Government tells civil servants to return to offices

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Steve Barclay, has told departments across government to prepare for the return of offices to full occupancy following the lifting of work from home restrictions in England.

This signals a move “normal”, pre-pandemic working arrangements in Whitehall, and forms part of a government campaign to get people back to in-person work. 

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said: “Now we are learning to live with COVID and have lifted Plan B measures, we need to move away from a reliance on video meetings and get back to the benefits of face-to-face, collaborative working”.

The government has announced that so-called “plan B measures” will stop on 26 January.