Civil Service headquarters occupancy data
The average monthly percentage of staff working in Civil Service headquarter buildings
Documents
Details
The Civil Service published weekly data on HQ Office Occupancy from Whitehall departments’ as a proxy measure of ‘return to offices’ following the pandemic. This was suspended in line with pre-election guidance for the duration of the Election Period. Going forward this data will now be published quarterly, resuming November 2024.
The government announced on Wednesday 19 January 2022 that it was no longer asking people to work from home, with all other Plan B measures in England being lifted by 27 January. Civil servants who had been following government guidance and working from home could then start returning to their workplaces.
This data presents the daily average number of staff working in departmental HQ buildings, for each week (Monday to Friday) beginning the week commencing of 7 February 2022.
Contacts
Press enquiries: [email protected]
Methodology
The data was originally gathered for internal purposes to indicate the progress being made by departments in returning to the workplace in greater numbers. Data was collected from Departmental HQ buildings to gain a general understanding of each department’s position without requiring departments to introduce data collection methods across their whole estate which would be expensive and resource intensive.
These figures incorporate all employees for the departments providing data for this report whose home location is their Departmental HQ building. The figures do not include contractors and visitors.
A listing of all Civil Service organisations providing data is provided.
Data on percentage of employees working in the HQ buildings are provided by departments
All data presented are sourced and collected by departments and provided to the Cabinet Office. The data presented are not Official Statistics.
There are 4 main methods used to collect the Daily Average Number of Employees in the HQ building:
- wifi and/or computer log-ins associated with location
- swipe pass entry data
- space or desk booking system
- manual count
This data does not capture employees working in other locations such as other government buildings, other workplaces or working from home.
It is for departments to determine the most appropriate method of collection.
Notes on measure of attendance in the workplace
The data provided is for Departmental HQ buildings only and inferences about the wider workforce cannot be made.
Work is underway to develop a common methodology for efficiently monitoring occupancy that provides a daily and historic trend record of office occupancy levels for a building.
Comparisons between departments
The data shouldn’t be used to compare departments. The factors determining the numbers of employees working in the workplace, such as the differing operating models and the service they deliver, will vary across departments. The different data collection methods used by departments will also make comparisons between departments invalid.
Calculations
Percentage of employees working in the HQ building compared to building capacity is calculated as follows:
Percentage of employees working in the HQ building =
daily average number of employees in the HQ building divided by the daily capacity of the HQ building.
Where daily average number of employees in the HQ building equals:
Total number of employees in the HQ building during the working week divided by the number of days during the working week
Collection periods
The data is collected weekly. Unless otherwise stated, all the data reported is for the time period Monday to Friday.
Definitions
In the majority of cases the HQ building is defined as where the Secretary of State for that department is based.
Current Daily Capacity is the total number of people that can be accommodated in the building.
Departments providing data
- Home Office
- Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
- Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
- Cabinet Office
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Department for International Trade
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
- Department for Education
- Department for Work and Pensions
- HM Revenue and Customs
- HM Treasury
- Department for Transport
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
- Ministry of Defence
- Ministry of Justice
- Scotland Office
- Wales Office
- Northern Ireland Office
Updates to this page
Published 30 June 2022Last updated 24 October 2024 + show all updates
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Updated to provide details on the process of these publications going forward.
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Added the data for the week commencing 20 May 2024.
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Added the data for the week commencing 13th May
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Added the data for the week commencing 6th May 2024.
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Added the data for the week commencing 29 April 2024. Also updated the file: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: January 2023 to April 2024
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Added data for week commencing 22 April 2024
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Added the data for the week commencing 15th April 2024
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Added the data for the week commencing 8 April 2024.
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Added the data for the week commencing 2nd April 2024
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Replaced the file 'Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to March 2024 to' include HMT data as it previously unable to provide data in time for the 25th March time series due to an IT security problem.
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Added the data for the week commencing 25 March 2024. Also updated the file Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to March 2024 to include March 2024 data.
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Added the data for the week commencing 18 March 2024
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.Added the data for the week commencing 11 March 2024
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Added the data for the week commencing 4 March 2024.
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Added data for w/c 26 Feb
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Added data for w/c 19 Feb
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Added the data for the week commencing 12th February 2024
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Added the data for the week commencing 5 February. Updated the spreadsheet data to include January 2024.
