Thousands of government credit cards are being cancelled because some of the expenditure is “not justified”, a cabinet minister has said.
Appearing on Sky News’ Breakfast with Wilfred Frost, Pat McFadden was asked if the crackdown on government procurement cards (GPCs) was because civil servants are “fiddling their expenses”.
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He said he would “not use that phrase”, but added: “I don’t think some of the lines of expenditure I’ve seen are justified.”
“This is public money – I think people need to take care with it,” he said.
“So the process now will be, if people want to have one of these cards, they’re going to have to justify why they need it and reapply for it.”
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It was announced last night that thousands of GPCs will be cancelled as part of a crackdown on wasteful spending in government.
Under the plan, departments and their agencies have been instructed to freeze almost all the 20,000 cards in circulation in a bid to cut the number in use by at least 50%.
Civil service cardholders will be forced to reapply and justify that they really need them. If they don’t, their cards will be cancelled by the end of the month.
Only a minority of cards will be exempt from the mass freeze, such as those used by diplomatic staff working in conflict zones.
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Mr McFadden said the number of cards and the expenditure “has grown enormously”, quadrupling “in the last four or five years”.
Figures show spending on the cards in the last financial year reached over £600m in central departments and core agencies – compared to £1.5m in 2020/2021.
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In some situations, such as Foreign Office staff in hostile environments, the cards are justified as “it’s the most convenient way to account for small amounts of expenditure”, Mr McFadden said.
The limit on expenditure on the cards, which is currently £2,500, will come down to £500 – with anything above this requiring the approval of a senior civil servant, he added.
The crackdown on GPCs is part of a wider drive to cut spending and waste across government, as the chancellor seeks to plug a gap in the public finances in next week’s spring statement.
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More cuts to come
Rachel Reeves has lost £9.9bn of fiscal headroom (the amount she could increase spending or cut taxes without breaking her fiscal rules) since the October budget due to a poor economy and geopolitical events.
Last week, it was announced NHS England will be abolished because there is too much duplication with the work the Department of Health and Social Care is doing.
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting has since indicated he will look to scrap other health-related bodies, while integrated care boards have been asked to cut their budget by half.
Later today the government is expected to announce measures to slash around £6bn off the soaring welfare budget, which could see some disability benefits reduced.
