Government says public services won't be affected by more permanent remote working

The Blended Working Framework will allow civil servants to work at least one day a week remotely on a permanent basis

Michael McGrath, the public expenditure minister: 'We have been hugely impressed with the commitment of our civil servants. They have maintained the difficult and challenging circumstances of already high quality of service to the general public.' Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Delivery of public services will not be adversely affected by allowing civil servants to work remotely, the Government has said.

The Blended Working Framework published by Michael McGrath, the public expenditure minister, will allow civil servants to work at least one day a week remotely on a permanent basis.

Mr McGrath said the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic “in the round” of staff working from home was positive, despite criticisms around delays in services like the passport office.

“We have been hugely impressed with the commitment of our civil servants. They have maintained the difficult and challenging circumstances of already high quality of service to the general public,” he said.

Most but not all workers in the civil service will be able to request remote working arrangements and seek a review if their application is refused.

The scheme will not be open to workers who have “public-facing” roles and access to remote working will not be an automatic entitlement. This is regardless of any previous remote-working arrangement during the pandemic, which was done essentially on an emergency basis.

Michael McGrath accepted that there were 'ongoing challenges' at the Passport Office. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The Government says civil service employers are being encouraged to support and facilitate access to blended working wherever practical.

The framework relates to 40 civil service organisations and around 40,000 workers.

It states that, in general, no employee should work 100% remotely.

It is hoped the plan will be rolled out by the middle of the year and will be used as a template for the wider public service.

Fórsa, the largest public sector union, was involved in the negotiations of the framework. It has welcomed the plan and has called for it to be quickly rolled out across the entire civil and public service.

"As the biggest employer in the State, the public service must take a leading role in making remote and blended work part of post-Covid working life," said Fórsa civil service division head Derek Mullen.

In relation to the passport office, Mr McGrath accepted “there are ongoing challenges there” but said the Government had very significantly increased the resources available to the passport office and the volume of passports being issued had increased dramatically.

“It is a system that's under pressure and so we all just need to make sure that we do the simple things right and let's check our passports early this year,” he said.