Руководство Норфолка не знает, сколько сотрудников работает удаленно, что вызвало протесты персонала

Norfolk County Council bosses say they do not know how many staff work from home in response to Freedom of Information request Bosses at Norfolk County Council say they have no idea how many staff work from home, in an extraordinary revelation which will enrage the authority’s new Reform leadership. County Hall officials made the admission in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, saying they did not track the data. It comes amid heightened tensions at the council since Reform took control after May’s local elections. The party has criticised working from home arrangements in the public sector, arguing they undermine productivity and represent poor value for the taxpayer. Last week, it instructed the council to launch a review of the practice. The threat of changes to such working arrangements is one of the factors fuelling the so-called ‘rainbow rebellion’ by County Hall staff who are opposed to the new Reform administration. Flexible, or hybrid, working arrangements – which allow employees to work from home – have become widespread at the council since the pandemic, when around 85% of staff moved out of the office. Staff are even allowed to apply to work from abroad for up to 90 days. So few staff now work in the office that three of the ten floors at County Hall have been rented out. The building now has just 1,244 council work spaces for the authority’s 7,000 non-school staff. In their FoI response, managers said they did not monitor how often the desks are used. A photograph of one floor of the building, taken in recent days, shows a largely empty office. Managers have defended the working arrangements, saying they increase efficiency by reducing travel time. In their FoI response, sent on Wednesday, they said the practice was not being reviewed. However, a day later, a council spokesman said such a review was now under way. This is understood to be in response to similar attempts by Reform councillors to investigate the extent of the arrangements. They are understood to have been similarly frustrated in their attempts to find out the scale. A council spokesman said: “Our focus is on ensuring we are effective, accountable and provide value for money. “It’s important to recognise that many council staff do not work from an office desk in the first place. “They spend their time out in our communities, supporting vulnerable residents, inspecting sites or running our services. “Under the new administration, we have launched a review of staff working practices and will take action based on the information provided.” Reform councillors have declined to comment until the review has taken place. What is the rainbow rebellion? This takes its name from rainbow badges and rainbow computer displays that some staff started to adopt as signs of resistance after Reform took power. Some employees have been angered by the decision to no longer fly the Progress Pride or Ukraine flags from County Hall. Many are also understood to be unhappy about Reform’s decision to review all the council’s net zero policies, as well as the prospect of a change to hybrid working practices. The Unison union has described a “strong sense of disappointment” from council employees at moves announced by the Reform leadership. It offered sessions for employees feeling “vulnerable and targeted” to air their views and share their anxiety about the new administration. Reform councillors, in turn, have criticised the union for organising the “safe spaces” and described them as “snowflake sessions”. On a recent visit to the city, Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, also waded into the row, saying staff should leave if they could not support his party’s plans. He added: “We have to get back to the idea that public servants are public servants, not political campaigners, and they’ve been allowed to do that, and a completely cowardly Conservative administration allowed it to drift in that direction.” Mr Farage has previously urged councils to scrap work-from-home policies and claims doing so would increase productivity. He said Britain needed “an attitudinal change to hard work, rather than work-life balance”.