Around 1,000 Barclays staff to revert to home-based working as government advice shifts

By Lawrence White

LONDON (Reuters) – Around 1,000 Barclays staff who had returned to office-based working in recent weeks will revert to working from home following guidance from Britain’s government on Tuesday, a spokesman for the bank told Reuters.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told people to work from home where possible and ordered bars and restaurants to close early to tackle a fast-spreading second wave of COVID-19.

Around 22,000 Barclays staff have remained working in its offices worldwide throughout the pandemic, as designated key workers needed to keep the financial system ticking over.

Banks including Barclays had in recent weeks begun to return more staff to office-based working, mainly in Britain where the government had earlier encouraged more people to resume their daily commutes to support city centre economies.

More lenders are expected to follow suit, telling all but essential staff to revert to working from home, a source at another big British bank said on Tuesday.

(Reporting By Lawrence White, Editing by Sinead Cruise)