Is this against the rules?

[RedPandaFluff]

Having a debate with a friend on WhatsApp - I reckon this is against the rules, he believes he's 100% compliant. What does the mumsnet jury think?

He's been with his girlfriend for around six months: they each live alone in separate houses about a forty-minute drive from each other. They're both contractors working in IT for separate organisations; so not key workers, and both are currently working from home.

He now stays with his girlfriend most nights and travels home to work during the day. He says this is totally fine because he "lives with" his girlfriend and is allowed to travel from work.

Note that, before Coronavirus, he would never have said they live together

I reckon that if they wanted to be together during lockdown, they should have picked a house (his, if her wifi isn't great and they both need to work from home) and both stayed and worked from there, in order to avoid car journeys and moving around etc.

I think he's in a huff with me now for saying he's not doing the right thing . . .

Strictly speaking it's against the rules. However if they both live alone and aren't mixing with anyone else it's not as bad as the people who are mixing households.

It's unnecessary travel, so it's not within the rules. If they're staying together every night, they should both work from the one house.

Why is he travelling back to his home to work? It’s not an essential journey. Are they both doing food shopping- if so they will be mixing with people.

If he can work from home, he should be doing it from the house in which he lives. It’s an unnecessary journey otherwise.

@Parker231 he says her WiFi isn't very good so he has to go home.

Not sure how she manages . . .

He says he's allowed to travel to work. And his home is his workplace.

I'm in two minds now - it's lower risk than some other scenarios I've read on here, but I do think the right thing to do would have been for both of them to stay at his house. That would mean cutting out two forty minute car journeys a day that he really doesn't need to do. And I'd say he'll have to shop for supplies for during the working day too; put fuel in his car etc.

he says her WiFi isn't very good so he has to go home.

Then they both live at his house, or they don’t see each other.

He is working from home so he is not supposed to be travelling to work. I wonder how his company would feel if they found out he is 'travelling to work' when he is supposed to be working from home

No he's wrong and manipulating the "rules" to suit himself and his situation.

He's wrong and and unlikely to admit.

Let him be and if he gets stopped by the police driving then they'll confirm it as I'm sure he won't have a permission to travel authorisation letter to travel to his work!

No he's wrong and manipulating the "rules" to suit himself and his situation.

This. He's not making an essential journey to work, he's working from home. Either they don't see each other or one moves in with the other.

He's ensuring the situation 'suits' him which is selfish.

He's twisting the rules to justify selfish behaviour.

They don't cohabit so are separate households.
People who can work from home should work from home. Those who travel to work should only be doing it if they can't work from home.

Either they cohabit and both work from her house, cohabit and both work from his house, or they live separately.

Yeah. I think they should be living together at his house too.

Nothing to be done about it, though

Another dickhead not being able to handle the lack of sex no doubt.

We are all supposed to stay at home. If the police asked (hypothetically) you should be able to produce something that documents your home address, such as an online bill or bank statement.
He won’t have anything for her house as he doesn’t live there so in theory he could get in trouble as he can’t prove residency.
He should stay at his own home and wank off like the rest of humanity instead of putting his own selfish needs first. Prick.