Met Police staff plan walk out over WFH rights in first evert strike

Scotland Yard is braced for the first staff strike in its history as 999 call handlers, PCSOs and child-protection experts plan to walk out over the right to work from home.

Just a day after Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley revealed the force faces devastating budget cuts, with 2,300 officers and 400 staff to be axed, civilian police workers have voted to strike after being told to return to the office in the New Year.

Slightly more than 50 per cent of the Met Police’s 2,400 Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members backed industrial action after being told they couldn’t work from home all the time.

The decision has left senior officers fuming, saying it could not come at a worse moment as the force faces a £450million funding black hole.

Scotland Yard’s 11,000 civilian staff have enjoyed generous hybrid-working arrangements since 2021, with some spending as few as two days out of five in the office.

But as part of a drive to better support frontline officers, bosses asked staff to reduce the time they spend working from home.

Yesterday, a Met Police source said: ‘Most Met Police staff understand the critical role they play in keeping London safe. We have got officers risking their lives on the streets seven days a week. It beggars belief that some staff are not willing to come into the office three days a week.

‘Some top brass are baffled and others are fuming.’

The row comes after staff with operational duties were told that from January they would need to spend at least four days a week in the office, while those in support roles would need to be in work for at least three days. 

Staff affected include Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), 999 call handlers, vetting officers, intelligence officers and those working in child protection.

The PCS claimed the request would subject them to the ‘stress of a daily commute’. If the strike goes ahead, frontline officers may have to step in to fill roles that are left vacant.

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: ‘Our members are not bobbies on the beat. They are desk-based civilians who work from home just as productively as if they were in the office, but without the stress and cost of a daily commute.

‘It’s time politicians and the Right-wing media stopped their obsession with telling people where they have to work and started listening to the evidence... that shows working from home is a perfectly viable option.’

A Met Police spokesman said: ‘We are disappointed the union felt such action was necessary, but want to reassure Londoners we have contingencies in place to keep them safe.’