Civil servants can be MORE productive when they work from home, claims Angela Rayner - as she defends office attendance at her own department

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 10:02 EDT, 19 August 2026 | Updated: 10:06 EDT, 19 August 2026 Angela Rayner today claimed civil servants can be more productive when they work from home as she defended office attendance at her own department.The Housing Secretary was quizzed about the recent revelation that thousands of public sector staff are not required to attend the office.Across eight Government departments that responded to Freedom of Information requests, 3,884 officials permanently work from home.This includes 2,413 staff at the Department for Work and Pensions, 688 at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and 492 at the Department for Education.Meanwhile, 71 staff members at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - which is led by Ms Rayner - were not recorded as visiting its offices for over a year.Former Tory Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg previously led a drive to get civil servants back to their Whitehall offices after the Covid pandemic when the Conservatives were in power.But, since winning the 2024 general election, Labour ministers are said to have taken a more relaxed approach to office attendance across Whitehall.Asked whether it was acceptable that many civil servants were not visiting offices, Ms Rayner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Look, I'm not a Jacob Rees-Mogg, that I have to see someone in the office to know that they're working.' Angela Rayner, pictured with Prime Minister Andy Burnham on a visit to Newcastle today, claimed civil servants can be more productive when they work from home'I wasn't office-based for many years, actually, in the job that I do, and I think people work extremely hard,' Ms Rayner added.'I don't think this is a productivity problem because individuals are in or outside the office.'Ms Rayner suggested the cost of living crisis was to blame for public sector productivity remaining below pre-pandemic levels.'I think the challenge that we face actually is the cost of things have gone up and wages haven't gone up at the same rate as the cost of living of essential items,' she said.'Which is why the Prime Minister has been clear that we need to tackle the cost of living crisis.'Pressed about her lack of concern over her own staff coming into the office, she replied: 'Well, I don't see people as being physically in the office all the time as an issue around productivity.'Actually, when there's been studies done… (when) people that work from home where they can, productivity can go up.'She added: 'If you look at some of the studies where people have done home working, actually within their department sickness levels have gone down and productivity has gone up.'So I dispute that the productivity issue in our country is because somebody works from an office or somebody works from home. I don't think that is the case.'