Public Servants in the United Kingdom Home Office could be working from home for the next year as Departments limit the number of people working in their buildings to comply with COVID-19 social-distancing measures.
A Home Office email signed by Permanent Secretary, Matthew Rycroft (pictured) and his second-in-command, Shona Dunn sets out a four-phase plan for staff to return to work in the coming months.
At the moment, all Home Office staff apart from those who are considered key workers and need to be in an office to do their jobs, are working from home.
“For most it is likely that this situation will remain the case for the next six-to-12 months, so if you are currently working from home, you should not expect to be back in your usual workplace any time soon,” Mr Rycroft said.
“It is important that no one makes their own decisions about returning to the workplace and no business areas should assume they will revert to their old footprint,” he said.
Mr Rycroft said that in the first phase, only those people whose work required them to be in an office would be allowed to return.
“Seniority will not be a factor in these decisions,” he said.
He said the second phase would open up offices to staff “who are prioritised for their own wellbeing as they are vulnerable working from home or who have health and safety requirements best accommodated in a workplace”.
Mr Rycroft said those two groups of people were likely to occupy most of the Home Office’s reduced building capacity.
After this point, the third tranche of staff to return would be those in jobs that could be done mostly from home, but which included “some duties that either cannot be performed from home or could be performed more easily in a workplace”.
In the fourth phase, teams working on “highly collaborative, fast-paced projects or programs” that would benefit from people working in the same building would be allowed to return.
The plan applies only to officials in England.
“For colleagues living or working in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, the easing of restrictions will reflect differences in approach set out by the devolved administrations, so please continue to comply with their guidance,” Mr Rycroft said.
London, 25 May 2020
