Human Resources - Severe weather and travel disruption protocol (L11160)

1.0 Summary of changes

1.1 The following amendments have been made to this protocol as part of its biennial review on 14 October 2025:

• Section 3.1.3 - his/her changed to their
• Section 3.1.7 - retention of staff updated with current guidance
• Section 3.1.8 - working from home and agile working now included
• Section 3.2.2 - section updated to include alternative working arrangements
• Section 3.3.1 - updated to include carers / dependents responsibilities and link to relevant protocol
• Section 4.1 - EIA updated
• Section 8.0 - updated with additional linked protocols
• Section 9.0 - author details updated

2.0 What this protocol is about

2.1 This protocol applies to all police officers and police staff employees.

2.2 The purpose of this protocol is to give advice to officers and staff in times of severe weather or other travel disruption to enable business continuity.

2.3 Both Essex and Kent Police are committed to supporting officers and staff. In order to assist with planning in line with this policy, whenever possible, will notify via the intranet of any yellow/amber and red weather warnings.

Compliance with this protocol and any governing policy is mandatory. This protocol is not, nor is it intended to be, contractual.

3.0 Detail the protocol

3.1 Severe weather conditions

3.1.1 All police officers and police staff are expected to make every effort to attend work. However, on occasion, this may not prove possible due to severe weather conditions.

3.1.2 Where police officers or police staff are unable to get to their normal place of duty, they must inform their line manager at the earliest possible opportunity and where possible and practicable should report for duty at their nearest police station.

3.1.3 In the event that the weather conditions are likely to prevent an individual booking on duty at their station then it may be appropriate to seek line manager’s/supervisor’s approval in advance to take home items of personal protective equipment to be able to perform tour of duty at their nearest police station for the following shift. Officers may not take PAVA/CS spray home unless they have the appropriate fitted PAVA/CS spray locker at home (Kent officers please refer to policy O43g – The storage of incapacitant, section 3.2; Essex officers should refer to D 0710 Procedure – Use of Personal Protective Equipment, specifically section 3.4.9; authorisation must be given by LPA/Divisional Commanders for this). See W 1001 Procedure/SOP – ICT Acceptable Use paragraph 3.11 for guidance on taking home mobile devices.

3.1.4 Officers and staff should best prepare themselves for leaving early e.g. ensuring answer phones are in place, preparing for remote/home working wherever possible.

3.1.5 There are also measures that all officers and staff can take to ensure that the chances of them experiencing difficulties in travelling to and from work are minimised. These include:

• ensuring their vehicle is properly maintained, this will reduce the chances of their car not starting, breaking down etc.
• driving only on main roads that have been cleared of snow etc.
• liaising with colleagues to ‘lift-share’ wherever possible
• obtaining contact numbers for colleagues who live near them
• allowing plenty of time for the journey to work
• ensuring mobile phone batteries are fully charged before embarking on any journey. Ideally keep car charger in the glove box
• notify the shift manager/line manager of any bad weather problems they may have experienced in their LPA/division in the past. This will allow some pre-planning to be done.

Further seasonal advice can be found on Advice - Met Office. 

3.1.6 It is for an individual to decide whether it is safe for them to travel to work. Essex Police and Kent Police expect officers and staff to turn up to work but it does not order them to do so. The liability for the journey falls on the individual. Whether it is reasonable for an individual to travel to work or not will depend upon the particular circumstances of the case.

3.1.7 If officers are not directly affected by the severe weather, they must be prepared for the likelihood of being retained on duty, in exceptional circumstances, should any of their colleagues be unable to make it in to relieve them where appropriate and practicable. This is particularly relevant as, if officers cannot get to work, there will obviously be problems around their county, which would have a direct influence on workload as a whole. Temporary arrangements may also include lengthening shifts but remaining within working-time directive in relation to rest periods etc., if problems are expected to last for more than a couple of days. Under the exigency of duty rules for members of staff, the organisation is not able to force staff to stay on duty but they can come to an agreement to pay staff overtime and ask staff to stay, but there is no rules around staff having to stay on duty.

3.1.8 Line manager and supervisors should consider if officers and staff can take advantage of agile working or working from home opportunities if their role dictates it is suitable. In the event of a severe weather warning the police and the Met Office are likely to advise the public they should only travel if essential. Essential will obviously cover front line teams coming into police premises and this needs to be preserved. It should also extend to those who have operational command roles – duty inspectors, duty officers etc, as they are a key part of our front line response. But for those officers and staff who are not performing operational duties on any given day, this may be suitable. Technology now enables officers and staff to work very productively from home, meaning they avoid the risk of travel with no detriment to work or responsibilities. However, roles which might not necessarily be operational might cause an individual to think “I’ll work from home” but line managers may need to utilise their skill set irrespective of their day role to support the wider organisational response.

3.2 Time recording

3.2.1 Police officers and staff who arrive late for work as a result of severe weather should record their actual start time. However, they may apply through their line manager to be credited with their normal start time if they have made every effort to arrive at that time. This would then be recorded as “unavoidably late absence” on SAP to balance their time statement. Where they are allowed to leave early because of severe weather they should record their actual time of departure and must make up the time on an additional date or via time balances.

