WHY ARE THEY NOT BACK IN THEIR OFFICES?

As Covid rules end, thousands of civil servants are still WFH, so...

SCOTLAND’S civil servants are still being allowed to work from home despite final coronavirus restrictions being scrapped.

While many private sector company workers have returned to their desks, a fraction of public sector staff are back in the office full time.

In some councils, fewer than 10 per cent of office staff have returned to pre-pandemic working.

Meanwhile, government agencies providing vital services such as transport and education have also adopted ‘hybrid’ models, meaning most staff split their week between the office and working from home (WFH).

Scores of other government agencies and quangos also say they have no staff working full time in the office.

Most public sector bodies have also

confirmed they have no intention of returning to the office full time.

Critics have warned that many businesses in towns and cities are suffering because of reduced footfall.

They also question whether taxpayers’ money is being wasted by public sector bodies renting expensive offices which are empty or underused.

The Scottish Conservatives’ spokesman for Covid recovery, Murdo Fraser, said: ‘With all the SNP’s Covid restrictions now lifted, we would hope to see a greater number of workers returning to the office.’

Working from home was introduced as a public health measure at the start of the pandemic in 2020, to minimise the risk of spreading infection.

However, the mass uptake of vaccines has seen an end to the legal requirement for social distancing, mask wearing and restricted contact.

The last coronavirus rules, including PCR testing, isolating and contact tracing, will be dropped from today.

However, working from home is still in place across the public sector. The Scottish Mail on Sunday contacted all 32 local councils, and every public agency and quango, to find out who

AS part of their coalition with the SNP, the Scottish Greens want to pilot a four-day week for civil servants – costing taxpayers £10 million.

And they already have a four-day working week for their staff. The party is advertising for a communications manager, offering ‘a four-day working week, with full time positions equivalent to 30 hours per week’. A spokesman said: ‘Green MSPs are leading by example by offering this opportunity to their staff.’

The Scottish Government said: ‘The pilot will allow us to develop a better understanding of the implications of a broader shift to a shorter working week across the economy.’

Joe Ventre, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers facing a cost of living crisis shouldn’t be made to fork out for these trials.’

working from home and who was in the office.

Transport Scotland only has four members of its 530-strong staff contractually obliged to work in the office, while VisitScotland, one of the biggest government agencies, has 422 of its 598 employees working on a ‘hybrid’ basis, with the rest contracted to centres across the country.

The Scottish Social Services Council, which employs 329 people, has no one in the office full time and allows staff to work at home as they see fit. A spokesman for Education Scotland said 351 staff work ‘hybridly’ and 26 are based at home full time.

Danielle Boxall, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers won’t take kindly to footing the bill for empty offices.’

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: ‘Scotland’s shops and the near quarter of a million jobs they provide will only survive with the patronage of the public and questions remain over what demand will look like in the months ahead.’

At West Dunbartonshire Council, 64 of 1,300 office staff come in throughout the week, with 445 working from home for four days.

A spokesman for North Ayrshire Council said: ‘From

May 3, we will be introducing a soft reopening with no expecwas tation that all office-based staff should return immediately.’

At East Ayrshire Council, out of 1,809 office staff, no one is based at their desk all of the time. Only 144 staff spend four out of five days in the office.

At Aberdeen City Council, 2,000 staff are mainly based at home.

Meanwhile, when Bord na Gaidhlig, the agency responsible for the promotion of Gaelic, was approached about working from home arrangements, the call handler responded: ‘I’m the only one here.’

The agency has a staff of 22, all of whom are on a hybrid working model, save one who works at home full time.

The Scottish Government refused to say how many staff work from home but said it was pursuing ‘hybrid’ employment contracts.

A spokesman said: ‘We are considering the positive public health and productivity benefits of hybrid working as well as the positive impacts it may have on climate change and work/life balance.’