Scottish civil servants have been told they may be eligible to work from abroad for up to a month every year.
The Scottish Government has issued guidance to staff stating that most roles were suitable for “hybrid working”, meaning they could come into the office on certain days and work from home on others.
As part of this, it said they could be allowed to log in from a foreign country for a maximum of four weeks annually.
However, the guidance, which was obtained by the Scottish Daily Mail under Freedom of Information, stated there must be a “genuine requirement to do so”.
It emerged in October that the Scottish Government had let 32 employees work from other European countries or further afield “for personal reasons”.
In Nov 2022 it emerged that the then finance director of the quango Historic Environment Scotland had been granted permission to work from New Zealand.
‘Find a balance between two extremes’
The Scottish Government has since refused to sign up to a new Whitehall policy forcing civil servants to spend at least 60 per cent of their time working “face to face” in the office.
Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Tories’ shadow business secretary, said: “The pandemic forced many of us from full-time office working to working from home full-time. We now need to find a balance between the two extremes.
“Much more must be done by the Scottish Government to tackle the knock-on effects that working from home have on city and town centre economies where businesses rely on footfall from office workers.”
The Scottish Government introduced its latest hybrid working policy in April last year and it gave staff the option “to live some distance from your contractual work location”.
However, it said they “must be prepared to accept travel to their office in their own time and at their own cost when required”.
‘Short-term requests may be possible’
While it said that working from abroad cannot be supported “unless there’s a genuine requirement to do so”, it stated that “short-term requests may be possible” if an application form is completed and approved.
It added: “The maximum period supported in these circumstances is four weeks in a rolling 12-month period.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Consistent with the policy in place across the UK civil service, the Scottish Government does not support long-term remote working abroad.
“As part of our hybrid working arrangements, we consider requests to work abroad for short periods totalling no more than four weeks over a year for personal reasons such as visiting family members, provided staff have access to a secure and appropriate working environment. Any request requires authorisation from a senior manager at deputy director level or above.”
