Civil servants to lead the way in returning to offices

Steve Barclay has tasked departments across government with ensuring their offices can return quickly to full occupancy following the lifting of work from home restrictions in England.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said that the Civil Service will lead the way in a return to office working, with ministers working with their Permanent Secretaries and departments to put in place measures to monitor office use and get people back to normal, pre-pandemic arrangements, with clear ministerial expectations put in place.

Following the removal of Plan B measures, the government says that it is vital that more staff return to the office so they can once again benefit from collaborative working in their public service delivery – something that is particularly important for the learning and development of new members of staff, who have joined the Civil Service during the pandemic.

Barclay said: “Now we are learning to live with Covid and have lifted Plan B measures, we need to move away from a reliance on video meetings and get back to the benefits of face-to-face, collaborative working. I’m grateful to the Civil Service for managing the challenges of the last two years. It is important that we now see the maximum use of our office space being made from next week, as we build a strong recovery after the disruption of the pandemic.”

The minister’s call for government departments to enable a return to full capacity has been reiterated by the Cabinet Office’s Permanent Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service, Alex Chisholm, who has written to leaders across Whitehall asking them to support a significant and swift return of staff to the workplace.