"Bit sensitive tonight sweetheart; nobody slagged anybody off and the creative measure has been introduced to give the civil servants time off when their rules try to forbid it."
Why should CS get free time off just because the mil have gone on leave?
Speak to a lot of CS and one thing that annoys them is when the Military try to shut a base down on block leave, without realising that plenty of CS have jobs to do, and don't want to be forced to take annual leave at that time. Mil can be forced to take block leave, CS can't (different T&C), and plenty of us don't want to have to take a full 2-3 weeks off over xmas, and instead use leave at a different time.
While there may be goodwill in trying to prevent them gaining access, actually if the work is not done, then all thats being done is preventing stuff happening which could, in a small way, help support the front line.
Bluntly, we're paying these CS to do a job, they have no entitlement to not being in the office unless they take leave, and there is a system in place to ensure that if they can't get into the office, they make arrangements to go to another place of work, rather than go home.
The problem is that in the Mils eye, all thats happening is people are seeing CS turn up and go home again, rather than what should be happening, which is them turning up and doing their job.