Metropolitan Police Service – A working carer’s experience

Matt Britnell, Metropolitan Police Service – 25/05/2021

I am a police officer with 20 years’ experience within the Met and, up until 6 years ago, I had been a front line copper. I served on a specialist public order unit, was authorised to carry firearms and led a team combating the drugs trade in the West End. All this and more occurred in the first half of my career; then things changed overnight.

You see my wife and I are the parents of two beautiful, funny and adorable sons. One is 9-years-old and the other is 5. They do all the things other typical boys love to do, build Brio tracks, play games on their tablets, play fight, or burp at the dinner table and think it is funny…

Except Simeon isn’t atypical in many ways because in 2015 we discovered that our youngest beautiful boy has Joubert’s Syndrome, a rare chromosome disorder which is a genetic condition affecting his brain. So essentially his cerebellum isn’t fully developed, which causes mobility issues and global developmental delay with hypertonia.

None of this stops him menacing his brother I may add! His level of determination and downright stubbornness (I don’t know where he gets it from…) sees him through life’s challenges on a daily basis. So whether this is learning to verbally express himself in speech and language therapy at his brilliant Special Education Needs School (SEND) school, or whether it entails taking a few steps without his walking frame whilst in physio, Simeon continues to meet every challenge with an amazing level of grit and fervour, which brings a tear to my eye as I write this.

So our long journey began in 2015, when we began to see that some things were different with Simeon. Things at work had to change and so did I. I began the transition from the front line to more office based roles, that provide a much better work life balance. I use this term loosely because sometimes it feels like the working day begins again at home.   

But we all need a helping hand sometimes. So when Simeon is not being helped by his entourage at school, he is being cared for at home. My wife and I can’t be around all the time and so, his brother Elliott our amazing 9 year-old-boy, mature beyond his years, steps in to be a temporary surrogate parent for a while. He helps to feed Simeon, teach him new words, sets up Brio train track for him, reads to him and gives him cuddles, even when Simeon becomes frustrated and sometimes lashes out – what a hero he is.

And sometimes my wife and I need help too. Sometimes we need work to understand when we need to provide care at short notice, or take Simeon to yet another hospital appointment. Sometimes we don’t want to tell our whole story to line managers again, and again, to get the help we need. This is where the Disability and Carers passport comes in. Your story, one time only, or as many times as you need to update it, passed from line manager to line manager seamlessly, what a great bit of kit! Our HR team have worked hard to deliver this within the Met and anyone who is a carer or has a disability (or both) can easily complete one.

And sometimes we need to help each other, support each other and provide a listening ear. That’s why I launched Coffee for Carers within my command last year. This is our own local support network for people who care for others, under the umbrella of the wider Met Carers Support Group. Anyone can join our Coffee for Carers- even if you drink tea! We have had guest speakers from a number of external support organisations, including Employers for Carers.

Talking of my command they have been brilliant. They got it and have given me the flexibility to work around the challenges of home. I have even been given the opportunity of promotion and invited to refresh our Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality forum. This forum provides support for our colleagues from diverse backgrounds and is an active listening ear for concerns or emerging issues. The words ‘continuous’ and  ‘improvement’ are both etched into the name of our command and into the ethos of our work. As such we are always striving to ensure that improved support is provided for colleagues with caring needs or disabilities and I am proud to be part of that.  

Thanks for reading and take care.