Plans requiring staff at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to be based partly in the office from September have been scrapped, meaning civil servants can continue to work from home full-time.
Staff at the DHSC were told that a requirement for them to be working in Westminster between four and eight days every month had been dropped, the Guardian reported.
Whitehall departments are expected to “cautiously increase” the number of staff working in the office.
England’s order to work from home where possible was lifted on July 19 and Chancellor Rishi Sunak has highlighted the benefits of being in the office, particularly for younger workers.
In Whitehall, departments have flexibility to make working arrangements that suit their requirements.
The Guardian reported that DHSC had put its staff on notice that from September, the “minimum expectation” was they would need to be in the office for a minimum of four and a maximum of eight days every month – unless there was a business or wellbeing reason.
However, in an announcement seen by the newspaper, DHSC’s director of workplace and director of HR told staff on Thursday that “it’s clear that we cannot proceed with this phase on the planned timescale”.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Civil Service continues to follow Government guidance, as we gradually and cautiously increase the number of staff working in the office.
“Our approach, which builds on our learning during the pandemic, takes advantage of the benefits of both office and home-based working across the UK.”
Daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK
(Image: PA Graphics)
Despite the official position of the Government, one Cabinet minister told the Daily Mail that civil servants working from home should face a pay cut.
“People who have been working from home aren’t paying their commuting costs so they have had a de facto pay rise, so that is unfair on those who are going into work,” the minister said.
“If people aren’t going into work, they don’t deserve the terms and conditions they get if they are going into work.”
Officials insisted the Government expected a gradual return to the workplace over the summer and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stressed the need for caution.
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