Whitehall officials continue to invest millions of pounds in taxpayers’ funds on home-workers, including laptops and chairs. There are some contracts that will run until 2025.
A Mail on Sunday analysis across central and local government found around 20 contracts related to home working worth £4.9 million which extend well beyond the end of this year, even though the official guidance on home working has already been scrapped.
HM Land Registry has a £2.74 million contract which runs until February 2023 for the supply of home office furniture for its 6,000 staff, which works out at around £450 per person.
Whitehall leaders continue to spend taxpayers’ millions on laptops, chairs and IT services for house workers (file image used).
The ongoing contracts contributed to an estimated £33.3 million government spend on home working between March 2020 and September last year.
The top-spending agencies were the HMRC with £7.9 million, followed by NHS England with £5.9 million, according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by The Spectator magazine.
Similar to their employees, other offices spend extravagantly. The Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland spent a total of £2.8 million on home working for their 3,040 staff – the equivalent of £928 each.
HM Land Registry spokeswoman said that the contract was awarded last night to cover furniture requirements for offices, home, and hybrid work. It is similar in value to previous furniture contracts.
A Mail on Sunday analysis across central and local government found around 20 contracts related to home working worth £4.9 million which extend well beyond the end of this year (file photo used)
Further figures from the TaxPayers’ Alliance show that more than £800 million has been spent on civil service offices in London since the pandemic began.
Danielle Boxall was the media campaign manager of the pressure group.
“The cost of paying for Whitehall pen-pushers in prime locations is a large sum, with running costs of hundreds of millions of Pounds.