Government departments will decide for themselves whether staff will return to the officeThe vast majority of Whitehall civil servants will not return full-time to the office under plans that would cap some at two days a week. Flexible working is likely to become permanent in the service, with plans being drawn up that would mean many staff spend most of their time at home. Despite ministers’ praise for the office, civil servants are not being ordered back to their desks as officials plan a “30/70 model” for many jobs. SponsoredGovernment departments are being left to decide whether staff return to the office, in contrast to last summer’s drive to get civil servants back at their desks. Officials said numbers in Whitehall would increase only “gradually and cautiously” after a minister said yesterday that only about a quarter

Source: The Times August 03, 2021 15:44 UTC