Housing Secretary Angela Rayner stated on Tuesday that civil servants can be more productive when working from home, defending the practice as she addressed revelations that thousands of public sector staff are not required to attend offices regularly. Rayner's comments come as the Labour government appears to adopt a more relaxed stance on office attendance compared to the previous Conservative administration.
Freedom of Information requests revealed that 3,884 officials across eight government departments permanently work from home. These include 2,413 staff at the Department for Work and Pensions, 688 at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and 492 at the Department for Education. Additionally, 71 staff members at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which Rayner leads, were not recorded as visiting their offices for over a year.
During an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Rayner was asked if it was acceptable for many civil servants to not be visiting offices. "I'm not a Jacob Rees-Mogg, that I have to see someone in the office to know that they're working," she responded, referencing a former Conservative minister who championed a return to Whitehall offices post-pandemic. Rayner added that she did not believe productivity is tied to an individual's physical presence in an office, stating, "I think people work extremely hard." She suggested that studies have shown productivity can increase for those working from home where feasible, with some departments even reporting lower sickness levels.
Rayner suggested that the cost of living crisis, rather than remote work, is a more significant factor impacting public sector productivity. "The challenge that we face actually is the cost of things have gone up and wages haven't gone up at the same rate as the cost of living of essential items," she said, aligning with Prime Minister Andy Burnham's focus on addressing this economic issue. Rayner concluded by disputing the notion that productivity is dependent on whether someone works from an office or from home.