3.2.2 Where individuals are unable to get to work at all it is expected that line managers have discussions around arranging alternative methods of working.

3.3 School or nursery closure

3.3.1 Where an individual responsible for the upbringing of a child, or has either carer of dependency responsibilities, and therefore has to stay at home unexpectedly because the school,nursery or care home has closed and there is no-one else to look after their dependent/child (irrespective of age), the individual may be eligible for time off in accordance with sections 3.3 and 3.4 of L1650 Protocol - Paternity, parental, dependents and carers leave for parental leave and time off for dependents. Dependants leave for police officers is a regulatory entitlement and when an officer has a school or nursery closure this would fit the definition of dependants leave and there is an expectation that an officer will be given dependants leave, subject to the availability of other means of child care.

Line managers have the discretion to look at options with their staff balancing the needs of their staff and the organisation. Some suggested, but note exhaustive, options to consider are:

• altering of shifts to enable provision of child care
• opportunity to work from home – as this is an exceptional circumstance
• dependants leave, as this is short notice
• book short notice annual leave
• flexi or TOIL
• any other leave balance that may be available

Where no time balances exist individuals may seek approval for unpaid leave.

Staff should not undertake caring responsibilities while working, however individual circumstances should be assessed on a case-by-case basis by the line manager.

3.4 Officers living abroad

3.4.1 Police officers living abroad who are prevented from attending work or else are unable to return home because of reasons such as adverse weather conditions or industrial action will be personally responsible for meeting all such associated costs, including accommodation and subsistence.

3.4.2 Police officers who are prevented from attending their normal workplace in such circumstances and who are unable to attend an alternative non-UK work place will not be entitled to pay. In such circumstances, officers will be permitted to use annual leave or accrued time owed to them to avoid a physical loss of pay.

3.5 International travel disruption

3.5.1 As a result of disruption to travel arrangements, from time-to-time police officers and staff are likely to be stranded abroad while alternative travel arrangements are put in place by airlines, shipping agents and tour operators.

3.5.2 Upon their return to the workplace, individuals will need to book the time off for any lost days on which they were due to work. The time may be taken off any accrued time balance, such as time on card, rest days in lieu, bank holidays owed or else booked as annual leave.

3.5.3 Where no time balances are available to be used, or individuals do not wish to cover the lost time with annual leave, individuals may be permitted to book unpaid leave to cover the lost working hours.

3.6 Travel disruption - severe traffic

3.6.1 On occasions, police officers and staff may be prevented from completing their journey to Essex or Kent because of severe traffic; typically, at the Dartford Crossing. When this occurs, individuals should go to a local police station to work. Individuals should contact their manager at the earliest possible opportunity with their contact details.

4.0 Equality Impact Assessment

4.1 EIA – October 2025.

5.0 Risk assessment

5.1 This protocol has been assessed with regard to its relevance to race and diversity equality. As a result of this assessment the policy has been graded as having a low potential impact.

6.0 Consultation

6.1 The following have been consulted during the formulation of this document:

• Unison - Essex Police and Kent Police
• Federation - Essex Police and Kent Police
• Business Services
• HR Teams
• Essex Health & Safety
• Essex Diversity
• Essex Strategic Change Team
• Essex PSD
• Essex Policy/Risk
• Essex Supts Association
• Kent Finance
• Kent Information Security
• Kent Estates
• Human Resources
• Kent Health and Safety
• Kent Legal
• Kent Professional Standards Department
• Kent Freedom of Information
• Kent Data Protection
• Kent Risk
• Kent Diversity and Inclusion Academy
• Kent Divisional Commanders
• Kent Supts Association
• Kent Unison
• Kent Federation

7.0 Monitoring and review

7.1 This protocol will be reviewed by, or on behalf of, the Head of Employee Relations every two years to ensure it remains up to date with current legislation and is fit for purpose.

8.0 Governing force policy

Related force policies or related procedures (Essex) / linked standard operating procedures (Kent)

8.1 This HR protocol supports the overarching HR policy L1.

• L 11340 Protocol - Work life balance
• W 1001 Procedure/SOP – ICT acceptable use
• Policy O43g – The storage of incapacitant – Kent officers
• D 0710 Procedure – Use of personal protective equipment – Essex officers

8.2 Data security

Essex Police have measures in place to protect the security of your data in accordance with our Information Management policy – W 1000 Policy – Information Management.

8.3 Retention and disposal of records

Kent Police and Essex Police will hold data in accordance with our Records Review, retention and disposal policy – W 1012 Procedure/SOP - Records review, retention and disposal.

We will only hold data for as long as necessary for the purposes for which we collected. Victims/public should be reminded that Kent Police and Essex Police take the protection of personal data seriously as described in the privacy notice.

• Essex - Privacy notice | Essex Police
• Kent - Privacy notice | Kent Police

9.0 Other source documents, e.g., legislation, Authorised Professional
Practice (APP), force forms, partnership agreements (if applicable)

• EIA - 2023