MUST FIX! After effects 2021 can no longer read image sequences from network drives

Hi all,
Myself as well as co-workers are experiencing import errors when importing perfectly numerical/named image sequences into AE 2021. This is highly important part of the animation pipeline when working on studio projects from a network drive and although there's a workaround of dragging the needed files onto a local drive/desktop, this is not a legit way of working for the long term. 

I've seen this problem being spoke about in other feeds online and wondering whether there's a fix in place or a cleaner workaround?

Thanks