Government to axe planned office hubs as hybrid working soars

More and more people are choosing to work from home forcing the government to cut down on the amount of office space required for the UK. 

Last week the government announced they will be cutting down the size of 30 planned office ‘hubs’ outside of London by 25% and letting out more surplus floor space to other departments as more civil service workers are choosing to work from home.

In 2022 the government’s property strategy highlighted plans to relocate 22,000 posts out of London by 2030, creating 30 new regional ‘government hubs’ as it closes its older offices across the UK.

However, currently just over half of that figure have been relocated.

Despite this, the Government Property Agency (GPA), which is overseeing the Senior Civil Service (SCS) relocations, has acknowledged the offices built so far are ‘larger than they originally needed to be’ due to the shift to hybrid working – working both in an office and from home during the week.

As a result, the government has let out surplus floorspace to other government departments, of which MPs and Civil Servants work in office. The GPA has also scaled back future plans for hubs, making them 25% smaller.

The news came as MPs from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) criticised the Cabinet Office for a ‘striking’ lack of information on the design and rationale behind the programme. The committee accused the government of withholding key measurements for success and exaggerating its achievements.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the Places for Growth programme was levelling up the country, with over 12,000 roles moved out of Greater London in its first three years.

Although, PACAC chair, William Wragg said the committee was concerned that despite apparent steady progress towards targets, evidence indicated since 2010 there had been a net decrease in civil service jobs created outside the capital while SCS jobs in London had been created faster than elsewhere.

Wragg said: ‘The government’s latest plans have involved closing long-established regional offices, which can have hard-hitting impacts on local communities. This flies in the face of the government’s levelling up agenda.

‘The lack of consistency in relation to relocating civil service jobs reveals a vagueness at the heart of a key plank of the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.’

Image: Christin Hume

Similar articles:

Government funding announced to help councils battle social care issues

London council plans to kick 20,000 households off social housing waiting list