This is a somewhat similar question to Can an employer force you to wear a face mask?.
The location is also the same, the UK.
I'm a European citizen working in the UK. With the recent pandemic, my workplace has closed the office for an indefinite period of time and asked everyone to work from home, which I've been doing very effectively for the past two months.
Now that the overall situation is getting a little better I'm planning to go back to Europe to see my family, I'm worried about the health conditions of a close relative and I would like to be there to help if needed. The plan is to be there for a few weeks, some of holiday and some of remote work.
However, my company is notoriously strict when it comes to remote working, and I'm worried they might not approve of this decision. Can they forbid me to travel?
As a side note, I know that the answer to the question
Can my employer force me to do X?
is usually
It doesn't really matter, because they can always fire you.
So what I'm looking for here is whether they have any concrete legal basis to tell me that I can't do this.
EDIT One thing I forgot to mention is that most of my colleagues have already left their normal place of residence to go stay with their families (within the UK).