Public sector job ads offer remote working perk
THE Civil Service is still advertising ‘work from home’ jobs in flagrant disregard of the latest Covid rule update in England.
A total of 59 jobs across Government departments have recently been listed with ‘home working’ as a possibility, despite Ministers insisting that workers should return to the office.
Among the roles advertised is a senior policy adviser in the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), with a salary of around £38,000 – almost 20 per cent higher than the average wage in Britain.
The successful candidate will be working beneath Permanent Secretary Sarah Healey, last year blasted for boasting about riding her Peloton exercise bike instead of being at her desk.
A listing for a research analyst at the Home Office, described as being ‘at the heart of the Government’s agenda’, says the job can be carried out in ‘an environment with flexible working options’.
And the crisis-hit DVLA, lambasted for its slow delivery of HGV licences during the pandemic, is advertising for seven ‘work from home’ positions, with one offering a £48,000 salary. The agency has been the subject of strike action from staff resisting calls to go back to the office for fear there were not enough Covid safety measures.
The Cabinet Office insisted last night the 59 jobs offering the possibility of home working were only a ‘tiny fraction’ of the total of Civil Service jobs being advertised.
Our research follows an investigation by our sister paper the Daily Mail which found at some Government departments as few as 3 per cent of staff were at their desks.
Union bosses claimed it did not make sense to require all Whitehall staff to return to offices.
The FDA senior civil servants’ union said the world of work had changed for good and general secretary Dave Penman accused Ministers of engaging in a ‘cultural’ war with the Civil Service.
A Government spokesman said: ‘The vast majority of jobs are office-based. Even before the pandemic, it was common for public and private sector organisations to offer flexible working arrangements for some jobs.’