The Flexible Space Association has written to the chancellor urging him to give new support to the flexible workspace industry, following the prime minister’s announcement that office workers should return to working from home if they can. 

The FSA is specifically calling for the 12 month business rates holiday given to the retail, hospitality and leisure business to be extended to the flexible workspace industry. 

Additionally, the association has asked for the guidance to work from home to be regularly reviewed, rather than left in place for the next 6 months.   

In the letter, executive director Jane Sartin said: “The nature of flexible workspace is that customers can enter and exit agreements relatively easily, with as little as a month’s notice.  

“Our industry is seeing customers leave in unprecedented numbers, and the recent early signs of new clients as some sought a different type of business space has of course immediately ceased. Additional income from activities such as meeting room hire and catering is also lost. When customers leave and stop paying rent, workspace operators are still liable for their building’s fixed costs.”  

Flexible workspaces are remaining open to their customers, as the vast majority have throughout the course of the pandemic