Reform UK is offering staff the chance to work from home despite vowing to scrap remote working when it takes over councils, it has emerged.
A job advert for Reform’s south central regional director promises “home working with occasional travel within the region”.
The £50,000-per-year role is being advertised online just days after Reform leader Nigel Farage promised that nobody working for a Reform-run council will be allowed to do so from home.
After taking control of 10 councils, Mr Farage said those with jobs relating to climate change or diversity or who work from home “all better really be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly”.
Asked what his party’s priority would be, Mr Farage told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are deeply dissatisfied with the way that county councils and unitaries in Britain have been running their budgets.
“We look at the millions a year being spent, in many cases, on consultants. We look at the money being spent on climate change; on areas that county councils, frankly, shouldn’t even be getting involved in.”
He added: “No more work from home, increased productivity. That won’t be a magic wand, it won’t solve every problem, but it will be a good start and we’ll be judged on that.”
Sharing the Reform job advert, Labour’s Stella Creasy said the hypocrisy was “glorious”. “Apparently if you want to work for Reform, you can work from home,” she added. Several other Reform job adverts offered applicants home working.
She told The Independent: “Flexible working allows people to do the school run, it helps cut commuting costs and it means those with disabilities are more likely to find work.
“It means jobs are open to a wider pool of talent and its associated with better employee wellbeing and productivity – no wonder Reform offering it for their own staff. I just wish they’d stop trying to make life harder for everyone elses families.”
Reform said the regional organisers cannot easily attend the party’s single London office, but staff based in the capital work from the office five days a week.
The job posting came asThe Independent revealed Reform mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns’ vow to get rid of council diversity officers as one of her first acts in Lincolnshire has fallen flat as the county council doesn’t employ any.
Mr Farage and Dame Andrea put getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officers at the top of their agenda as they impose their own version of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Doge on the county.
Ms Jenkyns said: “We are going to have a Lincolnshire Doge. We are going to ensure that we get rid of diversity officers because amazingly Lincolnshire County Council is now Reform controlled. That is a historic moment.”
However, The Independent unearthed a freedom of information answer from Lincolnshire County Council, where Reform now has a majority, stating: “Lincolnshire County Council does not employ any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officers.”
The council had been asked how many DEI officers it employed and what their salaries were. The answer was issued in March just before the local election campaign began in the county.
But in response, Ms Jenkyns told The Independent that another one of the three councils under her remit as the combined authority in the county, North Lincolnshire Council, does have diversity officers.
