South Kesteven councillor sorry for calling home workers lazy

Ian Selby said he did not mean that everyone who worked at home was lazy

A councillor who accused home workers of being "lazy" has apologised.

Ian Selby made the comments during a meeting in May to approve plans to downsize offices used by South Kesteven District Council.

He said he believed home workers "spent an awful lot of time" getting cups of coffee and food.

Apologising on Tuesday, he said could have been "more tactful" adding: "I certainly was not saying that everyone who works at home is lazy."

The council's current building is considered too large and needs major investment work

Mr Selby criticised the practice of working from home as the council approved a £500,000 spend on turning vacant space in Grantham's Savoy Cinema building into a flexible office space.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, most councillors approved but Mr Selby told a meeting working from home "breeds laziness" and harms productivity.

He said a person he had spoken to believed productivity would fall as people would get food and drink before "slowly walking back laptops" and forgetting what they were doing.

Mr Selby has said he did not meant to imply home workers were not hard working.

"I would not deliberately offend people and I apologise for the implication," he said.

"For the people that know I didn't mean to make the comments in the way that they came out, I would like to express a sincere thank you."