Tesco has become the first supermarket to introduce paid "safe leave" for employees who are victims of domestic abuse. The new policy offers up to three days of paid leave, which can be taken flexibly.
This leave is intended to provide staff with dedicated time to access support, secure their safety, and take steps to move forward. Activities covered include attending court hearings, arranging emergency accommodation, changing locks, securing childcare, or separating finances.
The UK's largest private-sector employer, which has 300,000 staff, has also trained its managers to recognise signs of domestic abuse and to support affected individuals by flagging them to specialist services. The policy, developed with the shopworkers' union Usdaw, does not require formal evidence from those suffering abuse to access the special leave.