EXC: WFH Whitehall! Government office designs are now based on just 50% of staff being in after Covid rather than 66%

• Government report reveals that design for offices now factors in more WFH 

Government office designs now assume just 50 per cent of staff will be in at any one time, it has been revealed.

The assumed attendance has been reduced from 66 per cent in the wake of Covid – suggesting up to half will be WFH in the future.

Tory MPs have voiced alarm that government officials are shunning offices after the pandemic – despite ministers repeatedly urging people to come back – warning it is hitting productivity.

Official figures show that occupancy has been running at between 42 per cent and 75 per cent in the main Whitehall departments. 

But a long-term shift towards WFH has been signalled in the government’s latest State of the Estate report released by the Cabinet Office.   

Official figures show that occupancy has been running at between 42 per cent and 75 per cent in the main Whitehall departments

‘The Government Workplace Design Guide has been refined to respond to the post-pandemic return to the office, providing additional space for collaboration and recognising average attendance will be lower,’ it said. 

‘Designs previously based on 66 per cent attendance rate at any time in the office are now based on 50 per cent post-Covid. 

‘The Design Guide provides a variety of work settings promoting cross-government collaboration and helping civil servants to work productively in our offices.’ 

Some staff are likely to be out of the office on any given day due to rota patterns and holidays, as well as working from home. 

Tory MP Craig Mackinlay told MailOnline: ‘This working from home frankly is an ongoing scandal. 

‘If you look across all of the public sector that is particularly highly working from home I do not see the output is the same.’

Mr Mackinlay, a chartered accountant, said he had ‘never known HMRC so bad’.

‘Whatever government department you look at… it’s just not working at the rate and the tick that it should be,’ he said.

‘People say ”I am more productive at home”. Frankly I don’t believe it. 

‘It is just not as productive, and also you don’t have that opportunity for a bit of brainstorming, a bit of chat to a colleague… we’ve lost all of that.

‘If there’s to be a new permanency across government perhaps they ought to be looking at 50 per cent for the number of people who are going to be employed.’ 

The Cabinet Office has been contacted for comment. 

A long-term shift towards WFH has been signalled in the government’s latest State of the Estate report released by the Cabinet Office

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