Thousands of civil servants will be banned from using taxpayer-funded credit cards after racking up bills totalling more than half a billion pounds in the past year.
The major crackdown has been launched by ministers horrified by wasteful spending – including Foreign Office staff splashing out on shoes, DJ equipment, drinks at nightclubs and a large supply of Nespresso coffee pods.
Almost all of the 20,000 existing Government Procurement Cards (GPCs) will be frozen this week.
Officials will be forced to reapply for their GPCs – originally intended to be a quick way of civil servants paying for low-value goods and services.
And at least half will be cancelled under a stricter application process.
In future, the maximum spend on hospitality will be slashed from £2,500 to £500, while any purchases above £500 will require approval from senior mandarins. The clampdown comes as the Cabinet Office reveals that total GPC spending across Whitehall departments and quangos has reached £675million in 2024-25.
The figure has more than quadrupled in only a few years, compared to £155million recorded in 2020-21.
It can be revealed today that Foreign Office staff used their GPCs to spend £2,493 at a fashionable shoe shop in Barbados.
Social media posts by Shoe Crush, where the shopping spree took place in October 2023, show that it charges 65 Bajan dollars (£25) for women’s sandals and $110 (£42) for a pair of heels.
A Foreign Office card was used the previous year to spend £2,479 at DJ Superstore, an online shop that sells the latest record decks, sound systems and lighting rigs for nightclubs.
The department even has a specific category for spending on ‘alcoholic drinks’ in a ‘bar, lounge, disco, nightclub, tavern’ by British diplomats and their teams overseas. Latest figures reveal that Foreign Office staff bought £49,511 worth of beer, wine and spirits between July and October last year, the first four months of the Labour Government. They enjoyed nights out everywhere from China and Kyrgyzstan to the Philippines, Rwanda and America, GPC spending records show.
Foreign Office staff also spent almost £87,000 on hotel rooms for just one jaunt in South Africa.
Details obtained by the Mail reveal that the money paid for 38 officials to stay in Cape Town for Prince William’s environmental awards ceremony, Earthshot.
At the weekend it emerged that officials in the same department spent £920 at the Nassau Yacht Club in the Bahamas in January 2023 and £2,900 at an Art Deco cinema in New Zealand. Its staff even spent £673 on a website that sells life-size cardboard cutouts of celebrities including Harry Styles and the Spice Girls.
Meanwhile staff in the Cabinet Office – which is now carrying out the crackdown on the cards – spent £742 on Nespresso coffee pods last November and £531 the month before.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said last night: ‘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.’
The Foreign Office declined to comment on the individual items bought on its GPCs, but sources insisted that spending by embassy staff is used to advance British interests.
A Government spokesman said: ‘We are fully focused on tackling wasteful spending and inefficiency across government. We are fundamentally changing the way public services, civil servants and the UK deliver for the public.’
