NEARLY a quarter of Herefordshire Council staff work remotely from elsewhere in the country, it has been revealed.

In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the council said information was “not held” on how many, and what proportion, of its workforce currently works partly or wholly from home.

But when asked how many of its remote workers live outside of Herefordshire, but within the UK, it gave the figure of 391.

The council added that it has no employees based outside of the UK.

In a separate FOI response, it confirmed: “Currently there are 1,598 staff members in Herefordshire Council.”

This yields a figure of 24.5 per cent of staff based outside of Herefordshire.

While the council has previously been guarded about the total number of staff it employs, previous figures have been lower than this.

Its Medium Term Financial Strategy published in January says it employs “over 1,200 staff, and supports many more local jobs through contacts with local business”.

According to the council’s current pay policy statement, women make up the majority of its workforce “in almost every pay grade”, with recently appointed chief executive Paul Satoor, on a salary of around £170,000, being one exception.

The most recent figures from the Office of National Statistics shows 13 per cent of the UK workforce now work exclusively from home, down from a peak of 38 per cent at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.

However, up to 28% split their time between home and a traditional workplace, meaning more than two-fifths of the workforce works full time at home or part-time.

Meanwhile, the Westminster Labour Government is introducing reforms aimed at increasing the likelihood of flexible working requests being approved, with the changes anticipated to take effect in 2027.