Officer Moved Further From Workplace and Launched Legal Action Over Homeworking Refusal

A police officer sued the Metropolitan Police for disability discrimination after being denied permission to work from home following his move three hours away from his base.

PC Paul Heard told an employment tribunal that the daily commute between his home in Suffolk and his posting in Croydon, south London, left him exhausted and negatively affected both his physical and mental health.

He argued that the six-hour daily round trip by public transport worsened existing health conditions and requested permission to carry out his duties remotely. However, the Met refused, stating there were no suitable fully remote operational policing roles available.

The London South Employment Tribunal heard that PC Heard had been based primarily in Croydon since 2017, where his duties involved regular contact with local organisations and required an on-site presence.

After relocating to Suffolk in 2018, he began commuting around three hours each way. Although some home working arrangements were introduced in 2019 and expanded under a blended working model in 2021, the force maintained that officers still needed to attend police locations in person.

In 2021, PC Heard developed a number of health problems, including breathlessness, fatigue, high blood pressure and depression. He later received a diagnosis of hypothyroidism and moved to compressed working hours to help manage the strain of commuting.

He took sick leave in 2022 and later underwent a psychological assessment, which concluded that travelling to work could negatively impact his wellbeing. Despite this, his request to continue working remotely was rejected.

The Met later offered him a role in Stratford, reducing his commute to around an hour, but tribunal documents stated he still frequently failed to attend in person and instead worked from home when experiencing symptoms.

Dismissing the case, Employment Judge Nicholas Cox ruled that physical attendance remained an essential part of operational policing duties.

The judge said it was "an essential element" of the role for officers to attend a Metropolitan Police location "for at least some duty work".

E&K Solicitors