A leaked email shows a senior British government official telling the Immigration Enforcement unit that too few of its staff comply with its ‘minimum’ two days-a-week attendance policy, according to The Mail on Sunday.
The same email reminds civil servants (government administrators) that ignoring the ’40 per cent’ of the week rule would now lead to penalties. Working from home is a core contributor to dysfunctional governance in modern Britain, which—in the case of immigration enforcement—means that most asylum claims and migrant detentions on the Kent coastline enter administrative Purgatory.
Critics point out that the current arrangements are no match for human traffickers, to whom warm and mild weather provides optimal conditions. In contrast, working from home undermines productivity and morale, despite recent pay rises for the Whitehall ‘blob’.
Official attitudes towards ‘WFH’ have changed over the last four years. Treated as an emergency measure during the Covid pandemic, its virtues were hyped up, enabled by Teams and Zoom software. Over time ministers, pundits, and social forecasters—with some dissent—all welcomed the opportunity to work in a more creative fashion and restore ‘work-life balance’.
While illegal migrants and human traffickers have never seen things this way, the previous Westminster government also began to get cold feet. Faced with the astronomical costs of empty office space, pressure was placed on civil servants to spend at least part of the week on site. Yet following the Conservatives’ electoral defeat last month, members of the incoming Labour cabinet have restated a commitment to ‘flexible working’.
This latest Whitehall farce, where bosses admit they are struggling to impose their own attendance policy, has prompted questions in Parliament. Cabinet Office minister Georgia Gould replied:
The Government has not yet reviewed existing guidance on home-working … The Government is committed to supporting individuals and businesses to work in ways that best suit their particular circumstances.
Although as Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed she wanted to see ‘more people in the office, more of the time,’ since she became Chancellor there has been no progress on this—despite the continuing migrant crisis along the Kent coast.
On Sunday August 12th, the Home Office reported that more than 700 migrants crossed the English Channel using small boats—the highest daily total since Sir Keir Starmer took office.
