The United Kingdom Government has slapped down calls from the right-wing media and some figures within the ruling Conservative Party to penalise Public Servants who continue to work from home.
It rejected anonymous claims from a Minister that staff should see their pay cut if they continued to stay away from the office.
The unnamed Cabinet Minister was said to have warned officials refusing to return to the office that they could lose their loading for working in London as they were not paying commuting costs.
Unions condemned the comments as insulting, and a Government spokesperson said the plan was for a gradual return to the office which would see staff continuing to work two or three days from home from September.
The spokesperson said Public Servants would be encouraged to return to their workplaces from September and October with staggered start and finish times expected to be introduced.
“As with other employers, the Civil Service is following the latest Government guidance which involves gradually and cautiously increasing the number of staff working in the office,” the spokesperson said.
“There is no suggestion of going beyond that. We want to encourage people to work in a safe way, but flexible working is, rightly, here to stay,” they said.
Minister for Business, Kwasi Kwarteng (pictured) said the Government would not attempt to introduce a “diktat” as to how many hours staff should spend in the office, but suggested that those who did choose to go back to the office more regularly were more likely to be promoted.
“If you look at human organisations, people do build relationships and build networks through face-to-face contact,” Mr Kwarteng said.
“People who come into the office may have an advantage in that,” he said.
Ministers are eager to avoid a repeat of last year when the Government called on workers to return to the office just as the second wave of COVID-19 cases began to increase.
London, 11 August 2021
