Duty of Care: What Employers Owe Staff Who Drive for Work

By the Smart Strix team · Updated 15 July 2026

When an employee drives on business, health and safety law follows them onto the road. This guide explains what the duty of care involves, why it covers employee-owned cars too, and which records a small fleet should keep.

In short: Employers owe staff a duty of care under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, which HSE guidance confirms extends to employees driving for work — including staff using their own cars on business journeys. Written policy, licence checks, vehicle condition checks and dated records are the foundations. Smart Strix, a UK-first platform aimed at operators running 2–50 vehicles, helps you organise and evidence that work; no software can discharge the duty for you.

What does duty of care mean when staff drive for work?

Duty of care means an employer must do what is reasonably practicable to protect employees and others from risks created by work activities, and HSE guidance makes clear that this extends to journeys made for work purposes — always check the current guidance on hse.gov.uk, as it is revised from time to time. In other words, occupational road risk should be managed like any other workplace risk: assessed, controlled, monitored and reviewed, with road traffic law applying on top rather than instead.

The ordinary commute between home and a fixed workplace is generally treated differently from work journeys, but travel between sites, deliveries, client visits and collections all count as driving for work. When in doubt, ask whether the journey exists because of the job; if it does, your duty is engaged.

Does duty of care apply to grey fleet vehicles?

Yes — the duty follows the work, not the vehicle, so an employee using their own car for a business errand is covered just as a company van driver is. This category of employee-owned vehicles used for work is known as grey fleet, and it is where small businesses are most often exposed, because nobody in the office can see the tyres, the MOT status or the insurance class of a car that lives on an employee's drive.

Practical grey fleet controls include annual declarations of business-use insurance, MOT and servicing, plus the same journey-planning expectations that apply to company vehicles. Our guide to grey fleet management works through the controls in detail.

What should a driving-for-work policy include?

A workable policy sets out in writing who may drive on business, what condition vehicles must be in, and how journeys are planned and problems reported. Five elements cover most of the ground.

Licence checks. Verify entitlement, endorsements and any restrictions at recruitment and on a repeating schedule thereafter, with the driver's consent.
Vehicle condition. Require daily walkaround checks for company vehicles — the legal position is covered in our guide to daily vehicle check requirements — and condition declarations for grey fleet cars.
Journey planning. Set realistic schedules that allow for breaks, weather and traffic, so nobody feels pressured to rush or drive tired.
Mobile phones. Hand-held phone use at the wheel is illegal, and many employers go further by requiring calls to wait until the vehicle is parked; state your rule explicitly and check the current law on gov.uk.
Incident reporting. Collisions and near-misses should be reported without blame, because a near-miss you hear about is a lesson, and one you don't is a rehearsal.

Keep the document short enough that people actually read it. A concise policy that every driver has signed, understood and seen enforced carries far more weight — practically and evidentially — than an exhaustive manual gathering dust on a shelf. Revisit it after any incident and whenever official guidance moves.

Why is record-keeping the backbone of duty of care?

If an incident is ever investigated, the question will not be whether you had good intentions but whether you can show a system that operated in practice — and records are the only way to show it. Dated check results, licence check logs, policy sign-offs, defect reports and their fixes together demonstrate that your controls were real rather than aspirational.

This is where software earns its keep, provided you are honest about its role. Vehicle check-in and check-out in Smart Strix attaches photos and timestamps to each record, while the compliance view tracks MOT, insurance and V5C expiry dates with alerts. What it produces is organised evidence; the duty itself is discharged by the checking, fixing and training that the evidence describes.

Be wary of any vendor claiming their product makes you compliant. Compliance is something an operator does; a good system merely makes it easier to prove you did it.

How do you put duty of care into practice in a small fleet?

Start proportionate and build: a five-van operation does not need a corporate risk department, but it does need the basics done consistently.

Write a one-page driving-for-work policy in plain language and have every driver read and sign it.
Diarise licence checks and stick to the schedule.
Make walkaround checks and defect reporting a daily routine, not an occasional gesture.
Capture grey fleet declarations annually for anyone using their own car on business.
Review incidents and near-misses periodically, and update the policy when the review teaches you something.

Done this way, duty of care stops being an abstract legal worry and becomes a short list of habits with a paper trail — the state every small fleet should be aiming for. The cost of running these routines is measured in minutes per day; the cost of being unable to demonstrate them after a serious collision is measured in something else entirely.

Frequently asked questions

Does duty of care cover an employee's daily commute?

Generally no — the ordinary commute between home and a fixed workplace is usually outside the scope, while journeys made for work purposes are within it. Travel between sites, client visits and deliveries all count. Boundary cases exist, so check current HSE guidance rather than assuming.

Are self-employed drivers covered by my duty of care?

You still owe duties to people affected by how your business operates, and the legal position for subcontractors depends on the real working relationship rather than the label on the contract. Treat the question as one for professional advice, and in the meantime apply the same practical standards to everyone driving on your behalf.

How often should driving licences be checked?

There is no single statutory interval for most van fleets, so a risk-based approach is standard practice: check at recruitment, then on a repeating schedule, with higher-risk drivers checked more often. Whatever frequency you choose, record each check so you can evidence the routine.

Is a written driving-for-work policy legally required?

The underlying obligation is to manage work-related risk, and a written policy is the accepted practical means of demonstrating that you do. A single clear page that drivers have read and signed is worth more than a binder nobody opens. Review it after incidents and when guidance changes.

Can Smart Strix make my business compliant with duty of care obligations?

No — no software can, and you should distrust any claim otherwise. Smart Strix helps you organise the evidence: timestamped vehicle checks with photos, document expiry alerts and driver records. The checking, fixing, training and decision-making that constitute compliance remain human responsibilities.

What happens if an employer neglects occupational road risk?

Failures to manage work-related driving risk can lead to enforcement action under health and safety law, alongside insurance and reputational consequences after a serious incident. The severity depends on circumstances, which is precisely why documented, consistent controls matter — see current HSE guidance for the enforcement framework.