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Original poster

Can my NHS secondment require photos of my home working setup?

175 replies

StolenPineappleCup · 14/04/2026 13:22

Currently on a secondment within the NHS. I don't have a concrete base - it can be any premises within the Trust - but like the rest of my team work remotely at least 2 of my 4 days a week (usually 3 even). The days I would go into a base would be to specifically meet in person rather than just to work from a hot desk. My team has no permanent set up anywhere, just hot desking rooms we can book.

Since Covid when we all moved to WFH we've had to complete an annual DSE assessment for health and safety - a quick, online form - done. This year however they want photographs of our set up at home! Apparently we have to have at least a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor. My work setup is that I sit on the sofa with a laptop table and use the laptop only - it works absolutely fine for me, and I have no MSK issues, etc.

Apparently if we can't have this setup at home we will need to be in a base permanently - even though I don't have one. I feel this would massively impact my work/life balance due to commuting and also the fact I was allowed to WFH before Covid due to ASD.

I don't see how it's fair that they want to police how people work in their own homes? Aren't we all grown adults? Yes they have a HSE/duty of care role etc. but surely if you can sign and agree you're happy with your way of working they surely can't force you to change?!

(I do have a desk and chair upstairs by the way but the desk is one of those stupid angled ones that doesn't adjust for me, and the room where it is is getting renovated - I will have a new one but not until the end of the year)

OP posts:
Confuserr · 14/04/2026 13:25

Yes they have a HSE/duty of care role etc. but surely if you can sign and agree you're happy with your way of working they surely can't force you to change?!

Imagine you're talking about someone who wanted to opt out of wearing a helmet on a building site, or a harness cleaning windows on the 10th floor. Extreme examples obviously but you can't opt out of their basic responsibilities as employers. Nor should you, sitting on your sofa all day on your laptop is terrible for your back, get a proper chair/desk or a standing desk.

KnickerlessParsons · 14/04/2026 13:26

Your employer has a duty of care towards you even when you're not in the office. Working from your sofa is far from ideal and you'll have a bad back eventually.
Your employer will also be concerned with the security aspects of WFH - for example we aren't allowed to work by a downstairs window where people pass by, nor by any open window, nor in the garden in the summer.

tinyspiny · 14/04/2026 13:26

Just send them photos of your desk upstairs etc and then work from where you like .

MadeForThis · 14/04/2026 13:26

Just borrow the equipment for the photo.

FadedRed · 14/04/2026 13:27

So a photo of your desk and send them that, then do your work on the sofa as no-one will be watching? It’s an HSE Screen assessment to prevent you developing MSK and attempting to sue the NHS for negligence.

Shedmistress · 14/04/2026 13:27

Just set up a desk, take a photo then carry on.

insightnumber9 · 14/04/2026 13:28

I would just play the game - borrow the mouse/monitor/keyboard from a friend if needs be and send a picture of them on the desk.

Franpie · 14/04/2026 13:36

I wfh full time, we all do, we don’t have an office at my company.

But we have to do this. In fact we have to show our set up on a Teams call to our Compliance Manager so that it can be assessed. It is in order to comply with HSE requirements.

I do have a correct set up with monitor, desk, ergonomic chair etc, all provided by the company, but I’m currently working from my kitchen table where it’s nice and sunny. It doesn’t matter where you work from (sofa etc) as long as the company knows that you do have the correct set-up as an option fully available to you.

HoppingPavlova · 14/04/2026 13:45

Just go to a friends house, snap their desk/monitor and send that in. Check minoring from laptop on lounge with blurred background for any camera meetings.

SirChenjins · 14/04/2026 13:48

Do as others suggest and fake the set up - but you must know that what you're describing doesn't meet any of the DSE requirements?

WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz · 14/04/2026 13:49

Yes, they can. They'd be neglecting their responsibilities if they knowingly allowed you to work from a sofa.

Thundertoast · 14/04/2026 13:52

Confuserr · 14/04/2026 13:25

Yes they have a HSE/duty of care role etc. but surely if you can sign and agree you're happy with your way of working they surely can't force you to change?!

Imagine you're talking about someone who wanted to opt out of wearing a helmet on a building site, or a harness cleaning windows on the 10th floor. Extreme examples obviously but you can't opt out of their basic responsibilities as employers. Nor should you, sitting on your sofa all day on your laptop is terrible for your back, get a proper chair/desk or a standing desk.

This nails it.
You need to think that from a liability standpoint, if you come to them with severe back/neck issues down the line from working with a dodgy setup, thats potentially opening them up to a load of preventable time off, adjustments etc, and accusations of them not ensuring you had a safe workspace. Not saying you'd do that, but there are people out there who would, and worse, people do get payouts when its their own stupidity if a company is viewed to have not done enough to ensure a safe working space! Its just to cover their asses, thats all. Set up on your desk upstairs and take a picture.

Friendlygingercat · 14/04/2026 13:59

Get AI to knock you up a picture of a home office, Nothing too lavish - just a basic work station and office chair that looks like the spare bedroom. File it for future use.

