Civil servants working from home may have pay cut

CIVIL servants who refuse to return to the office could have their pay cut under plans being considered by some Government departments.

Mandarins face being stripped of a “London weighting” which is a salary top-up worth £4,000 to offset the high costs of living in the capital if they resist a partial return to the office.

However, one Government source cautioned that such a move would have to be agreed by the Civil Service Commissioner and added that the FDA, the civil service union, might suggest strike action. Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, was left firefighting yesterday after an anonymous Cabinet minister told the Daily Mail that Government officials who refuse to return to the office should have their pay cut. Mr Kwarteng told LBC that people working from home “are contributing hugely to the workforce”, adding in a BBC interview: “I think flexible working is something that is here to stay.”

At least 100,000 civil servants are freely working from home despite efforts from ministers to get the private sector staff back into the office.

Employees at the departments for health, culture, work and pensions and education are all free to do their jobs remotely, according to analysis by The Telegraph, as are thousands of workers in HMRC. The true number of those working from home is likely to be much higher, as other departments have refused to say what their rules are.

The disclosures threaten to undermine efforts to get private sector employees back to their desks, amid fears that town and city centres face economic disaster without a widespread return to commuting.

Individual departments have resisted pressure to reveal their current working arrangements and what the plan is once the Covid pandemic ends, with information dribbling out instead through a combination of leaks and responses to MPS’ questions or freedom of information requests.

These revealed that the Department for Health and Social Care has abandoned plans to end full-time work from home. Meanwhile, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports claims civil servants are keen to return to the office, but is not requiring that they do so. The permanent secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions said last month that there would be no drive to get civil servants back into the office, a Department for Education minister has admitted at most a quarter of staff are in the office any given day.

HMRC has also told staff they can permanently work from home for at least two days a week.

One Government source said the Cabinet Office has not yet provided any official guidance on when staff should expect a return to the office.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that the civil service is acting in the same way as other employers and “continuing to follow the latest Government guidance – both gradually and cautiously increasing the number of staff working in the office”.