Lambeth council chief exec orders workers back in for two days a week

The chief executive of Lambeth council, Bayo Dosunmu, has ordered council workers back into the office for two days a week in one of his first acts as boss.

The council had been operating a work from home policy since the height of the pandemic, but now all council workers have been ordered to return to their offices for the minimum time.

The new working policy is expected to begin in September.

A council worker, who wished to remain anonymous, told South London Press: “The new chief executive is demanding this despite the efforts of staff during the pandemic and the worsening cost of living crisis.

“Ignoring the changes in people’s caring and childcare arrangements and availability since the start of the pandemic and wilfully ignoring the financial pressures that will only be made much worse by asking staff to pay much more in travel costs, which won’t be impacting them directly, given their wage.”

The worker claimed the council was spending “significant funds” on desks and screens for workers tor return to after getting rid of them at the start of the pandemic.

They also claimed the council could not save any money through the reduction of the amount of office space it occupies, as other councils are doing.

The council said it had engaged with the relevant unions on the decision.

A Lambeth council spokeswoman said: “Lambeth is all about the place and the people – that’s why it is vital that our staff spend some of their time in the borough to make sure we retain these important connections to our communities, and can see and feel what our residents experience on a day-to-day basis.

“This is the fairest approach, particularly as many of our staff have worked in the borough almost daily throughout the pandemic – including our social workers, parks officers, street cleaners and many more.

“Prior to the pandemic, we had reduced our office count from 14 buildings to two, saving £4.5million per year.”

“The council has been engaging with colleagues extensively on our Future of Work programme over the past 12 months to make sure we hear, and take account of, the voices and concerns they have as we move into the next phase of the pandemic recovery.”

Pictured top: Lambeth town hall (Picture: Reading Tom)