After John Swinney orders civil servants to work fewer days from home, only 36 staff bother to turn up at their desks at 2000-capacity government headquarters

By ANDY BEAVEN, NEWS AND FEATURE WRITER Published: 19:41, 15 August 2026 | Updated: 19:46, 15 August 2026 John Swinney was last night accused of betraying taxpayers by failing to tackle the rampant work from home culture among Scotland’s vast army of civil servants. The First Minister came under fresh pressure after The Scottish Mail on Sunday discovered the SNP government’s main HQ – which costs an eye-watering £2.4 million a year to run – is almost completely deserted on a daily basis. Victoria Quay in Edinburgh can house up to 2,200 employees but on one day last week just 36 workers turned up to their office before 9am. This comes despite a pledge made by Mr Swinney in May last year that civil servants would be ordered to return to the office at least two days a week to boost productivity.  He promised Scotland’s 9,000 civil servants would be required to be in the office 40 per cent of the working week, even adding there was ‘a desire to go further, and I support that’. But workers and unions hit back, with some employees describing it as ‘an attack on their human rights’. The government’s most senior civil servant then admitted individual compliance with the policy is not being monitored to avoid potential conflict with staff. Even though the vast office complex at Victoria Quay can accommodate more than 2,000 workers, a snapshot survey on Friday morning counted only a few dozen turning up. John Swinney is under fresh pressure after The Scottish Mail on Sunday discovered the SNP government’s main HQ was almost completely deserted By 9am only 36 of the staff tasked with running the country had arrived at work. By 9.30am the number had risen to just 50 – still leaving the vast majority of desks unoccupied. Politicians and campaigners have accused Mr Swinney and the government of overseeing an ‘astonishing waste of taxpayers’ money’ by allowing the costly office to remain all but empty.  They also called for urgent action to ensure highly paid government staff return to their offices to improve the delivery of public services. Tory MSP Miles Briggs said: ‘This is an astonishing waste of taxpayers’ money and yet another sign that the SNP government has completely lost control of their army of civil servants. ‘While families and businesses are forced to watch every penny, ministers seem perfectly content spending millions maintaining an office that is routinely lying hugely empty.  'The SNP promised to get civil servants back into the workplace, but once again their actions have fallen far short of their rhetoric. ‘Ministers must explain why taxpayers are being left to foot the bill for this expensive white elephant.’ Victoria Quay in Edinburgh can house up to 2,200 employees but on one day last week just 36 workers turned up to their office before 9am Benjamin Elks, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, added: ‘Scottish taxpayers will be shocked by the extraordinary costs of running offices for staff who can’t even be bothered to turn up. ‘Working families across Scotland are putting in a hard day’s graft while pampered pen-pushers are putting their feet up and public services continue to crumble. ‘If ministers can’t manage to get their staff back to their desks, they should at least sell off these underused offices.’ Victoria Quay houses staff from several government departments with responsibility for education, environment, transport and planning. Before Covid in 2020, it was a bustling and fully staffed office. However, the pandemic led to widespread home-working for the 8,500 or so civil servants in the government’s core departments. Four years after all Covid restrictions ended, staff have still not returned. According to government figures, the occupancy rate of the building in June was 27.1 per cent – meaning more than two-thirds of desks were empty. But when we visited the site on Friday, we counted only a few dozen people clocking in. One said: ‘It was different before Covid. It used to be busy. There is an ongoing row over the amount of time civil servants spend working from home. (Stock image) ‘But on a Friday, in the summer, when parliament is in recess, most people are taking the option to work from home.’  Separate figures published recently show the running costs of Victoria Quay are higher than ever. In 2024-25, the building cost a record £2.4 million. This included £1.3 million for planned maintenance, £151,000 for repairs and £716,000 for electricity. Responding to the criticism, the government said it remained ‘committed to flexible hybrid working’ and was adapting by closing some underused offices.  A spokesman added: ‘The Scottish Government estate is under continuous review to ensure buildings meet changing needs. ‘Fourteen buildings have been closed since 2023, to consolidate office space and increase efficiency in our existing buildings.’ Earlier this year we revealed that, unlike the public sector, growing numbers of companies in the private sector are turning away from home working. With only one in nine companies now embracing remote working, the Federation of Small Businesses said employers were increasingly concerned that home working was ‘eroding creativity, social skills and motivation among workers’.