Staff at the Department for Education have had to work in corridors and canteens after the government’s return-to-the-office edict because the DfE has almost twice as many workers as desks.
Whole teams have been turned away from some offices because of over-crowding. And rural staff and those with caring responsibilities are considering their futures as even pre-pandemic flexibility is “deemed unacceptable”.
Staff outnumber desks by almost two-to-one across the DfE’s 12 offices, figures seen by Schools Week show. In Leeds, there are just 24 desks for 110 staff. Bristol has 95 desks for 299 staff.
