Stats officials refuse two-day week in office

Staff at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are refusing to comply with an instruction to spend two days a week in offices, it has been announced.

More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said they would not be "forced back" to the office 40% of the week.

The employees, based in areas including Darlington, Manchester and Edinburgh, have already voted in favour of strikes and other forms of industrial action in protest at the drive for more office-based working.

An ONS spokesperson said it was "disappointed" PCS had "chosen to take industrial action despite the range of flexibilities built into our hybrid working arrangements".

ONS staff also have sites in Newport in South Wales, Titchfield in Hampshire, and London.

In November 2023, the ONS - which is a government organisation but independent of ministers - announced that from January its workers would have to spend a minimum of 20% of working hours in the workplace, rising to 40% from April.

Many staff already willingly spent more than 40% of their working time in the office, but there was widespread upset about the arbitrary nature of the new directive, said the PCS.

Current civil service guidance advises that most civil servants should spend at least 60% of their time in the office.

The union said that their members would not comply with the instruction to spend two days a week in offices from 8 May.

"Following a promise by management that staff could continue to work flexibly after the Covid pandemic, some workers started families, moved house and made other long-term commitments, safe in the knowledge, they thought, their working conditions were secure," a PCS spokesman said.

PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said the new policy threatened "serious disruption, especially for staff with childcare and other caring responsibilities".

"The workforce at ONS is spread across the UK, meaning that regardless of where staff perform their work, most meetings and collaboration must have a virtual presence," she explained.

An ONS spokesperson said it would "continue to engage" with the unions.

"We are disappointed PCS has chosen to take industrial action despite the range of flexibilities built into our hybrid working arrangements," they said.

"While we do not expect this action to have any significant impact on the production of key ONS statistics, we 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 all our colleagues," they said.

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