UK Edition
Major City companies say they are not expecting a rush to the Square Mile despite schools reopening this week and a plea by ministers for people to get back to their desks.
Financial institutions say they expect their London skyscrapers to stay largely empty this month as they go "slow and steady" on getting people back in. On Tuesday morning there were 600,000 tap ins and tap outs on the London Underground, the busiest day since 20 March but only 8pc up on last week and still 72pc down on last year.
Companies that have reopened their offices are operating at less than half of capacity due to social distancing rules and are not forcing workers back in, dashing any hopes ministers had of a rush back to work once schools reopen.
Insurance giant Aviva is preparing for 10pc of its 17,000 City staff to return to the office this month, although one source said it is currently "nowhere near" that high, while only a few hundred of Credit Suisse's 5,500 Canary Wharf-based workers are expected back this week.
Lloyd’s of London, the 334-year-old insurance market, reopened on Tuesday after being closed for five months due to coronavirus but is only operating at 45pc capacity while JP Morgan is preparing for around 30pc of its 12,000 London workers to come back next week. The Wall Street bank has already rewritten the rules on office use by telling staff they will not need to come back in on a full-time basis.
Others are not yet encouraging anyone to return. Barclays and HSBC have already said that many won't be expected back in Canary Wharf before October, while Standard Life Aberdeen and NatWest have told workers to stay home until 2021.
The slow return to the office comes as large City firms weigh-up making permanent changes to office practices, with Schroders firing the starting gun on the end of City life last month by telling staff they will never have to come into the office five days a week again. JP Morgan and Linklaters, the law firm, have also called an end to the daily commute.
The UK is behind other countries when it comes to how many people are returning to work, according to Morgan Stanley. The bank said that 70pc of office workers across Europe have now returned to working at their normal location but only 37pc of those in the UK have done so.
Accounting firms appear to be refilling their offices faster than others in the finance sector. PwC is aiming to be operating at 50pc of its pre-Covid capacity by the end of September while KPMG, which currently has capacity for 30pc of its workforce to return to its London base, hopes to have 60pc back by the end of October.
The group that manages Canary Wharf, where KPMG has 7,300 staff, has told its own workers to come back amid fears the success of remote working during lockdown could have dire consequences for the deserted banking hub.
A spokesman for the Canary Wharf Group said: "We are expecting an increase of workers on the Estate in September but would not want to speculate on numbers."