Official : Want a 3 day-a-week office job, paid for 5 days? Join the Civil Service

Heads of Government Departments have just made 3 days-a-week in the office the rule

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024

This applies to Civil Servants in all Government Departmental HQ buildings

Apparently it matters not what the public (who pay their salaries) think, ”the Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service”. This was the extraordinary announcement made by Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet Office on Thursday, 24 Oct 2024.

The Facts4EU.Org think tank has accessed and analysed the latest data for Civil Servants working in Government HQ offices and can reveal that since the beginning of last year, (two years after the Covid pandemic), staff occupancy rates stood at an average of just 63%, across all Departments for the weekly figures up to 29 April 2024. This does not measure actual time spent in the office, merely that at some point during the day a Civil Servant was at his or her office, or “on official business, such as visiting stakeholders”.

In effect this means that working for the Civil Service in its key buildings requires no more than three days-a-week in the office or on a work visit.

Summary to Departments, from the Cabinet Office

“Guidance on Civil Servant office attendance will not change”
“Requirement of 60% of time in the office”

The Government Departments where you were least likely to find a Civil Servant at their desk

On the same day last week, (24 Oct 2024), the Cabinet Office published different sets of figures. Firstly we look at its weekly update from w/c 02 Jan 2023 to w/c 29th Apr 2024.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Civil Service occupancy data : daily average staff working in the HQ Building (%)

1. Average for 16 months from w/c 02 Jan 2023 to w/c 29th Apr 2024

Below are the attendancy rates for the worst seven Government Departments.

  1. HM Revenue and Customs : 49%
  2. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office : 51%
  3. Home Office : 55%
  4. Wales Office : 56%
  5. Department for Culture, Media and Sport : 57%
  6. Scotland Office : 58%
  7. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy : 60% (Dept now abolished)

[Source : The Cabinet Office, 24 Oct 2024.]

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge

On the same day the Civil Service announced it has changed its methodology and will now report quarterly. Below we present the latest data we have accessed for Q3 which ended last month, Sept 2024.

2. Average for Q3 (July to September) 2024

Below are the attendancy rates for the worst 11 Government Departments in the latest quarterly figures, showing Departments with less than two-thirds occupancy rates.

  1. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government : 50%
  2. Department for Work and Pensions : 58%
  3. Northern Ireland Office : 58%
  4. Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland : 59%
  5. Department for Culture, Media and Sport : 60%
  6. HM Treasury : 60%
  7. Office of the Secretary of State for Wales : 62%
  8. HM Revenue and Customs : 63%
  9. Department for Education : 64%
  10. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office : 65%
  11. Ministry of Justice : 66%

[Source : The Cabinet Office, 24 Oct 2024.]

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge

This exclusive Facts4EU.Org report has been covered by GB News, with some additional reporting

The Civil Service Unions

It was the Sunak Government which first announced (in Nov 2024) a 60:40 rule, to much criticism from the Civil Service unions.

Mark Serwotka, then the General Secretary of the PCS union, described the 60% rule as "arbitrary" and "regressive". Dave Penman, General Secretary of the FDA union said the rule was "plucked from thin air by ministers to suit their political agenda".

Here they are at No.11 Downing Street to meet the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, on 17 October.

Now that Labour are in power, these unions have been silent on the continuation of the 60:40 rule.

How all this is measured

All data are sourced and collected by Departments and provided to the Cabinet Office. There is no standard method across Government Departments of calculating office attendance but a combination of the following measures are allowed to be used.

Main methods used to collect the ‘Daily Average Number of Employees in the HQ building’

  • Wifi and/or computer log-ins associated with location
  • Swipe pass entry data
  • Space or desk booking system
  • Manual count

The Cabinet Office says “This data presents the daily average number of staff working in departmental HQ buildings, for each week (Monday to Friday) beginning the week commencing of 7 February 2022.” In fact they got their dates wrong because the weekly data available doesn’t start until 02 January 2023.

Observations

If you work in a factory, or at a distribution depot, or in construction, or in retail, or in most jobs in the private sector you have no choice. It is normal to go in to work at least five days-a-week.

If you work in the Civil Service, it seems that you are now very unhappy that you are expected to leave your house on three days each week, either to go to the office or to go somewhere on official business. Certainly this is the view of the unions representing Civil Servants.

The Facts4EU view is simple, based on years of trying to get hold of Civil Servants who are not in the office. They should all be working in their offices nine-to-five, five days a week, at the minimum.

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[ Sources: The Cabinet Office ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Tues 29 Oct 2024

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