Some civil servants work from home 60 per cent of the week, new data shows
Civil servants working on supporting the UK’s businesses were at their desks for just 40 per cent of the second week in July, government figures have revealed.
Staff at the former Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department came into the office for two fifths of the time during the week beginning Monday 10 July, according to Whitehall occupancy data.
This is despite Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warning earlier this year that “working from the office must be the default”.
Data is still gathered for BEIS despite it being split into the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the Department for Business and International Trade (DBIT), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
However, civil servants are still in the process of moving over into the new structures.
Hunt warned UK firms faced a “loss of creativity” from staff permanently working from home, while Morning Wire coined the term T.W.A.T.s for those office workers who spend Mondays and Fridays avoiding the Square Mile.
HMRC 46 per cent
But despite the push to get staff back in person, civil servants are more likely to work from home than in any other sector, according to the Daily Express.
In the same week, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) workers were in the office just 46 per cent of the time.
They were closely followed by the Foreign Office, the Scotland Office and the Northern Ireland Office, all on 49 per cent.
At the other end of the scale, Ministry of Defence staff were in the office 84 per cent of the time, while Department for International Trade and Wales Office staff were at their desks 72 and 68 per cent of the time respectively.
It comes after a pushback over the change in working from home culture following the pandemic, with former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees Mogg suggesting striking civil servants who work from home could have to picket their own houses.
The former BEIS press office has been contacted for comment.