Civil servants to have their computers monitored to end work from home culture

SURVEILLANCE targeting civil servants is being brought in to end the work from home culture.

Mandarins have been warned their computers will be monitored to see whether they are attending their Cabinet Office base.

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It is part of a cross-Whitehall drive to get workers into the office on four days a week in line with pre-pandemic levels.

Occupancy in the department, which has 2,700 staff, dipped to just 42 per cent at one point in August but by the end of the month was up to 66 per cent.

The Foreign Office marked the lowest attendance for the same month when the rate stood at between 30 to 39 per cent.

Monitoring of staff occupancy will be through wi-fi and computer log-ins to help calculate the daily average number of staff heading into the office.

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But Mark Serwotka, boss of the PCS civil service union, said: “This is a ­worrying Big Brother-style development that we fear could be used to victimise our members.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg began an efficiency drive while he was in the department before he was made Business Secretary by new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

He left notes around Whitehall with the message: “Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”

The Cabinet Office said last night: “We have been consistently clear that we want to see office attendance across the civil ­service consistently back at pre-pandemic levels.”