Number 10 defends plan to bring back thousands of civil servants to work in Whitehall in August after union bosses warned staff could go on strike if they are ordered to return
- The Government wants more workers to physically return to offices next month
- A ‘default’ position of all civil servants working from home will be scrapped
- Union bosses have warned ordering staff back could result in industrial action
- But Number 10 said plans for Whitehall were the same for all other businesses
Downing Street today defended plans to bring back thousands of civil servants to work in Whitehall after union bosses said ordering staff to return could prompt strike action.
Advice on working from home will change next month as the Government looks to encourage more workers in England to head back to their desks to deliver a much needed boost to town and city centres.
Civil servants will be included in that push with some ministers keen for Whitehall to set an example to the rest of the nation.
But scrapping the ‘default’ position of allowing people to work from home if they are able to has sparked union warnings of potential industrial action.
However, Number 10 said this afternoon it is only asking civil servants to do what workers in other sectors are being asked to do.
Boris Johnson wants civil servants to return to work in Whitehall amid fears of a mounting ‘backlog’ in official work
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said ministers will face ‘serious industrial unrest’ if they tell their staff to return.
But the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said today: ‘Just as we have advised businesses to do, we are consulting closely with employees on the change to the default that civil servants should work from home.
‘This is in line with the guidance. Each department will need to provide assurances that Government work spaces are Covid-secure and that employees’ individual circumstances will be taken into account with no individual having to return where there are health reasons for them not to do so.’
Asked if Boris Johnson was disappointed at unions raising the prospect of strike action, the spokesman said: ‘What we are proposing is in line with the Government’s advice to other employers.
‘Government departments are changing the default that civil servants should work from home and we are looking to accelerate the return to the workplace from the 1st of August.
‘But we will be making sure to consult closely with employees in the process.’
Mr Johnson wants plans from ministers this week to clear the delays that have built up since civil servants were told to work from home in March.
Last week civil service chief Alex Chisholm told Whitehall departments to start getting officials back in from August 1. The PCS is the biggest civil service union, with 200,000-plus members.
After being briefed on the back-to-work plans, it told members they did not have to co-operate and blamed the instruction on ‘political pressure exerted by Tory MPs’.
In a letter to Mr Chisholm, Mr Serwotka wrote: ‘This unnecessary and hasty push for an upscaling at workplaces has the potential to create serious industrial unrest. It is clear this is a political decision to use public sector workers to prop up a decaying economic model.’