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Added the data for the week commencing 29 January 2024
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Added the date for the week commencing 22 January 2024. Fixed a reporting error for the Department for Education for the week commencing 8 January
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Added the data for the week commencing 15 January 2024
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Added the details for the week commencing 8 January 2024
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Added the data for the weeks commencing: 18 December 2023 25 December 2023 01 January 2024 Updated the occupancy data spreadsheet to include December 2023 stats
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Added the data for the week commencing 11 December 2023.
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Updated to include the data for the week commencing 4 December 2023 Updated the document 'Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to November 2023' to include the data for Novemner 2023
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Added the date for the week commencing 27 November 2023
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Added the date for the week commencing 20 November 2023. Added the following departments to the list of featured departments: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
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Added the data for the week commencing 13 November 2023
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Added the data for the week commencing 6 November 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 30 October 2023 Also added the data for October 2023 to the monthly spreadsheet
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Updated to include the data for the week commencing 23 October 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 16 October 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 9 October 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 2 October 2023. Also updated the document: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to September 2023
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Updated to include the data for the week commencing 25 September 2023
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Added the date for the week commencing 18th September
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Added the data for the week commencing 11 September 2023
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Updated to include the date for the week commencing 4 September Updated the spreadsheet to include all data for August 2023
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Data added for week commencing 29 August
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Data added for week commencing 21 August
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Added data for the week commencing 14 August 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 7 August 2023.
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Updated with the data for the week commencing 31 July 2023. Updated the document: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to July 2023
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Updated with the data for the week commencing 24 July 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 17 July 2023.
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Added data for the week commencing 10 July 2023.
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Added date for the week commencing 3 July. Updated spreadsheet to include June 2023 data.
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Added data for the week commencing 26th June 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 19th June 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 12 June 2023 and also updated the document: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to May 2023, to include May 2023
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Added the data for the week commencing 5th June
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Added the data for the week commencing 29th May 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 22nd May 2023.
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Updated with the data for the week commencing 15th May 2023.
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Updated data to include the week commencing 8 May. Also updated the document: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to April 2023
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Added the data for the week commencing 1 May 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 17 April 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 10 April 2023. Also updated: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to March 2023
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Added data for the week commencing 3 April 2023.
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Added data for week commencing 27 March 2023.
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Added the data for the week commencing 20th March 2023.
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Added data for week commencing 13 March 2023.
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Added data for week commencing 6 March 2023. Also added the updated version of: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February 2022 to February 2023
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w/c 27 February data added
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Occupancy data added for week beginning 20 February.
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Added the data for the week commencing 13 February 2023
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Added date for week commencing 3 February. Also updated document Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February to December 2022 to include January 2023 data.
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Added date for weeks commencing 23 and 30 January 2023.
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Added data for week commencing 16 January
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Added date for week commencing 9 January 2023
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Added the data for: The week commencing 2 January 2023 Updated spreadsheet: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data - February to December 2022
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Added the data for the week commencing 12 December 2022. Also updated the file: Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February to November 2022
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Added date for week commencing 5 December 2022.
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Added data for the week commencing 28 November 2022.
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Added data for week commencing 21 November 2022.
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Added data for week commencing 14 November 2022.
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Added data for week commencing 7 November 2022 and also updated the spreadsheet to include October 2022 figures.
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Added data for week commencing 31 October 2022.
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Data added for week commencing 24 October 2022.
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Added data for week the commencing 17 October 2022.
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Added data for week commencing 10 October.
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Data added to table for w/c 3 October 2022 September 2022 data added to spreadsheet
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Data added for the week starting 26 September
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Added data for week commencing 19 September
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Updated data for weeks commencing 5 and 12 September and updated Civil Service headquarters occupancy data: February to August 2022.
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Data added for week commencing 29 August
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Added data for week commencing 22 August 2022
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Added data for week commencing 15 August 2022
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Added data for the week commencing 8 August 2022
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Added data for w/c 1 August 2022.
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Updated to include: Week commencing 25 July 2022 Updated spreadsheet to include July 2022
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Added data for week commencing 18th July 2022.
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Added data for week commencing 18 July 2022
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Added data for the week commencing 11 July.
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Added occupancy data for week commencing 4 July 2022. Updated spreadsheet to include data for June 2022.
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Updated document 'Civil Service headquarters occupancy data for June 2022' - added occupancy data for the week commencing 27 June 2022.
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First published.