Disabled police officers boosted by working from home during Covid pandemic

Chrissie Wall, Hampshire Police Federation’s equality lead, was speaking after the Police Federation for England and Wales conference looked at ‘the tsunami of disability discrimination’ facing the service.

A workshop at a meeting in Manchester examined adjusted duties and disabled police officers being inappropriately placed on Unsatisfactory Performance and Attendance Procedures.

During the pandemic, forces were able to provide adjustments that many disabled police officers had long asked for, and delegates examined whether the forces would return to the poor practices of the past, or embrace new ways of working.

Chrissie said: ‘For the past two years, Covid has meant people could work from home when it was previously thought impossible – even if an officer was an adjusted duties officer. The force would struggle to find suitable roles for them, then Covid happened and people realised, “that we can bring a van with a computer and everything and get you set up at home”.’

Forces are now expecting people to be back at work, which could pose legal problems, Chrissie said.

She added: ‘They’ve gone from one extreme to the other. Legally that might be difficult for them to stand up against when we’ve proven that it can work for the past two years.

‘It’s a really interesting area for our representatives, and I will be looking into this further when I get back in force.’