Staff at the Department for Education’s office in Sheffield struggled to evacuate following discovery of a “suspect package” because of overcrowding, civil servants have told FE Week.
Workers at the offices in St Paul’s Place, Sheffield, were ordered to evacuate at around 1.55pm on May 18, the same day that DfE permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood visited.
The department has asked staff to work from their offices more often, but the Sheffield building has nearly double the number of desks than staff.
But it resulted in queues in the building’s stairwell and to get off upper floors, staff reported, due to the volume of people working in the building.
