Display Screen Equipment assessments: Are your hybrid workers covered?

In March 2026, the Health and Safety Executive issued a public reminder that home workers must be protected in the same way as office-based staff. The regulator noted that 38% of workers in Great Britain were working remotely or in a hybrid arrangement in January 2026 - 25% hybrid and 13% fully remote - and that many employers still don't realise their health and safety responsibilities apply equally at home. The statement named display screen equipment (DSE) as one of three priority areas, alongside stress and mental health, and the working environment. [1]

The scale of the underlying problem is significant. In 2024/25, HSE estimates that 511,000 workers in Great Britain were suffering from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), including 173,000 new cases in the year. Upper limb and neck conditions, which are commonly associated with poor screen-based work, accounted for 41% of all work-related MSD cases in 2024/25, up from 37% the previous year. Work-related MSDs resulted in 7.1 million lost working days. [2]

For SMEs with a hybrid workforce, this raises a practical question: does your DSE assessment programme still meet the legal standard when a significant proportion of workstations are in employees' homes?

Summary

• The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 apply to home and hybrid workers in the same way they apply to office staff. The employer's duty does not transfer to the worker because the workstation is at home [6].
• A "DSE user" is defined in HSE guidance as anyone using screens daily for continuous periods of an hour or more. This covers most office-based roles, wherever the work is carried out [3].
• Hybrid workers use two workstations. Both require assessment, and a completed assessment for the office does not discharge the duty for the home setup [1].
• Self-assessment is a valid method for home workstations, provided a trained assessor reviews the returns and identified issues are acted on [1].
• Employers must provide and fund equipment identified as necessary, such as separate keyboards, monitors, chairs, and footrests. The cost cannot be passed to the employee [6].
• Eye and eyesight tests must be provided on request, with the employer funding basic frames and lenses where spectacles are needed specifically for DSE work [6].
• Written risk assessment records are a legal requirement for employers with five or more staff under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 [8].
• Poor DSE compliance exposes employers to HSE enforcement notices and personal injury claims for work-related upper limb disorders.

What the DSE Regulations require

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, as amended in 2002, sit under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They impose duties on employers whose workers use screens as a significant part of their normal work. The 2002 amendment extended the regulations clearly to home working and portable devices, so home working has been within the framework for over twenty years. [6][7]

The regulations apply to a "user", defined in HSE guidance as someone who uses display screen equipment daily, as a significant part of their normal work. This is usually interpreted as an hour or more of continuous or near-continuous use per day. The definition covers office workers, developers, designers, customer service staff using screen-based systems, finance professionals, and others whose role centres on a screen. [3]

Core employer duties under the regulations.

• Assess workstations and reduce risks. The assessment must be "suitable and sufficient" and identified risks must be reduced to the lowest extent reasonably practicable.
• Meet the minimum requirements set out in the schedule to the regulations, covering the screen, keyboard, chair, desk, and immediate environment.
• Plan work to include breaks. Work should be organised so that DSE use is broken up by changes of activity or short breaks. HSE recommends short, frequent breaks rather than long, infrequent ones.
• Provide eye and eyesight tests on request, and fund corrective spectacles where these are needed specifically for DSE work.
• Provide training and information to users about the risks and the steps taken to control them. [6]

The HSE guidance leaflet INDG36 is the working reference most employers use. It confirms that written records of significant findings are required for organisations with five or more employees under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Employers with fewer than five staff do not have to record their findings in writing, though doing so remains good practice. [3][8]

Why hybrid working matters for DSE

The workforce that the regulations apply to has changed. ONS figures show that 28% of working adults in Great Britain hybrid worked between January and March 2025, a proportion that has risen gradually since March 2022. Hybrid working is more common in higher-earning professional roles, which are also the roles most likely to involve sustained DSE use. Almost half of workers earning £50,000 or more hybrid worked over the same period, compared with 8% of those earning under £20,000. [4]

HSE has been clear about how the existing rules apply to this pattern of work. In its March 2026 statement, the regulator confirmed that employers do not usually need to physically visit an employee's home to meet their duties, that the risks are often low, and that the steps to manage them are straightforward [1]. The duties themselves do not relax. Self-assessment is an acceptable method for home workstations, but the home setup cannot be left unassessed.

For hybrid workers, this means both the office workstation and the home workstation need to be assessed. An employee with a suitable office desk and a laptop used at a kitchen table has two different risk profiles, and the DSE assessment must cover both.

Who counts as a DSE user in a hybrid setup

The threshold is unchanged. A DSE user is someone who uses screens daily for continuous periods of an hour or more, depends on the equipment to do their job, and has limited choice over whether to use it [3]. Most professional office roles meet this test.

