Civil servants vote for strikes in WFH dispute

Hundreds of civil servants at the UK's official statistics body have voted for all-out strikes in a dispute over being told to attend the office two days a week.

Staff at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have been continuing to work from home after refusing to spend at least 40 per cent of their time in the office.

They previously escalated their dispute by refusing to work overtime, out of hours and out of grade.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union have now voted in favour of potential strike action if bosses don't back down on forcing them to return to their workplaces.

In a ballot that closed this week, 71 per cent of union members voted to take strike action, while 92 per cent voted to take action short of a strike.

The PCS said, before a new policy was introduced earlier this year, ONS staff had maximum flexibility to choose how much of their working time to spend in the office and how much to spend at home. 

The union's general secretary Fran Heathcote said: 'Up until now our members have been taking action short of a strike but today they've voted to escalate this, which could involve an all-out strike.

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'Our industrial action has until now had no tangible impact on the ONS' outputs – which was the point, because we said our members can work at home just as well, if not better, than being in the office – but that can change now we have authority to call a full strike any time in the next six months.

'If management wants to ensure the work at ONS remains unaffected, they must engage in meaningful talks with us to end this dispute.'

The ONS has its headquarters in Newport, south Wales, with offices in London, Titchfield, Darlington, Manchester and Edinburgh. 

No strike dates have been announced but action short of strike will continue.

Current civil service guidance says most civil servants should spend at least 60 per cent of their time in the office.

The guidance was issued amid a push by the Tory government to get Whitehall staff back to their office desks following the Covid pandemic.

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg ran a long campaign to get civil servants back to their offices when he was a Cabinet minister.

This included leaving notes on empty desks across Government departments saying: 'Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.'

But, since Labour's general election victory, it has been reported that newly-appointed ministers are quietly ignoring rules requiring civil servants to be in the office three days a week.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds recently criticised a 'culture of presenteeism' in Britain's workplaces as he insisted a default right of flexible working will boost productivity.

Yet Chancellor Rachel Reeves put herself at odds with her Cabinet colleague and said she 'leads by example' by turning up to her Treasury office.

She added that staff benefited from 'coming together' in an office to work 'collaboratively'.

Last November the ONS announced that, from early 2024, its workers would have to spend a minimum of 20 per cent of working hours in the workplace, rising to 40 per cent from April.

An ONS spokesperson said: 'We have robust plans in place and do not anticipate any disruption to key ONS publications.

'Nevertheless, we still believe firmly that a reasonable level of office attendance – in line with the wider Civil Service – is in the best interests of the ONS and of all our colleagues.

'Face-to-face interaction supports personal collaboration, learning and innovation.'