Civil servants will go on strike, slamming “Victorian bosses” who demand they work from the office three days a week.
Thousands of government officials at the Land Registry have voted to stage a walkout next month over new rules requiring them to work from the office.
The civil servants, who are based across 14 offices in England and Wales, are members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union.
PCS Union bosses claimed the targets on office attendance do not “increase productivity” and said they were unpopular with members of staff.
PCS Union bosses claimed the targets on office attendance do not “increase productivity”
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PCS General Secretart Fran Heathcote said: “If they want a motivated, hard-working workforce, ministers should trust their own employees to have some say over their working conditions, rather than acting like Victorian bosses.”
“It’s not too late for management to avoid strike action by ending this dispute.”
This comes as other taxpayer-backed institutions such as the Met Police and the Office for National Statistics are seeing a wave of industrial action as civil servants campaign for the right to work from home.
When Met Police staff voted to strike earlier this month, the union said demands for them to work from the office more would subject them to the “stress of the daily commute”.
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Threats of a strike at the Land Registry has raised worries of worsening delays at the body, which has been dealing with backlogs since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Figures show that over 40 per cent of cases take more than a month to process, while estimates show that the non-ministerial department takes over a year to process 64 per cent of complex cases.
Strike threats by union chiefs has led to warnings that the process could be delayed even further.
When the body threatened to strike in 2023, the Society of Licensed Conveyancers said it would exacerbate “unacceptable delays” in the system, claiming the wait times were having a “serious impact”.
Threats of a strike at the Land Registry has raised worries of worsening delays at the body
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The vote to strike comes as the Government is trying to get civil servants to work from the office for 60 per cent of their contracted hours.
The PCS said 3,800 of its member were being affected by these new requirements, prompting the strikes.
A HM Land Registry spokesman said: “We have received confirmation of the ballot results but have not yet received notification from PCS of any forthcoming industrial action.
“HM Land Registry will respond as needed to maintain essential services as we have done during previous periods of industrial action.”
