Jacob Rees-Mogg to sell off Civil Service offices as staff refuse to stop working from home

 Taxpayers should not have to ‘fork out for half-empty buildings’, says minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency

Source - Daily Telegraph - 27/08/22

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Jacob Rees-Mogg is to sell off £1.5 billion of government offices in central London after civil servants refused to stop working from home, The Telegraph can reveal.

Taxpayers should not have to “fork out for half-empty buildings”, according to the minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency, who said expensive office space had been “under-utilised”.

He said officials would enjoy a “better quality of life” if their jobs were relocated to offices outside London.

Next week, Mr Rees-Mogg will publish a Government Property Strategy aimed at realising £2 billion in savings from property sales and efficiencies.

The plan includes selling £1.5 billion of property assets over the next three years, with staff consolidated into fewer buildings as part of a new network of government “hubs”.

A further £500 million of savings are being targeted through reduced operating costs, including the use of modern building materials and energy sources, as well as cutting spend on leases.

The new strategy will feed into an existing Places for Growth programme, which aims to move 22,000 Civil Service roles out of London by 2030.

Mr Rees-Mogg has been campaigning against civil servants working from home in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

In April, it emerged that he was making “spot checks” at offices to monitor occupancy rates. Senior mandarins were ordered to publish figures on how full their offices were in an attempt to name and shame the worst performing departments.

Occupancy data showed the crackdown brought more staff back to the office across most departments. However, it appeared to fall flat in some parts of Whitehall, with just half of desks in the Westminster headquarters of the Home Office occupied at the end of June.

Commenting on the forthcoming property sales, Mr Rees-Mogg told The Telegraph: “We have seen over the last year that expensive office space in central London has been under-utilised. Why should the taxpayer be made to fork out for half-empty buildings?

“But moving civil servants to our beautiful counties and towns through the Places for Growth programme will benefit everyone, giving civil servants a better quality of life and helping economic growth outside the capital.

“We are cutting the cost of the public estate so that we can return money to the taxpayer. All spending on government property needs to be justified.”

Moving Civil Service jobs out of London would “allow greater savings and mean the Government is closer to the communities it serves”, he said.

The property strategy also includes a pledge to invest £300 million in funding to unlock smaller, brownfield sites across England for housing.