Home working in Scotland will endure until at least September as Nicola Sturgeon urged firms to adopt a “hybrid” model in the long term.
The first minister’s announcement yesterday that from Monday the vast majority of coronavirus restrictions would be dropped including all-but abandoning social distancing. Under the guidance, however, there will be no wholesale return to the office.
Concerns have been raised that keeping workforces housebound will hollow out city centres, with bars and restaurants struggling to remain profitable against reduced footfall.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, urged young people this week to re-enter offices, saying it can be “really beneficial” to their careers, and warned that video conferencing was no substitute. He said that working from home would not have enabled him to build strong relationships and he cautioned against allowing remote working to become the norm.
Many companies are set to embrace a blended model, offering days at home and in the office, and it is understood that a large-scale return to workplace will not take place until at least next month or until the impact on case numbers of relaxing restrictions is known. If there is no spike then a return to office working will be promoted, but Sturgeon has told businesses to consider hybrid patterns for the future.
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“We will continue to advise home working where possible for now,” she said. “I know most businesses are not planning a wholesale return to the office, while recognising that a return for some staff will be beneficial to them and their employers. It is vital that this gradual approach continues.”
Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said that city centre businesses “have been left stranded for potential customer numbers which will only recover when office workers return”. He added: “For many businesses in our city centre — especially hospitality, retail and travel — the pain caused by the pandemic is still acute and today’s announcements will leave uncertainty about the prospects for improvement.”
Gregor Scotland, CBI Scotland’s head of policy, said that businesses were “confused why the Scottish government is continuing to advise people to work from home”, while the Scottish Retail Consortium raised concerns that any potential shopping boom would be tempered by the persistent guidance to work from home.
As she announced the return to a “substantial degree of normality”, Sturgeon stressed that the changes do not “signal the end of the pandemic or a return to life exactly as we knew it”. “Declaring freedom from or victory over this virus is in my view premature,” she said, and added that people should still keep a safe distance from those they do not know and consider not entering crowded areas, particularly indoors as she suggested she would keep forgoing usual greetings.
“Hand washing is really important,” she said. “Personally, I am not sure that I will immediately start shaking hands with people, because there are other ways to reduce the risks.”
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The number of new Covid-19 cases has fallen markedly from the peak of the third wave, with Sturgeon saying the infection rate had fallen by two thirds since early July.
Nine coronavirus deaths and 1,016 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours. That brought the death toll under the daily measure — of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days — to 7,952.
The daily test positivity rate is 8.1 per cent, up from 6.5 per cent the previous day, although the average has dropped from more than 10 per cent to under 6 per cent.
The number of patients being admitted to hospital and intensive care wards with the virus has also dropped. Yesterday there were 406 people in hospital with recently confirmed Covid-19, with 61 patients in intensive care.
