Boris Johnson is launching a campaign to get the public back into the office as a business lobby group warned that areas dominated by offices risk becoming ‘ghost towns’.

With a call for employees to return to work in July largely going unheeded, and many businesses planning on remote working for some time to come, the Prime Minister’s campaign is aimed at reassuring workers that it is now safe to return.

The publicity will focus on the benefits of working in an office, such as being able to see friends and colleagues, while also highlighting the problems of working from home.

A Government source told the Telegraph: “People need to understand that working from home is not the benign option it seems. We need workers to be alert to what decisions their bosses may take in the weeks ahead. If they are only seeing workers once a fortnight then that could prove problematic for some employees in the future.

“We want employees to be careful what working arrangements they accept. Suddenly the word ‘restructure’ is bandied about and people who have been working from home find themselves in the most vulnerable position.”

Dame Carolyn Fairbarn, the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry, or CBI, said that while remote working has been “a resounding success” for many, the lack of office workers is coming at a “high price” for local firms.

“Not everyone has the space to work effectively at home – an ironing board in the bedroom does not make a great workspace,” she said. “And the mental health challenges triggered by isolation are all too real for many.”

Concerns over mental health are likely to feature highly in the campaign, with the mental health charity Mind finding that 59% of UK adults had worse mental health during lockdown, with one in seven saying it got “much worse.”

The campaign will be launched after the reopening of schools next week.