17,000 council staff STILL working from home

THOUSANDS of council staff are still working from home months after lockdown restrictions ended, official figures show.

They include hundreds of administration and clerical workers across authorities such as Angus, Dundee, East Ayrshire, Falkirk, and the Western Isles. One in six members of staff were still working from home for all, or some, of their hours, figures supplied to The Scottish Mail on Sunday showed.

Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservative spokesman for Covid recovery, said: ‘We would have expected a much greater return to normal working practices by now. While flexible working has its benefits, there needs to be consideration of the effect it has on businesses.

‘There are also big implications for transport, property, business rates, and whether people are getting proper service from public bodies. No one from the Scottish Government seems to be addressing the issue.’

Working from home was introduced as a public health measure at the start of the pandemic. However, the mass uptake of vaccines led to an end to the legal restrictions. The last coronavirus rules, including PCR testing, isolating and contact tracing, were dropped in May.

However, working from home is still in place across the 32 local authorities – but 12 admitted they had no specific data available.

The 16 who provided figures showed more than 17,000 workers were still at home for some or part of their contracts.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government refused to say how many of its staff were working from home.

A spokesman said: ‘All staff are encouraged to find a hybrid work style that meets business needs, whilst balancing personal circumstances.’