 2026 follows the record-breaking summer of 2025 and maintains the trend this century in sharply rising temperatures, due to global climate change.
- The Royal College of Nursing and the TUC, including our affiliated trade unions Unison and Unite, have recently campaigned for legally enforceable maximum workplace temperature limits.
Conference therefore calls on the Government to introduce legislation to make it mandatory:’
- for employers to implement cooling measures if indoor temperature exceeds 24°C and staff feel uncomfortable;
- for a work stoppage threshold of 30°C for standard indoor environments;
- for a work stoppage threshold of 27°C for physically demanding work.
Conference also calls on the government to introduce legislation mandating the provision of cooling measures to ensure comfortable working conditions during heatwaves for workers in public transport such as bus and train drivers.
Information for above motion / Supporting arguments
This three-tier maximum working temperature rule is designed to mirror the UK’s existing laws for cold weather, which specify a minimum indoor temperature of 16°C for desk work and 13°C for strenuous work.
Bodies such as The World Health Organisation and Climate Change Committee view 24°C as the upper limit for comfort, warning that higher indoor temperatures impair cognitive thinking, increase fatigue and provoke heat-related illnesses.
The 24°C threshold is to trigger mandatory employer mitigation (e.g. ventilation, shading, dress code changes).
The 30°C and 27°C ceilings, triggering mandatory work stoppages for desk and strenuous work respectively, are maximums advocated by workers’ organisations such as the TUC and policy groups including the Fabian Society. These proposals draw on occupational health and thermal comfort studies. More information is available from the Health and Safety Executive.
The TUC defines physically demanding work as roles involving severe physical effort or high physical exertion.
Introducing a work stoppage threshold protects workers’ physical and mental health; for example, to avoid severe dehydration, muscle cramps, and heatstroke. Moreover, it protects workers who are more vulnerable to high temperature stress, including pregnant women, older people and workers with cardiovascular or kidney conditions,
It also avoids overheating for staff wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).
A work stoppage threshold also helps to reduce cognitive errors due to difficulty in concentrating and making quick decisions, which adversely impact operational safety. These measures will also reduce the risks of physical accidents due to sweating when using tools and machinery.
It also reduces the likelihood of productivity falls in conditions of extreme heat. Studies show that productivity rapidly falls when the temperature exceeds 22°C to 25°C. It has been estimated that loss of productivity in output this year in the UK amounts to over £4 billion.
Work efficiency drops by roughly 2% for each degree Celsius rise above 26°C, leading to a significant reduction in work effectiveness when indoor temperatures exceed 30°C.
Recent examples of workers suffering because of extreme heat include:
Nurses fainting in ‘inhumane’ conditions due to extreme heat
Bus drivers strike over oven-like cabs in heatwave
- You can put forward, for consideration in your CLP, one of the model Contemporary Motions, attached here as a Word document and here as a PDF file.
- You can put forward, for consideration in your CLP, the model Reference Back to the National Policy Forum (NPF) Report, attached here as a Word document and here as a PDF file.
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