Civil servants are allegedly exploiting flexible working arrangements to accrue up to 50 days’ annual leave, amid claims of weak oversight and inconsistent monitoring across parts of Whitehall.
Mandarins in certain government departments are contracted for a 37.5-hour week but can earn extra leave through “flexi-time” systems that let staff bank overtime and redeem it as time off in lieu.
Under these arrangements, employees can typically claim up to two flexi-days per month in addition to standard annual leave and public holidays.
However, concerns have been raised that some staff are manipulating the system by recording extended hours without corresponding output, including claims of logging commuting time, school runs, or periods of remote inactivity as working time.
One former employee at the Pensions Regulator, an arm ’s-length body of the Department for Work and Pensions, said the system was widely used across staff below senior management level, adding that “virtually everyone” took their allotted flexi-days.
The source alleged that in some cases, employees left work devices idle for extended periods while remaining logged in or structured their day to maximise accrued time without continuous active work.
Other whistleblower accounts described practices such as logging off early and returning later to record additional hours, effectively inflating flexi-time balances.
Separate concerns have also been raised about remote working compliance, with reports that some staff have been failing to meet in-office attendance requirements while still recording full working hours.
The issue has reignited scrutiny of flexible working across the civil service, with critics arguing that oversight has not kept pace with post-pandemic working patterns.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, former Leader of the House of Commons, said the findings would be “very dispiriting” for diligent staff and called for tighter monitoring of flexible arrangements across Whitehall.
He also criticised what he described as a lack of verification in some agencies, including the Land Registry, which he claimed operated largely on an “honour-based system” without sufficient checks. He linked this to concerns over delays in processing property transactions, some of which can take many months.
An HM Land Registry spokesperson said the vast majority of staff did not claim time off in lieu for additional hours and stressed that any misuse of flexible working arrangements would be treated seriously and addressed.
A spokesperson for the Pensions Regulator said it expected all staff to adhere to contractual hours and office attendance rules, adding that performance and conduct were actively managed and that formal action would be taken where standards were not met.
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