Nearly a quarter of Herefordshire Council’s staff are reported to work remotely from outside the county. According to the Hereford Times, the council identified 391 such employees, against a total workforce of 1,598. That is approximately 24.5 per cent.

The council also said it did not hold information on how many employees worked partly or wholly from home. The figures therefore leave questions about working arrangements unanswered. They do not establish how frequently these staff visit Herefordshire, how far away they live or what duties they perform.

Nevertheless, they raise an important question for localism. How closely should local government be connected to the people and places it serves?

Knowledge of a place

A council administers more than a collection of services. It serves a living locality, with its own landscape, settlements, businesses and relationships.

Herefordshire’s scattered population, narrow roads and distances between services shape everyday life. So do the circumstances of older residents, small farms and households with limited transport. These things can be described in reports, but understanding them also comes from being present.

Living outside the county does not make an employee incapable of understanding it. Some may live just across the boundary and know Herefordshire well. Equally, a local address does not guarantee good judgement. What matters is whether staff have sustained contact with the communities affected by their work.

The danger arises when that contact becomes occasional, while decisions are increasingly made through screens, standard procedures and centrally collected information. A service can meet its administrative targets while failing to understand the practical difficulties faced by its users.

Where the wages go

Council employment also supports the local economy.

Employees who live locally spend part of their earnings in local shops, employ local tradespeople and support services used by their neighbours. When employees live elsewhere, a greater share of that household spending is likely to take place outside Herefordshire.

The figures do not tell us how much spending leaves the county. Some outside residents will still shop and use services here. But the underlying issue is significant. Public expenditure can provide a service to one locality while supporting household consumption in another.

Under economic shrinkage, this becomes more important. As discretionary businesses lose customers, reliable employment connected with essential services helps sustain local livelihoods. Where that employment is based influences which localities retain the spending.

The value and limits of remote work

Remote working has real advantages. It can reduce unnecessary journeys, help employees with disabilities or caring responsibilities and give a council access to specialist skills that are difficult to recruit locally.

Localism need not reject these benefits. A specialist adviser may serve several localities effectively without living in each one. Some administrative work can be performed from home just as well as from an office.

But remote working is not the same as localism. A digitally connected workforce may be geographically dispersed while authority remains concentrated in a distant administrative centre.

Localism concerns where responsibility rests, how decisions are made and whether people can influence the services on which they depend. Moving an employee’s desk into a house elsewhere does not, by itself, bring government closer to residents.

Government in a shrinking economy

If economic shrinkage progressively limits public spending, councils will face pressure to reduce costs. Shared services, remote staffing and greater automation may appear attractive.

Some savings will be useful. Others may remove the local knowledge and personal contact that make services effective. An apparent saving can become a cost elsewhere if residents cannot obtain help, maintenance needs go unnoticed or unsuitable decisions have to be corrected.

The localist response would be to retain specialist support where necessary while placing more practical responsibility close to the people concerned.

Care, minor maintenance, community facilities and other everyday services depend heavily on people who know the locality. Small local teams and businesses could undertake appropriate work, provided they have the funding, skills and accountability to do it. Local responsibility must come with resources. It cannot simply mean transferring an unfunded burden to residents.

A council rooted in its locality

Herefordshire does not need an arbitrary rule requiring every council employee to live within its boundary. It does need a clear understanding of which jobs require regular local presence, how staff acquire local knowledge and whether residents can reach someone who understands their circumstances.

The reported figures should prompt examination of these matters, rather than judgement of individual employees.

As the economy becomes smaller, the connection between public services and local livelihoods will matter more. A council’s purpose will increasingly be to help sustain the essentials of everyday life within the resources available.

For localism, the central question is therefore not simply where council staff live. It is whether local government remains rooted in the lives of the people it serves.