November 27, 2023

Council employees working from home are committing fraud with second job

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Public Sector

The UK Government’s National Fraud Initiative is looking into a number of local authority employees who have been caught ‘moonlighting’ while they were supposed to be working from home for the council. The NFI considers this a form of fraud because it is seen as working multiple contracts without the knowledge of employers and contrary to their terms of employment. Multiple contract working is seen as fraud when people who are paid to work full time, split their days between two or more employers without their knowledge. More →

September 26, 2023

‘Levelling up’ development is new home for 1,400 civil servants

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Public Sector

The UK government has purchased land for the permanent site of the new Darlington Economic Campus as a key part of its so-called levelling up programme. The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) was established in August 2021 and currently houses 674 government staff. McLaren Property has now sold its option on a 7,926 square metres site on Brunswick Street in Darlington to the Government Property Agency for a permanent base for the Treasury’s second headquarters and Department for Business and Trade. More →

August 8, 2023

Government scales back plans for regional office hubs as more people work from home

by Jayne Smith • News, Property, Public Sector

The UK government has announced it will be scaling back plans for thirty office ‘hubs’ outside of London by 25 percent and letting out surplus floor space to other departments as more civil service workers are choosing to work from home. In 2022 the government’s property strategy highlighted plans to relocate 22,000 posts out of London by 2030, creating 30 new regional ‘government hubs’ as it closes its older offices across the UK. However, currently just over half of that figure have been relocated. More →

July 20, 2022

Enduring problems holding back success of UK government property strategy

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Public Sector

Longstanding problems such as poor data pose major risks to the successful delivery of the UK Government’s property strategy, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). Central government property, valued at £158 billion, is one of government’s largest assets. It includes offices, hospitals, academy schools, jobcentres, courts, prisons and museums. The Office of Government Property (OGP) sets the strategic direction for the management of government property. The Cabinet Office has categorised properties into 12 portfolios (such as health, defence and school portfolios), 10 of which are led by a single department or arm’s-length body. The Government Property Agency (GPA) sets and implements a property strategy for the government’s office and warehouse portfolios. More →

October 14, 2021

Green building council publishes new guidance for UK local authorities

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property, Public Sector

The UK Green Building Council has published new guidance for local authorities on the environmental performance of their new buildings. The organisation has published its latest Commercial Playbook to “fill the gap left by national policy, which is not currently delivering change at the pace that is required to meet the UK’s environmental commitments”. More →

April 6, 2021

UK civil service signs up to hybrid working deal

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Public Sector

The UK civil service is set to pioneer a widespread hybrid working strategy with the announcement of a new deal with serviced office provider IWG. The details of the deal, reported first in The Telegraph newspaper (paywall), will include the creation of a nationwide network of ten coworking spaces for the use of civil servants when they are not in London. The report suggests that up to 430,000 employees could now have a better chance of adopting a hybrid working culture. More →

February 17, 2020

Public sector hiring intentions at 12-year high

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Public Sector

An increase in hiring intentions among public sector employers looks set to support further employment growth in the UK, according to a report from the CIPD and the Adecco Group. The latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook survey suggests that public sector employment growth is expected to increase in line with the private sector for the first time since 2008. More →

February 7, 2020

Cuts to government estate save £2bn

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Public Sector

Work to reduce the size of the government estate has freed up land for development, including new housing, and secured more than £2bn over the past year, the Cabinet Office has claimed. The ‘State of the Estate 2018-2019’ report shows the government estate, which is made up of buildings across the country, is now 30 percent smaller than it was in 2010. In the past year, 339 former government sites have been disposed of, totalling 277,000 square metres – the equivalent of 39 football pitches. The cost of running the estate has also fallen by £50 million a year. More →

December 11, 2019

Tech trends to watch that will disrupt 2020 and beyond

by Dave Coplin • Automation, Comment, Public Sector

The next decade promises to offer both incredible opportunity and challenge for all of us. Technologies like artificial intelligence will no longer be considered new but will instead be at the heart of some huge disruptive changes that will run right through our society. In particular, AI will start to enable the automation of many things that were previously deemed too complex or even too “human”. We’ll see these changes and tech trends at work – traditional professions like accountancy, lawyers and others will over time, see significant portions of what they do be taken over by virtual robots. Vocations such as lorry drivers, taxi drivers and even chefs may disappear as machines are introduced to perform the same function but with more consistent results and less risk. More →

October 11, 2019

Birmingham and Peterborough latest cities to benefit from government hubs

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Property, Public Sector

Sites in Birmingham and Peterborough are to be regenerated as part of a government programme designed to boost regional growth and save taxpayers’ money. The Government Hubs programme has so far seen the development of 14 office hubs around the country, which the government claims provide civil servants with state-of-the-art working environments designed to boost efficiency and drive savings by bringing together different departments under one roof – moving civil servants to inner-city sites located close to public transport connections, local amenities and shops. More →

April 5, 2019

Still healthy demand for construction work on fit outs and office refurbishment

by Marie Hillen • Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

Although the new commercial development sector may be subdued, specialist contractors are seeing a continued demand for construction work on fit outs and office refurbishment. According to Glenigan the construction sector has been buoyed up by a series of major refurbishments of government offices while some large private sector groups are also investing to update and modernise their commercial space. More →

April 1, 2019

Green Building Council releases guidance on social value for local authorities

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property, Public Sector

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has released its latest guidance document, detailing how local authorities can help ensure that new construction and property development in their area positively impacts people and communities by delivering social value. More →