The Cabinet Office has instructed government departments and their agencies to freeze almost all 20,000 credit cards as part of a crackdown on wasteful spending.

Civil servants with government procurement cards will be forced to reapply and justify they really need them. If they don’t, the cards will be cancelled by the end of the month.

Only a minority of credit cards, used for specific operational purposes such as by diplomatic staff working in unstable environments, will be exempt from the mass freeze.

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Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, 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.”

A strict new application process will be introduced, with departments told to approve the minimum number of new cards possible. The number of cards is use is expected to be reduced by at least 50%.

The Cabinet Office said that while some credit cards are operationally necessary to deliver services, the amount spent on them has more than quadrupled in the past four years to over £600 million in the last financial year.

The move is part of an efficiency drive across the civil service to cut down on wasteful spending across government, which includes making it quicker and easier to remove poor performers from post.

Tighter spending controls will also be introduced, with the maximum amount for hospitality – often needed for officials working in trade or diplomatic roles – slashed from £2,500 to £500. Any spend over £500 will require director-general approval.

Civil servants will also be banned from using cards where there is either a departmental or cross-government procurement route. These routes deliver better value for money by procuring at scale common goods and services, like booking official travel, training, or office supplies.

McFadden ordered a review of the cards after examples of unnecessary spending were highlighted in the media. The Times last month revealed that thousands of pounds had been spent on meals at private members’ clubs, crystal glassware and premium English sparkling wine.

Comment
byu/royalblue1982 from discussion
inTheCivilService

Departments have been asked to review spending on government procurement cards (GPCs) by their officials. Where they identify examples of spending on cards found to be incompatible with guidance they have been told to take action, including disciplinary action and revoking the card in question.

Writing on an unofficial sub-Reddit, one anonymous user said: “There’s clearly cases where they’re being misused and if they want to put more universal rules in place then that’s fine.

“But speaking to the commercial team in my department, using a GPC (for purchases under £1k which is what our rules are) is actually far cheaper for the department than having to use the other procurement routes.

“Without a GPC you either have to buy through an already approved supplier (often more expensive), get quotes and set up a new supplier (extremely time-consuming which equates to more expensive), or pay for it yourself and expense it (not always possible with the expense rules, or practical depending on what it is you’re buying).”

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