Thousands Of Government Credit Cards To Be Cancelled In Waste Crackdown
Thousands of government credit cards are to be cancelled after the amount spent on them quadrupled to more than half a billion pounds.
Whitehall departments have been told to freeze all spending on the 20,000 cards in circulation while an audit is carried out.
Civil servants will then be told to justify why they should have one of the “government procurement cards” and if they cannot it will be cancelled by the end of this month.
Ministers plan to slash the number being used by at least half as part of the crackdown on wasteful spending.
The total amount spent on them has soared from around £155 million in 2020/21 to £655m in 2024/25.
That includes a Foreign Office credit card being used to spend £2,493 at a shoe shop in Barbados in 2023, and the same amount on DJ equipment the year before.
Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: ”We must ensure taxpayers’ money is spent on improving the lives of working people.
“It’s not right that hundreds of millions of pounds are spent on government credit cards each year, without high levels of scrutiny or challenge. Only officials for whom it is absolutely essential should have a card.
“Our clampdown on government credit cards will deliver savings that can be used to drive our plan for change – securing our borders, getting the NHS back on its feet and rebuilding Britain.”
Tighter new spending controls will also be introduced on cards which survive the cull.
In future, the maximum amount spent on hospitality will be reduced from £2500 to £500, and any spend over £500 will require approval from a senior civil servant.
While in opposition, Labour highlighted the extent of the lavish spending on government credit cards under the Tories.
Almost £345,000 was spent by Foreign Office officials in 2021 under the heading “restaurants and bars”.
The Treasury spent £3,393 on 13 fine art photographs from The Tate Gallery, while £1.51 million was spent with Amazon, almost £238,000 at Ikea, nearly £106,000 at John Lewis and more than £101,000 at Apple.
