Michael Gove today pleaded with Britons to go back to their offices amid fears of a looming jobs bloodbath on the high street.
The Cabinet minister insisted it is crucial to ‘fire up the economic engines’ again as the country emerges from lockdown.
The call came as the government prepares to relax restrictions on public transport in a bid to encourage the public out of their homes.
It is feared the collapse of the ‘lunchtime economy’ could deal another massive blow to the fortunes of the high street, with warnings that 250,000 jobs could be on the line
Echoing a ralling cry from Boris Johnson on Friday, Mr Gove told Sky News today: ‘We want to see more people back at work on the shop floor in the office where they can be.
Michael Gove told Sky news it is crucial to ‘fire up the economic engines’ again as the country emerges from lockdown
Current lockdown guidance states that people in the UK should avoid public transport where possible, resulting in empty carriages
‘Of course in some cases it is appropriate and convenient for people to work from home, but we want to make sure that where people can add value, where the economy can benefit from people being at work, that they are at work.
‘We want to make sure that the economic engines of this country are fired up again and that’s why the Chancellor made the series of announcements that he made earlier this week in order to make sure that we are in a position to be able to provide people with safety and security at work, to protect their jobs and to guarantee jobs in the future.’
Mr Gove said the pandemic had shown that some roles can be effectively performed from home – and confirmed that civil service jobs may be moved outside London.
At the height of the crisis the government was telling the public to work from home if they can.
But Mr Johnson dramatically reversed that advice on Friday, saying it was time for people to go out to work if they can.
Ian Girling, chief executive of the Dorset Chamber of Commerce, said: ‘Undoubtedly, remote working has worked extremely well for some businesses and there are opportunities for some firms to save money going forward.’
He added: ‘Businesses can revert back to the way they were working pre-Covid but the bigger question is “do they want to?”‘
Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, said this was a ‘critical’ factor for businesses considering whether to return to the office.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured) issued a ‘go back and work if you can’ rallying cry on Friday in a bid to boost the economy
He said bosses would weigh up whether the supposed productivity boost outweighed the savings which many have enjoyed during the pandemic.
The expert told MailOnline: ‘That’s an absolutely critical point – whether the levels of demand are sufficient enough to make it commercially viable enough to reopen. And that’s a really difficult question to answer and lots just don’t know.’
One employee at a central London firm which has over 200 staff told MailOnline they were told last week their workforce would not be returning to the office for the foreseeable future.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source said: ‘The primary concern is that we don’t need to be back so why rush?’
They said that the company would be waiting to see how other firms coped with the return to work before given the green light for their own staff.
Mr Lim said the crisis would have jolted a complete rethink for some firms who will keep some of their team working remotely to allow them to downsize and save money.
Explaining the mindset of such firms, Mr Lim said: ‘We probably don’t need the same amount of space as we did, out of necessity we managed to pivot our working way towards something which is much more digital focused and actually, given that rents are so expensive, if we have people coming in on average two-and-a-half days a week and people working from home two-and-a half days a week, we don’t need the space and it’ll make a significant saving for many companies.’
The Department of Transport is believed to be in talks with rail and bus operators about how larger numbers commuters can travel safely.
The UK Government is set to ease restrictions on public transport, such as buses, to encourage more people to go back into offices for work
Current UK lockdown regulations state that the public should avoid public transport, with social distancing rules meaning they have been able to handle a fraction of usual capacity.
A Whitehall source told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘It is costing a great deal of money to run all these train services with so few people on them.
‘Different departments are looking at ways to ease in the message of avoiding public transport. The best way to do this, and when, is currently under discussion.’