Bank of England not yet requiring return to office

The Bank of England has denied that it is scrapping plans to get its remaining remote workers back to the office.

It had previously said it was asking staff to come in to the office from September, starting with a minimum of once a week.

In its latest statement, it said that from next week, its plans would still involve that expectation.

However, it said the moment was not yet "right for us" to require staff to come back if they had health concerns.

Since the pandemic, 5% of the Bank of England's 4,000 staff have been coming into the office.

The Bank said about a quarter of staff physically attended its central London sites at least once last week, while its Leeds and Debden sites had already returned to pre-pandemic occupancy rates.

"We would expect those numbers to increase further as the new phase in our return to office programme begins next week," the Bank said.

This new phase involves a number of initiatives aimed at facilitating hybrid working, ensuring that teams routinely co-locate, modifications to office space and continued enhanced ventilation and cleaning, the Bank said.

"It also involves an expectation that staff will be physically present in the workplace at least one day a week and generally more," the Bank said.

"What has changed is that we don't feel the moment is yet right for us to require our staff to return to the office where, for a number of reasons, some might in the current environment have genuine and valid health concerns about doing so.

"This will be kept under close review with a view to making the expectation a requirement as the situation evolves. This is in step with current government recommendations regarding encouraging staff to return to their workplaces."

Many firms and industry groups have been taking a similarly cautious approach to bringing staff back in to workplaces.

People in England are no longer being asked to work from home. Instead, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recommending a "gradual return to work".

However, in the rest of the UK, people are still being advised to keep working at home where possible.