Risk assessments delay return to Whitehall

Civil Service may need to limit office numbers as concerns are raised over unvaccinated employees

RISK assessments have been ordered before civil servants can return to work en masse on the basis that not everyone will be vaccinated, raising the prospect of limits to numbers in offices.

The Daily Telegraph understands that every government department will be subject to the checks.

Official guidance for offices, factories and laboratories states that workplaces “should remain responsive to workers’ needs, particularly during this period when not every adult will have been offered two vaccine doses”.

It adds: “You should adopt practices that help to reduce the risks to individuals in the workplace.”

A government source said: “Something underpinning the guidance is the fact that people won’t necessarily have been vaccinated, either once or twice.”

The risk assessments are being conducted by the Government Property Agency, which manages work spaces for government.

It is understood that the assessments will take a matter of weeks and will include providing adequate ventilation, identifying poorly ventilated areas and finding ways to reduce person-to-person contact – such as suggesting limits to the number of people in rooms.

A Whitehall source said the Government was “very alive” to the concerns over vaccines and that not all employees would be vaccinated once back in the office. They warned that “people might refuse to come in if their colleagues aren’t double jabbed”.

At least 100,000 civil servants are permitted to work from home at present despite efforts by ministers to get 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. However, the Civil Service is gradually increasing the number of staff in the workplace, while also retaining the flexibility of home-based working.

It was recently revealed that civil servants who refuse to return to the office could have their pay cut under plans being considered by some departments.

It means Whitehall workers face being stripped of “London weighting” – a salary top-up worth £4,000 to offset the high costs of living in the capital – if they resist a return to the workplace. However, one government source said that such a move would have to be agreed by the Civil Service Commissioner, adding that unions might suggest strike action.

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, has demanded reassurances that it would not be policy to dock the pay of civil servants who continue to work from home. Downing Street said there were no plans to cut pay.

In a letter to Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, Mr Penman said civil servants who worked through the pandemic have now had threats “to cut their pay and a series of denigrating remarks about their commitment and effectiveness while working from home”.

A government spokesman said: “Working-safety guidance ensures businesses are able to open safely, reducing the risk of transmission and protecting staff and customers.

“Like all employers, Civil Service departments are undertaking these assessments as we increase numbers in the workplace.”