Taxpayer spends £4m on Government lawyers’ home working equipment
Whitehall lawyers working from home have spent nearly £4m of taxpayer money on new laptops, tablet computers and mobile phones, new data suggests.
The Government Legal Department (GLD) has purchased thousands of remote working devices for its staff since 2021, including 560 mobile phones, 2,135 new laptops and 10 tablet computers, according to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The figures, requested by Griffin Law, emerged as ministers continue in their battle to get Whitehall staff back into the office at least 60pc of the time – three days a week for full-time staff – over fears that home working has reduced productivity.
GLD, which opened an office in Manchester late last year, is the government’s principal legal adviser with nearly 2,500 lawyers working on government policies.
Like many high-profile departments there has been a battle over office working since the pandemic, with some arguing that remote working is a necessary perk given the low pay offered in comparison to the private sector.
In 2021, the Law Gazette reported that GLD staff had hit back at bosses over low pay and morale, asking why they were “desperate to force people back to the office when so many of our people are happier, healthier and more productive” at home.
Earlier this month it emerged that civil servants at Britain’s official statistics body had threatened to go on strike after being asked to work in the office for two days a week.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which is spearheading the push for industrial action, said that many workers come in “several days a week anyway” while others only accepted a job at the Office for National Statistics “because they were promised the flexibility to work from home”.
However critics argue that home working is dragging on productivity and affecting public services. Donal Blaney, the founder of Griffin Law, argued that civil servants were “milking the government’s overly generous remote working policies”.
“It’s beggars belief that officials are splashing millions of pounds of taxpayer cash to fund flexible working for layabout lawyers,” he argued.
A Government Legal Department spokesman said the figure “reflects the cost of providing over 3,000 members of staff with the essential equipment they need to perform their work in the office, in court and at home”.
The department currently requires staff to be in the office 40pc of the time. This is increasing to 60pc from next month.
