Staff at 10 councils in England that saw Reform UK take control in last week’s local elections face a ban on working from home after party leader Nigel Farage said he would set up ‘efficiency’ units in each authority.
On Friday, Farage told the BBC: “We are deeply dissatisfied with the way that county councils and unitaries in Britain have been running their budgets.
“We look at the millions a year being spent, in many cases, on consultants. We look at the money being spent on climate change; on areas that county councils, frankly, shouldn’t even be getting involved in.”
He said Reform would “get the auditors in”, examine long-term contracts and impose a “change of culture”. He added: “No more work from home; increased productivity. That won’t be a magic wand, it won’t solve every problem, but it will be a good start and we’ll be judged on that.”
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Reform took control of 10 local councils on Friday, including Co Durham, Kent, Staffordshire and Lancashire.
Farage has also said any roles linked to DEI would be scrapped if his party took charge.
On Friday afternoon, he said: “I would advise anybody who’s working for Durham County Council on climate change initiatives or diversity, equity and inclusion or… things that you go on working from home, I think you all better really be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly.”
Since then, Reform has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged that the party is currently advertising roles for which working from home is integral. A regional director role for Reform UK, with a salary of £50k, says the location is “Home working with occasional travel”.
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, which represents 600,000 local government workers, called on employees to join the union to protect their rights.
She said: “This is not the US. Thankfully, workers in the UK have laws to protect them from bad employers. And soon employees will get even more protection from unscrupulous bosses when the government’s new employment rights come in.”
She said Reform MPs have consistently voted against these new measures. “Unions are there to ensure no one can play fast and loose with the law. Any staff working for councils now controlled by Reform, and who aren’t yet members, should sign up so they can be protected too.
“Nigel Farage and his party’s new councillors have much to learn about local government. They’ll quickly discover there’s nothing left to cut and many authorities are balancing on the edge of the financial precipice.
“Most local authorities would love to be doing their core work, as Mr Farage says. But they simply don’t have the staff nor the resources to do even that.”
In December, The Telegraph obtained the working from home policies of 88 out of England’s 317 councils. Of those, 86 said they allowed staff to work at home at least once a week, while 26 allowed up to three days per week.
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