The civil servants’ union reacted with fury today as Boris Johnson issued an edict for them to return to “full occupancy” of their offices - just like before Covid.
The Prime Minister and his ‘efficiency’ minister Jacob Rees-Mogg made the demand - just months after plans to make it easier for staff to request flexible working.
Firms will have less opportunity to reject requests and will have to respond to them quicker than the current three-month limit, under a consultation.
Yet Mr Rees-Mogg - who lives in a £5.6m five-storey townhouse a five-minute walk from Parliament - has now issued a crackdown on Whitehall officials still working from home, naming and shaming those with most staff not in the office.
The Department for Education had 25% of staff in the office each day, the Department for Work and Pensions had 27%, and the Foreign Office had 31%, figures handed to the Daily Telegraph said.
The Department of Trade and Industry had 73%, the Department of Health 72%, and the Cabinet Office 69%.
A Whitehall source told The Sun Health Secretary Sajid Javid had considered axing the London salary weighting for civil servants who don’t come in, but dropped the idea.
The move was branded "vindictive" by Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA representing senior civil servants, who said ministers were out of step with practice in the private sector.
But that approach was today backed by Boris Johnson at a Cabinet meeting where he told ministers to go further.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “The Cabinet were updated by the minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency on figures showing the proportion of civil servants working in departments.
“He said face-to-face working provided clear benefits, both to staff and to the public and that it was important all departments took action to return to the pre-pandemic position of full occupancy.
“The Prime Minister agreed, and encouraged ministers and their departments to do everything possible to speed up the return of more civil servants into the office.”
The comments infuriated Mr Penman who accused the ministers of behaving like "Luddites" while the private sector embraced the benefits of flexible working.
"There is no rationale for this. Ministers can't point to productivity losses, which is why it's always anonymous sources making the insulting accusations," he said.
"Ministers' obsession with ending flexible working and micro-managing the Civil Service increasingly just looks vindictive.
"Jacob Rees-Mogg is the Minister for Government Efficiency, yet that isn't even a consideration in his correspondence with ministers.
"The private sector has embraced hybrid working, recognising the efficiencies it delivers and competitive edge it gives to employers in a tight labour market.
"Meanwhile, the Luddites in Cabinet insist on micro-managing the Civil Service, which will only deter good people from joining while simultaneously demotivating those already there."
Mr Rees-Mogg was backed by the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis who said it was "a very good thing" for people to be back in the workplace.
"There's something different about that face-to-face interaction," he told Times Radio. "Actually, that doesn't work in a virtual world.”
The PM's official spokesman said: “We recognise that flexible working, compressed hours will remain pat of modern working… but the function of the way the civil service is set up is there are more civil servants than there are desks. It does not necessarily require everyone is in work every single day.”