The location of the sustained use does not affect the classification. An employee who works two office days and three home days each week is still a DSE user, because the daily total is well over an hour regardless of where the work happens.

Some cases fall outside the definition. Occasional users, such as someone who logs into a terminal a few times a day for short periods, are not covered. Neither is a worker whose screen use is genuinely incidental to a non-DSE job. The test is regular, sustained use rather than the type of device. A tablet used for prolonged data entry qualifies; a smartphone checked briefly for emails does not. A company laptop used for four hours a day at home is display screen equipment, and the duties apply.

Contractors and agency workers under your control who carry out DSE work for you are also within scope. Where a working relationship is genuinely self-employed and the worker controls their own methods, the position is more nuanced. Assuming the duty does not apply because someone is invoiced rather than payrolled carries risk. Case law such as Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher (2011) shows that tribunals assess the reality of the working relationship, not just the wording of the contract.

Assessing both workstations

For hybrid workers, both the office desk and the home setup need to be assessed. The most common gap in SME DSE programmes is assessing the office and not the home.

Self-assessment questionnaires are a valid starting point, and HSE accepts them for home workstations. The requirement is that the returns are reviewed by someone competent to interpret them, and that identified issues are acted on. A completed form that flags a problem but produces no follow-up does not meet the duty. It records that the employer was aware of a risk and did not address it.

Compare these two approaches:

Inadequate: A generic self-assessment form is sent to all hybrid staff at induction. Returns are filed. No trained assessor reviews them, and no equipment is provided unless an employee specifically asks. No reassessment takes place.

Adequate: A self-assessment form designed for home workstations is completed by the employee, with photographs of the setup where practical. A trained DSE assessor reviews the return within a defined period, flags any issues, and arranges equipment provision or setup changes. The employee is reassessed when circumstances change and periodically as part of a scheduled review.

The point of the assessment is not the paperwork. It is to identify and correct workstation problems that could otherwise cause injury.

Equipment provision and what it costs

Where a DSE assessment identifies that additional equipment is needed, the employer must provide it, and the cost cannot be passed to the employee. For a disabled employee, this duty overlaps with the wider obligation to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010, but the DSE duty to provide equipment applies to every user regardless of whether they are disabled. [6][9]

For hybrid workers using laptops at home, this is a frequent area of shortfall. A laptop alone does not meet the schedule to the regulations, because the keyboard is not separate and the screen is not at the correct height for sustained use. Where employees work from laptops at home for substantial periods, the schedule requires either a separate keyboard and mouse, or a laptop stand used with an external keyboard and mouse to raise the screen to eye height [6].

A typical home DSE equipment package for a hybrid worker includes an external monitor or a laptop stand, a separate keyboard and mouse, an adjustable chair with lower back support, a footrest where the chair and desk height combination requires one, and adequate task lighting where the existing lighting is insufficient.

The cost of this is often lower than employers expect. Most home setups can be brought up to standard for a modest per-head sum, and the items are one-off purchases rather than recurring costs. The figures below are indicative UK retail prices as of 2025/26 for basic, compliant equipment rather than premium ranges.

For a hybrid worker who needs a full home setup, the equipment typically lands between £120 and £400 per person as a one-off, with the chair accounting for most of the variation. Employees who already own a suitable chair sit at the lower end. Set against a personal injury claim or the cost of sickness absence, the investment is small.

Employers can provide equipment directly, reimburse purchases against receipts, or offer a fixed home-working allowance for approved items. Each approach is acceptable, provided the equipment meets the required standard and the employer keeps a record of what has been provided. A home-working allowance set too low to fund a compliant setup does not discharge the duty, and requiring the employee to fund necessary equipment themselves is not acceptable.

Eye tests and spectacles

Employers must provide or arrange an eye and eyesight test when a user requests one. The duty is triggered by the request, and employers must tell users that the entitlement exists [6].

If the test shows that the user needs spectacles specifically for DSE work, distinct from their normal prescription, the employer must fund a basic pair of frames and lenses. Guidance on the eye and eyesight test duty confirms this applies only to corrective appliances needed for the screen work itself [5]. Employers are not required to fund glasses for general use, even where the same glasses would also be suitable for screen work. In practice, many employers use an eye care voucher scheme, which meets the duty and gives employees a choice of provider.

The most common shortfall here is administrative rather than financial. Users often do not know the entitlement exists, so they do not request a test. Because the regulation requires employers to inform users of the arrangements in place, it is worth covering this at induction and repeating it in annual health and safety communications.

