Departments must work with unions to find the appropriate balance of hybrid working

The Cabinet Office has written to departments asking them to make sure that anyone working in the civil service who is office-based attend the office at least 60% of the time.

The guidance also asked for senior managers and early career civil servants to be in the office more often.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect union, said:

“Our members are deeply committed to the delivery of first-class public services.

“Providing staff with a level of flexibility, where operationally possible, has been essential to the civil service being able to recruit and retain the skilled and specialist staff competing in a national and sometimes international market for scarce skills.

“This is about an appropriate balance being set. We have never argued for general exclusive home working but at the same time 100% office attendance has always been a misnomer, given the operational work many civil servants do. The complexity of the workforce and the breadth of the work means that the notion of “one size fits all” for office attendance makes no operational sense.

“What is important is what works best. That is why we will be engaging on an employer-by-employer basis, to deliver an appropriate and valued level of flexibility.”

Ends