ArtAngel · 14/04/2026 14:06

Totally normal. And the organisation I worked for used to send a technician round to PAT test any electrics / electronics used in home working, too.

The H&S policy was applied to all employees at home, office or out and about - just as they wouldn't have allowed doing any driving that was required in a vehicle that didn't have seat belts.

Cheat if you like but don't ever take time off for bad neck, back, carpal tunnel or RSI!

Confuserr · 14/04/2026 14:12

Friendlygingercat · 14/04/2026 13:59

Get AI to knock you up a picture of a home office, Nothing too lavish - just a basic work station and office chair that looks like the spare bedroom. File it for future use.

Edited

Or maybe don't do an obvious fraud? Can't see this going down well if/when it's spotted as AI for one of the many tells you get on such pics. You have a desk upstairs so I don't see the issue?

Original poster
StolenPineappleCup · 14/04/2026 14:17

@Confuserr my desk isn't functional which is why I don't use it - it's one of those ladder-type ones and the flat bit just isn't the right height for me to use. Plus it would never fit a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. on it!

OP posts:
VividDeer · 14/04/2026 14:20

I think its a good idea. My workplace has huge sickness rates for muscular skeletal.
Noone should work from a laptop screen permanently sitting on a sofa

KnickerlessParsons · 14/04/2026 14:24

StolenPineappleCup · 14/04/2026 14:17

@Confuserr my desk isn't functional which is why I don't use it - it's one of those ladder-type ones and the flat bit just isn't the right height for me to use. Plus it would never fit a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. on it!

Get a different desk then. Do work supply them? If not, they're cheap enough to buy. And while you're at it, get a proper chair too.

dreamiesformolly · 14/04/2026 14:29

Understandable that they're doing this, OP, but I can see why it's frustrating. Given proper back support and correct ergonomics generally, in my own experience it can be fine to work on a laptop on the sofa. I've been WFH since long before Covid, for most of the past 25 years in fact, and despite having a desk I often work from the sofa - I'm doing it today in fact (not now, obviously, lunch break). When it leads to back problems it's typically because it can encourage poor posture, but it doesn't have to.

Would a pic of your upstairs desk and chair set-up not get them off your back, or does it not have all the components they're saying you need to have?

TinyCottageGirl · 14/04/2026 14:30

Do you have a kitchen table? Could you take a picture of a set up on there so at least they can see you have an option of working at a 'desk'?

Original poster
StolenPineappleCup · 14/04/2026 15:01

@KnickerlessParsons no they don't supply them - I'm in the process of doing some home renovations and after that will have a fully functional office set up in a different bedroom but it won't be ready for at least a few months yet (and no there's no way I can speed it up). I do have a proper chair already

@dreamiesformolly no I don't have a monitor, mouse or keyboard, or laptop riser at present. There wouldn't be enough room for all of that on the existing desk as it's not much bigger than the laptop itself

@TinyCottageGirl I do but it's quite high up and think it would be evident even from a photo that I'd be incredibly uncomfortable sitting at it (I'm really short!) Plus they're insisting we have a proper office chair - which I do but it wouldn't line up with the kitchen table

OP posts:
Malasana · 14/04/2026 16:12

I WFH and had to supply photos of my set up. It was either that or work in one of the offices.
It’s not only for your employer’s benefit but also yours. Back and arm problems can start at any time even if you feel you’re comfortable on the settee
with your laptop. You’ll inevitably do some
damage in the long run.
Either get a desk set up - doesn’t have to be an actual desk, I work from my dining table but with a proper office chair, laptop riser etc - or go and work in a base.
Don’t try and fake a set up - when your back is in agony in 12
months and you have RSI you’ll understand why they asked.

BeeCucumber · 14/04/2026 16:20

Just do as your employer asks. Stop making excuses. Set up your desk or table with the necessary equipment and take the photo or your right to WFH may be withdrawn. If you make a fuss and draw attention to yourself, you may be asked to work permanently from a base somewhere. You don’t want that do you?

Original poster
StolenPineappleCup · 14/04/2026 16:23

BeeCucumber · 14/04/2026 16:20

Just do as your employer asks. Stop making excuses. Set up your desk or table with the necessary equipment and take the photo or your right to WFH may be withdrawn. If you make a fuss and draw attention to yourself, you may be asked to work permanently from a base somewhere. You don’t want that do you?

And I'm supposed to buy the equipment that doesn't fit on my desk at home? Ah yes I'll do that... or put it on my high kitchen table... both of which will clearly demonstrate that neither are suitable for WFH if I have to have all the additional paraphernalia.

And regardless they can't force me to work permanently from a base due to reasonable adjustments that they have agreed previously

OP posts:
Boopybop · 14/04/2026 16:23

Your employer has a duty of care to ensure you are working in a safe way. If you are unable to work in a safe way (ie compliant to DSE standards) they can, (and from experience - will) force you to work from an office that is DSE compliant. It’s against the law for an employer to knowlingly allow you to work in an unsafe way.