Decision details

In March 2020, the majority of the Bristol City Council (BCC) workforce that previously
worked in an office changed to working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This
was in line with UK government laws and guidance. It is the current expectation that all
social distancing laws will be lifted from 21 June 2021. This could include the guidance
around Working from Home. This project is to determine how and when services within
BCC return to the offices including City Hall, the policies and behavioural changes
required for a safe working environment, and the technology that may be required to
support the return to office and new ways of working.
We want to redesign the way BCC staff utilise the workspace and support teams to work
effectively so that teams are enabled to work from the BCC offices if they are to return.
This is an opportunity to re-evaluate the use of the workplace, and potentially rationalising
the BCC estate in the in near future whilst supporting the desire for more home working
for staff.

The decision taken here is to provide funding for the pilot and initial phase of the preparation of Bristol City Council colleagues new ways of working following any easing of COVID-19 restrictions, whilst considering colleague and public safety and wellbeing. The funding includes both revenue and capital to come from the COVID Response funding. The majority of funding are internal department charges. Funding covers scope set out in the project mandate to be performed from May to August 2021.

This is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; conducting work on how to approach a transition following the easing of lockdown restrictions is essential to support Bristol City Council colleagues and services to Bristol residents.