![The hottest day of the year is likely to be on Saturday as London is hit by a heatwave](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2023/09/06/TELEMMGLPICT000348228601_16940264655490_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgsaO8O78rhmZrDxTlQBjdGLvJF5WfpqnBZShRL_tOZw.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Just 20pc of staff working in some Whitehall offices amid heatwave
The Telegraph counts civil servants entering Home Office, Defra and Levelling Up building as heatwave hits London
![The hottest day of the year is likely to be on Saturday as London is hit by a heatwave](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2023/09/06/TELEMMGLPICT000348228601_16940264655490_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgsaO8O78rhmZrDxTlQBjdGLvJF5WfpqnBZShRL_tOZw.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Around 20 per cent of civil servants across three Whitehall departments appeared to work in the office on one of the hottest days of the year so far.
On Wednesday, it reached a high of 32C (89.6F) in Kew Gardens, west London, which is just 0.2C shy of the hottest temperature recorded in 2023. The peak makes it the hottest September day since 2016.
On Wednesday morning, The Telegraph observed some 884 civil servants entering 2 Marsham Street, which houses the Home Office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
A Freedom of Information request carried out by Sky News last year found that there were 2,012 desks allocated for the Home Office, 1,145 desks allocated to Defra and 1,170 allocated to Levelling up, with a total of 4,327.
This means that just one in five employees may have been working in the office rather than remotely on Wednesday based on the numbers observed arriving at work.
The most recently published government figures for occupancy rates for the departments, for the week beginning August 21 showed that 51 per cent of employees were working in the office at Defra, 49 per cent were at work at the office in the Home Office and 62 per cent were at work for the Department for Levelling Up.
New guidance
Last week, The Telegraph reported that Downing Street is set to issue new guidance to all government departments as part of a crackdown on working from home which sees a “Tuesday to Thursday” office culture within the civil service.
Led by Jeremy Quin, the Paymaster General, the push will be launched to raise public sector productivity and clamp down on decisions being made from home on an ad hoc basis.
Mr Quin said he was concerned that working at home was being treated informally in Whitehall and believes that most employees work better in the office than they do at home.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has ordered a review of public sector productivity to try to boost it by at least 0.5 per cent per year after new figures revealed that civil service pay has risen with the number earning over £100,000 a year having nearly doubled.
The Telegraph also revealed that around 95 per cent of staff at HM Revenue and Customs work remotely for at least one day of the working week, a higher proportion than during the first national pandemic lockdown.
Higher temperatures could also have a knock-on effect on school attendance, with the Government’s preferred candidate for the new chief inspector of Ofsted telling MPs on Tuesday that the “lovely weather” would mean more pupils off school.
The Met Office added that September’s heatwave was likely to peak on Saturday with temperatures rising as high as 33C in London.
It is likely to be the hottest day of the year, though further north will be cooler, and would beat the previous one set in June at 32.2C, with the UK Health Security Agency issuing an amber warning for heat until Sunday evening at 9pm.
Weather impacts are likely to be felt across the health service, with those aged above 65 or those with pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular disease at greater risk.
Although temperatures have risen this high before in September, it is unusual for the heat to last so long, with the Met Office predicting five to six days above 30C for some areas.
Tropical nights
There is also a chance of tropical nights in the south, defined as having temperatures over 20C, with Wednesday and Thursday night threatening to break the September night time record of 21.7C.
The heatwave is being driven by tropical storms pushing a high pressure system over the UK, with the jet stream having moved to the north and bending into what is known as an omega blocking pattern.
A government spokesman said: “There is agreement across government on the clear benefits from face-to-face, collaborative working and departments remain committed to staff coming into workplaces for this.
“We are ensuring that buildings are being used so we achieve maximum value for money.”