Civil servants who continue to work from home are not at risk of having their pay cut, the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has said. Kwarteng also said he thought flexible working, enabling people to carry on doing their jobs partly from home, was “here to stay”. The suggestion that government officials who refuse to return to the office should face a pay cut was made by an unnamed cabinet minister quoted in the Daily Mail on Monday. The minister, who wants to see more workers back at their desks, argued that penalising those staying at home would be justified because they were benefiting for not having to pay for travel. But Kwarteng told LBC radio he would never support the proposal from his anonymous ministerial colleague. “I don’t know who it was [who spoke to the Mail],” Kwarteng said. “I think people working from home are contributing hugely to the workforce.” Asked if working from home should be allowed to continue, Kwarteng earlier told Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think flexible working is something that is here to stay.” He continued: “I think it’s up to employers and employees to come to their own arrangements, depending on the needs of the company, the needs of the business. “I don’t think it makes sense to have a government diktat telling people exactly how many hours they’re going to spend in the office and exactly how many hours they’re going spend at home.” At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson said there were no plans to dock the pay of officials who continued to work from home, and that flexible working was “rightly” being used throughout the civil service. He went on: “But we will continue to encourage people to return cautiously to work over this summer period.” Last summer, the government was very keen to persuade workers back into the office, with a briefing suggesting that employees who continued to work from home risked losing their jobs. But the campaign had only limited impact, and ministers had to change tack as Covid cases rose again. Some ministers are trying the same argument again, with the Times on Monday quoting a minister saying people who stayed away from the office would be less likely to gain promotion. But Kwarteng’s comment about flexible working being “here to stay” is in line with the Conservative manifesto, which promised to encourage the practice. Asked if he would allow his own officials to continue working from home, Kwarteng said: “I’ll be encouraging them to come in but, of course, there’ll be a degree of flexibility.” In his Today interview, Kwarteng said he did not think there was any chance of Boris Johnson demoting Rishi Sunak, the chancellor. At the weekend it was reported that the prime minister had floated the idea in a meeting with aides because he was angry about a letter from Sunak raising concerns about Covid travel restrictions. Asked if there was any prospect of Sunak being moved, Kwarteng said: “I don’t think there is, but that’s up to the prime minister. I think Rishi’s doing a great job as chancellor.” Kwarteng said “creative tension” was inevitable in the relationship between No 10 and No 11, but he said the bond between Johnson and Sunak was “as cohesive as any relationship of that kind of that I’ve seen”.