Maximum Working Temperature UK 2026: Is There A Legal Limit On How Hot Your Workplace Can Get?

Ahead of a 31°C May heatwave and a predicted Super El Niño, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) have called for maximum temperature working rules in the UK.

In their report, titled A Well-Adapted UK, they called on the government to invest in things like “air conditioning, heat pumps and green shading” in public areas as well as “cooling” tools in the workplace.

They called rising heating, flooding, and drought a “threat” to the “British way of life”.

There is no maximum working temperature in the UK as of the time of writing, though the government points to a minimum temperature guidance of 16ºC, or 13ºC for those doing physical jobs.

The CCC report said that by 2025, 92% of homes are likely to overheat. They’ve proposed ideal indoor temperatures for places like care homes, prisons and homes of 16°C to 25°C.

They didn’t mention an ideal working temperature explicitly; however, they did point to Spain, where maximum working temperatures are 27°C for sedentary work and 25°C for light physical work.

Heatwaves of 40°C are expected to become more common in the coming decades, they added.

These can be seriously harmful to people’s health. The sweltering 40°C day of 2022 took place in a four-day heatwave that caused 1,000 heat-related deaths.

Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, Johan Jaques, chief meteorologist at environmental solutions company KISTERS, agreed.

He said that heatwaves were likely to become worse in the UK thanks to things like climate change and stifling building design.

Baroness Brown, chair of the Adaptation Committee, said that “Our lives, our landscapes and our homes are under increasing pressure from the changing climate. But we are not powerless. In an increasingly unstable world, being well adapted to climate change is fundamental to securing our food, energy and economic security.

“This report carries a message of hope. The solutions already exist, and proven technologies are available now to help the UK adapt effectively. With the right decisions and actions, we can protect the people and the places we love.”

She added that we can protect the places, people, and institutions most dear to us with government changes.

Per the BBC, the government has said it would review and address the concerns in this report, and added it was already taking steps to address flooding.