The UK’s top official has warned Boris Johnson in private not to force government officials back into the office amid growing anger at Whitehall over “intimidation tactics”, the Guardian has learned.
Along with Simon Case, at least four permanent secretaries – the highest-ranking government officials in their department – are also believed to have raised concerns about government rhetoric designed to reverse the shift to homework arrangements during the Covid pandemic.
On-site inspections of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s office, including “I’m sorry you were out when I visited” notes left on empty Whitehall offices, saw the cabinet minister stigmatize a “milk monitor” by disgruntled employees. .
Case told the prime minister over the weekend that Reese-Mogg’s strategy was unreasonable and that the language against civil servants went too far. A source number 10 said Case is fully on board with a return to more face-to-face work.
On Monday № 10 they supported Reese-Mogg’s approach amid a rift with Nadine Doris over office work, which the culture minister called “Dickensian”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg’s note on civil servants. Photo: @ dinosofos / Twitter
Reese-Mogg wrote to cabinet ministers urging them to force employees to “return to the office quickly” and left notes for absent government officials with the message: “I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”
Among the rooms where he left business cards was the National Security Secretariat in the cabinet, which was of particular concern in Whitehall because staff were under strong pressure in this unit, which handles sensitive materials.
A government source said Reese-Mogg often had to go through other departments to reach his office at 100 Parliament Street, adding: “It is entirely focused on parts of the government under its control, not on areas of others. ministers. “
The minister in charge of government efficiency presented cabinet data last week showing that some government departments used 25% of office capacity in early April. Doris’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Division (DCMS) is 43%.
Reese-Mogg is believed to have toured several government offices, including DCMS. During a visit to the Ministry of Finance, the Guardian was told that he commented to an employee that “you are the first person I saw working on this floor today.”
He also visited the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and was not impressed by the number of vacant offices, so he sent a letter to senior officials asking when they would close the office given the apparent lack of use, sources said.
But the Guardian understands that the “threat” of not renewing the lease has been abandoned. This was ridiculed as a “tactic of intimidation” to force teams at the government mansion to justify the use of their space. A government source said: “SFO had a short-term postponement and their long-term requests for renewal were rejected by two separate ministers.”
Several permanent secretaries also expressed their disappointment with Reese-Mogg’s “cascade” in private. An employee working in one of Whitehall’s largest departments said their communications director advised, “Ignore him.”
Another Whitehall source said civil service managers encouraged flexible working with the expectation of spending one to two days a week in the office. More than 1,600 jobs were announced on flexible working conditions on the civil service website on Monday.
Concerns about Reese-Mogg’s strategy extend to ministers. One said, “I’m on the Nadine team [Dorries] at this. Who dreams of this nonsense? If public services are not working properly, reform them. Don’t wander around putting the physical equivalent of rolling your eyes on their desks. ”
Another Whitehall official said the push created a sense of injustice and warned that combined with a wage freeze, it would affect staff retention, leading to “the worst brain drain I’ve ever seen” as talented. young employees want to leave.
They also cited the treatment of junior officials in №10 and the cabinet over the Partygate scandal, where civil servants have received or are expected to receive fines for attending events with the prime minister or senior officials.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA’s civil service union, said: “I get a lot of members who say they’ve had enough and will leave. They will not be treated this way.
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“In the end, civil servants will come to terms with what is happening with the cost of living and rising wages well below inflation – but not that. This is so demoralizing for civil servants because it is not really based on anything to do with their work and the best way to provide public services. “
A government spokesman said: “There is full agreement in the government that there are clear benefits to working together face to face and we know that this is particularly important for the training and development of new and junior staff. The Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Effectiveness wrote to the departments to emphasize the importance of a workplace presence and to ask them to review their existing guidelines for the minimum number of days staff work in the office.
Asked if Johnson supports Reese-Mogg’s policy of leaving phone cards free, the spokesman said: “What the minister is trying to achieve is to do everything possible to return the civil service to pre-pandemic levels.” by the Secretary of the Cabinet and apparently by the Prime Minister.
Referring to the notes left on the desks, Johnson “supports any initiative that encourages people to return to work before the pandemic,” the spokesman said. “We are not talking about ending the flexible work that still takes place in the modern workplace, we are talking about returning to the pre-pandemic use of taxpayer-funded departmental buildings.”
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