Enfield Council staff are remote working from overseas

A Freedom of Information request by the Telegraph revealed that 24 Enfield Council officials had carried out their duties from far-flung countries including Australia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Poland, Spain and the US.

While hybrid working has become commonplace, with employees dividing their work life between their homes and offices, the discovery that some were working from overseas has brought criticism.

24 council staff were found to work from locations including Australia (Image: Pixabay)

Tory councillor Maria Alexandrou told the Telegraph: "It’s shocking that Enfield deems it acceptable to allow staff to work from across the globe.

"It brings a new meaning to the phrase working from home and raises questions about accountability, the council’s work ethic and value for money."

The council employees in question were said to work remotely for personal reasons, such as looking after holiday homes abroad or needing to visit relatives.

The permission to work from abroad was granted in unique situations for "short periods".

Enfield Council told the Daily Mail that it was "committed to supporting flexible working arrangements", as long as it met their business needs.

A spokesperson from the council added: "Approval to work from an overseas location is only agreed by exception, for short periods and only where it is business-critical.

"Given that the council employs more than 3,500 staff, the number of people who had permission to work abroad in 2023/4 amounts to around 0.4 per cent of the workforce."

The councillors place of work in the UK is Enfield Civic Centre (Image: Newsquest)

Hybrid work policies vary within each council across the UK.

Some councils allow their employees to work from abroad on exceptional grounds, such as unforeseen circumstances or longer-term arrangements.

Others adopt stricter policies, forbidding work from abroad under any circumstances.

Several other London councils said they did not know how many staff worked from home, including The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Harrow Council, and Hillingdon Council.

This was either because the information was not held centrally or because flexible working arrangements were managed at a departmental level.

Westminster City Council said "there is an expectation/requirement that the majority of the working week is spent within Westminster".