The Tories have slammed lazy civil servants after new stats revealed the Home Office was half empty in December while thousands of illegal migrants entered Britain.
The monthly publication of average department occupancy rates was published yesterday, and confirmed many departments saw civil service attendance down significantly in December.
While some departments like Energy Security and Justice managed 80% bums on seats, bottom of the list was the Home Office despite grappling with multiple crises.
Just 44% of Yvette Cooper’s mandarins bothered turning up in person in the final month of 2024, coinciding with one of the worst winter months ever for small boat crossings.
3,254 migrants entered Britain while Home Office civil servants enjoyed working from home, including a record breaker on December 12 when 609 individuals arrived on the shores of Dover.
The Home Office was half-empty in December (Image: Getty)
This was the highest number of crossings on a single day ever for a winter month – December to February – since the small boat crisis began three years ago.
At the time Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp blasted the figures as a “day of shame for Labour”.
Today he fumed that the Home Secretary needs to get a grip of office-shy civil servants.
Mr Philp told the Express: “As everyone knows, you work far more effectively when you can talk to your colleagues and are in a proper office environment.
“We face a borders and crime crisis and we need these civil servants – who are paid by our taxes – to be in the office and doing their job, not skulking at home.
“The Home Secretary needs to personally grip this as a matter of urgency.”
Chris Philp has said Yvette Cooper needs to get a grip of her civil servants (Image: Getty)
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also fell below 50% occupancy in December, while farmers set to be clobbered by Rachel Reeves’ family farms tax can’t enjoy the similar luxury of working from home.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Treasury also saw in-person attendance fall below 50%.
Despite criticising the Tories’ back-to-work drive, Labour maintained Rishi Sunak’s new rules demanding at least 60% attendance at the office.
The Cabinet Office said the policy reflected the view of civil service leaders that there are “clear benefits of spending time working together face-to-face as the government delivers on the ‘Missions’ commitments”.
A government spokesperson said: “Home Office Civil Servants work hard all year round to keep our citizens safe and secure, many of them working away from the office supporting essential enforcement activity around the country and overseas”.
“Headquarter office occupancy was higher in December this year compared to the same period in 2023 for the vast majority of government departments for which data is available, including the Home Office.”
