‘It just doesn’t stop!’ Do we need a new law to ban out-of-hours emails?

During the pandemic many workers have felt more under siege than ever from work emails that arrive at all hours. Could the legal right to disconnect help?

For 10 years, Jonathan has been available on email. He receives messages as early as 6am and as late as midnight, and steadily for a 12-hour stretch every day. And right from when he first became a lawyer, the clear expectation was that he would do his best to read them as soon as they came in.

When you get these emails on your phone, as we all do now, the pressure externally and internally to do something is huge," Jonathan, 41, from north-west England, says.