Written question asked by Mike Wood (Conservative) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 September 2026. It was answered by Uma Kumaran (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 September 2026 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Government Departments: Overseas Workers
- Question
-
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the answer of 29 July 2026, to Question HL2091, on Government Departments: Overseas Workers, for what reason Dubai is classified as a hardship post.
- Answer
-
Hardship allowance is paid to compensate His Majesty's Government (HMG) staff and their families for the additional costs of maintaining quality of life at hardship Posts and to reflect the wider challenges faced in locations globally when compared to living and working in the UK.
Each Post is assigned an individual hardship score through an annual review process. Allowance rates are determined by the number of points above the qualifying threshold.
Hardship scores are based on a combination of two independent scores, which are underpinned by comprehensive and robust reporting and analysis.
Employment Conditions Abroad (ECA)'s location ranking scoring system is used to make up the majority of the total hardship points for each location. ECA generates the scores using data collected from expatriates and independent sources, assessing factors across a number of categories, including Natural Phenomenon, Air Pollution, Language, Culture, Goods and Services, External Isolation, News and Media, Recreation, Housing, Utilities Education, Personal Security and Socio-Political Tensions.
ECA scores are combined with an additional Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) security score, which reflects the additional security risks faced by FCDO/HMG staff, over and above private sector employees, which mostly relates to terrorism and hostile intelligence threats.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 20767
- Session
- 2026-27
- Related items
- Grouped for answer
- Yes
- Subjects
- Government departments Dubai Overseas workers
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-09-08 20:27:46 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2026-27/20767
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2026-27/20767
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2026-27/20767