Whitehall staff balk at going back to the office

WFH culture persists as only 11 ministries report average worker attendance rate of 60pc or more

ALMOST half of government departments are on course to miss targets for getting civil servants back into the office, figures show as ministers promise to curb working from home. Fresh analysis of Whitehall data by

The Daily Telegraph reveals that just 11 out of 19 ministries have scored an average staff attendance rate of 60 per cent or more this year.

Ministers are determined to end the post-pandemic working from home culture, and have ordered departments to increase the numbers of staff present in their offices.

It comes in response to broad concern in the Government that remote working is harming the Civil Service’s productivity and ability to deliver.

Jeremy Quin, the former Cabinet Office minister, wrote to Whitehall heads in November telling them officials must be in the office 60 per cent of the time.

He was especially concerned by a new trend for many civil servants to only physically turn up on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Senior Tory MPS have also repeatedly urged Downing Street to take tougher action .

Yesterday, John Glen, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, indicated he wanted civil servants to be in the office even more than three days a week.

Mr Glen told The Times that being in the office 60 per cent of the time was a “minimum”, adding: “If HSBC and Amazon have got people working three days a week, it’s perfectly realistic.”

But analysis of official occupancy data shows approximately 40 per cent of departments, eight out of 19, would not have met the new target this year. HMRC and the Foreign Office were the worst performing departments according to the data, with both registering just 48pc of staff in the office.

Earlier this year, HMRC was urged to investigate Britons who are still working from home post-pandemic while claiming millions in tax breaks. MPS also criticised the revenue department over the summer when it announced a decision to shut its self-assessment helpline for three months.

The Foreign Office faced criticism in April when it emerged fewer than half of its staff were at their desks when fighting erupted in Sudan, leading to a mass evacuation of Britons.

Other departments that fell below the 60pc threshold this year included the Home Office (54pc), Wales Office (54pc) and Scotland Office (57pc).

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (58pc), the Culture Department (59pc) and the Department for Education (59pc) also missed the target.

In contrast, the Ministry of Defence was the best performer, with 82pc of staff at their desks as it led Britain’s response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The Telegraph analysed official figures for the period from Jan 1 to Dec 15. They show that most departments have improved their record on working from home, though many only marginally so.

Despite its still low rates, the Foreign Office made some of the strongest progress, seeing its average attendance rise by 11 percentage points from a low last year of just 37pc.

But the most improved was the Department for Work and Pensions, where the number of staff in the office shot up by almost 20 percentage points to more than six in 10.

Mr Glen, the former chief secretary to the Treasury, took up the Cabinet Office role in charge of the Civil Service following last month’s reshuffle. While at No 11, he led a review into Whitehall’s productivity for Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, which included looking at the impact of working from home.

In an interview before taking his new role, he said officials should be expected to spend more time at their desks to increase their output. “Over time, relationships are less strong and collaborations are less intense,” when staff log in remotely, he told The House magazine.

‘If HSBC and Amazon have got people working three days a week, it’s perfectly realistic’

‘Over time, relationships are less strong when staff log in remotely’