Calls for a crackdown on authorities permitting employees to "work from the beach" have been rejected by Downing Street.

There were calls for ministers to control town halls that let hundreds of workers log in from abroad.

It followed the Daily Mail's announcement yesterday that, since the Covid-19 epidemic, employees had been let to log in more than 2,100 times from overseas.

However, according to the prime minister's official spokesperson, "local councils have the final say over how they operate."

He added: ‘It will be up to people to make their views known at the ballot box in local elections in the usual way.

'For the government’s part, we’ve always been very clear on the benefits of face to face working and it being a more productive way of working.’

But pressed on whether ministers will order councils to stop the perk, he added: ‘It’s a matter for local councils how they run themselves.

‘That’s a fundamental part of local devolution...local taxpayers will rightly expect their councils to be working for them.’

Figures show that town hall bosses approved at least 731 staff requests to work from abroad in 2023/24.

There were 73 approvals in 2020/21, 440 the year after (2021/22) and 708 in 2022/23. It then rose to 731 last year (2023/24), with a further 226 requests being granted in the first few months of this year (2024/25).

The real figures are likely to be much higher as many councils failed or refused to answer Freedom of Information requests.

One council worker for West Devon Borough Council was allowed to work from the Spanish party island of Ibiza from March 2020 until February this year.

Derby City Council approved someone working from France for 74 days and New Zealand for 42 days, while Sandwell Council in Birmingham allowed an employee to work from Dubai for nearly three weeks. Powys County Council in Wales granted permission for someone to work from Barbados in 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24, although it did not reveal for how long in each year.

Central Bedfordshire Council approved more than 150 requests over the past two years, admitting that its official policy was to allow employees to work abroad for up to one month every year.

The Daily Mail highlighted the growing trend of council staff logging on from abroad last summer, a phenomenon dubbed ‘working from the beach’.