PCS have secured further safety measures as the Home Office reverse their position on not allowing officers to wear face masks in operational/public facing settings.

Since the start of the lock down PCS have been objecting to the Home Office stance of not providing front line Border Force officers with face masks and not installing screens at passport controls and at other public facing enquiry points. We repeatedly raised this with senior management within Border Force and the Home Office but they kept referring us back to government and PHE guidelines stating that they did not support the use of face masks in operational settings where social distancing was impossible and passengers/members of the public were asymptomatic. Their stated belief was that face-masks provide very little in the way of protection and they refused to consider the reassurance that masks might provide to our members working to keep the borders secure during the pandemic. Continue reading →