To ask the Minister of Finance how civil servants who have been working from home during the pandemic will be recompensed for costs incurred.

Mr Murphy

A Civil Service-wide survey has indicated that respondents in most Departments have made financial savings as a result of working from home: for example, from a reduction in travel costs. Nevertheless, employees who incur additional costs may be reimbursed by the Civil Service for costs incurred in the making of business calls on a personal mobile phone or home landline; additional home broadband costs, whether those be installation costs or increased data charges required solely for work purposes; and desk costs of up to £100. IT equipment and chairs are already provided by the Civil Service. Staff who have incurred additional costs can also claim tax relief in line with HMRC rules. HMRC publishes guidance on how to claim tax relief on any homeworking expenses incurred that are not reimbursed by the employer. In October 2020, HMRC set up a new dedicated working-from-home microservice, recognising that the tax years 2020-21 and 2021-22 are different and thereby making claiming tax relief quick and easy.

Mr Murphy

The Executive agreed to support a recognition scheme by way of a £500 payment for healthcare staff, and we have endeavoured in our pay awards for civil servants not to follow the model that was adopted in London, where they went for a 1% pay increase for healthcare staff and a freeze for all other public servants. We have introduced an increase over two years for the Civil Service. Of course, we are on a very fixed budget, and that is very challenging across all Departments. We had to balance what pay increase we could give against what was affordable across the Departments and other demands on public services. We are keen to support our public servants where we can, and we do recognise the efforts that have been made, particularly over the past year. We have provided an enormous amount of IT support to people. The general feedback on that blend of working from home and coming in has been very positive. Sickness levels have dropped and productivity has gone up. We want to ensure that people have a good working experience and feel well supported, financially and through what other measures we can provide. If there is a communication issue with that, I am happy to raise that with the Department and make sure that it is looked at.

Ms Dolan

Minister, will you clarify where employees who have incurred extra costs can find out more about what support is available to them?

Mr Murphy

As I said to the Member who asked the previous question, if that is an issue, I am happy to clarify it. The guidance in relation to homeworking expenses for Civil Service staff is available on the COVID-19 hub on the Department of Finance's website. I suggest that people go there in the first instance. If we find that there is some breakdown in that communication, I am happy to have it looked at to ensure that people understand what they are entitled to.

Ms McLaughlin

We know that blended and flexible working is particularly welcome for those who have young families or caring responsibilities. What is the Minister doing to close the gender gap among civil servants?

Mr Murphy

I appreciate that the Member may not have been in the Chamber earlier but, on the first question, we had a fairly lengthy discussion about reform of the Civil Service, attracting new people and enhancing the working experience. Through the Connect2 hubs that we talked about, we can employ people living in peripheral areas such as Derry or the other border areas who, otherwise, would not have been attracted to working five days a week in a headquarters in Belfast. Travelling is particularly a disincentive for women who bear the burden, unfortunately, of managing family life. Civil Service employment can become more attractive if we present those different options. While the Civil Service has performed heroically over the last year, a number of steps tell us that there is a need for substantial change and greater diversity in gender, age profile, disability and ethnic minorities. There is certainly much room for improvement, and we have a range of measures that we hope to bring forward to try to achieve that.