There is no duty to provide eye tests or glasses for self-employed contractors who carry out DSE work, although employers may choose to offer this.

Enforcement and claims

Breach of the DSE Regulations is a criminal offence enforceable by HSE through improvement notices, prohibition notices, and, in serious cases, prosecution. Most DSE-related liability arises through personal injury claims rather than criminal proceedings [6][7].

Employees who develop a work-related upper limb disorder or back condition can bring a personal injury claim, and these claims turn on evidence. In defending one, the employer relies on being able to show that a suitable and sufficient assessment was carried out and acted on. Where no assessment exists for the home workstation, or where an assessment identified issues that were not addressed, that defence is weak.

Home-worker claims are harder to defend than office-based ones. The employer cannot readily inspect the workstation after an injury is reported, and where the assessment relied on self-reporting, the contemporaneous record is often thinner than it would be for an office desk. The employer's own documentation therefore carries more weight. A completed home assessment, a record of equipment provided, and evidence that reported issues were acted on are the difference between a defensible position and an indefensible one.

The financial exposure extends beyond claims. From 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay reforms removed the lower earnings limit and the three-day waiting period, so SSP is payable from the first day of absence and more workers qualify. The government estimates the changes will increase employer SSP costs by around £450 million a year across the economy. Where an MSD is work-related, the employer meets the sick pay cost as well as any potential liability.

A practical framework for hybrid DSE compliance

Meeting the duty does not require a compliance overhaul. It requires a defined process applied consistently.

1. Identify who is a user

Establish which staff meet the DSE user definition. For most SMEs with hybrid or remote staff in professional roles, this will be the majority. Include contractors and agency workers under your control who carry out DSE work.

2. Assess both workstations

For every hybrid user, assess the office setup where applicable and the home setup. Use the HSE workstation checklist or a comparable tool adapted for home environments. The standard office version does not ask about lighting from domestic windows, separation from household distractions, or the suitability of home seating.

3. Review the returns

Where self-assessment is used (for example, Mentor DSE risk assessment), have the returns reviewed by someone trained to interpret them. This can be an internal DSE assessor in larger organisations or an external service for smaller ones. The reviewer decides what action is needed.

4. Provide the equipment

Where the assessment identifies gaps, provide the equipment. The most common items are laptop stands, external keyboards and mice, adjustable chairs, and task lighting. Record what was provided and to whom.

5. Communicate the eye test entitlement

Tell every DSE user in writing that they can request a paid eye test, and set up the mechanism, whether a voucher scheme, a nominated optician, or a reimbursement process. Repeat the message annually.

6. Train users

Provide DSE awareness training at induction and refresh it periodically. Users need to know how to adjust their equipment, recognise early symptoms, and report problems.

7. Reassess when circumstances change

A change of role, new equipment, a house move, reported symptoms, or a set review interval should each trigger a reassessment. An annual review is common for hybrid users.

8. Keep the records

For organisations with five or more employees, written risk assessment records are required. Retain them for the duration of employment and a reasonable period afterwards, given that a personal injury claim can be brought within three years of the employee becoming aware of the injury [8].

Conclusion

The DSE Regulations were not drafted with hybrid and remote working in mind, but they apply to it, and HSE has been consistent that the duty covers whichever workstation the employee actually uses. What has changed is the operational demand on employers, particularly SMEs without a dedicated health and safety function.

Organisations that manage this well treat DSE as a process that assumes two workstations from the outset. The assessment method covers both the office and the home. The equipment budget accounts for both. The training assumes users move between locations, and the review cycle assumes something will change and builds in reassessment.

The employers who get this right are not the ones with the largest health and safety budgets. They are the ones who stopped treating the home workstation as an exception and started treating it as half of every hybrid worker's setup. The regulations ask for one thing: that the workstations your employees actually use are adequately set up and do not injure them.

This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information is accurate at the time of writing but may be subject to change. For advice specific to your situation, please consult a qualified professional.

[1] Health and Safety Executive, Home workers must be protected like any other employee, 9 March 2026.

[2] Health and Safety Executive, Work-related musculoskeletal disorders statistics in Great Britain, 2025.

[3] Health and Safety Executive, Working with display screen equipment (DSE), INDG36.

[4] Office for National Statistics, Who has access to hybrid working in Great Britain?, June 2025.

[5] Croner-i, Ask the expert: eye tests and glasses for DSE users.

[6] Legislation.gov.uk, Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992.

[7] Legislation.gov.uk, Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

[8] Legislation.gov.uk, Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Regulation 3.

[9] Legislation.gov.uk, Equality Act 2010.