Allegations have emerged that civil servants are faking office attendance while working from home, with some staff reportedly going years without physically attending work. Whistleblowers claim that employees are routinely sidestepping rules requiring a minimum of three days in the office, and that managers have 'no control' over remote workers.
At HM Revenue and Customs, staff are alleged to have gamed attendance systems by connecting to office Wi-Fi from nearby car parks before heading home, a practice referred to as 'drive-by login' by senior managers. Internal data shows that 3,195 HMRC staff had not been into an office for between six and 11 months, 992 had not attended for 12 to 23 months, and 182 had not been seen in person for two years or more. HMRC employs more than 70,500 people.
One HMRC whistleblower said remote working habits had hardened since the pandemic, explaining: 'You can go years at a time without seeing certain colleagues.' Another civil servant told The Daily Telegraph that in practice office attendance was often tokenistic, with staff attending for just a couple of hours and still being recorded as present for the day.
Concerns over productivity have been compounded by wider performance issues. HMRC has faced criticism for long call waiting times, with almost 44,000 taxpayers cut off after being on hold for more than an hour last year. At the Land Registry, 200 staff have not been into the office for more than six months, while the Office for National Statistics has seen attendance rates as low as 9% in some offices.
A government spokesman said a minimum 60% office attendance policy remains in place and that the figures represent only a minority of staff, including those on leave or working in alternative roles. Managers, they added, have authority to take disciplinary action where necessary.
