Exclusive
'We need to treat taxpayer money with respect': Ministers freeze civil service credit cards after spending quadruples
18 March 2025, 08:11 | Updated: 18 March 2025, 08:33
A senior Cabinet minister has said that the government must treat taxpayers' money "with respect" as he ordered almost all of the 20,000 procurement cards used by civil servants to be frozen.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that "some of the lines of expenditure... were" unjustifiable".
Civil servants will have to reapply for the cards and justify why they need them, or they will be cancelled by the end of the month.
Government spending on the credit cards has effectively quadrupled in the last five years, jumping from £155 million in 2020-21 to £675 million in 2024-25.
Mr McFadden said: "What I've done is called a halt, stopped all of them, except those being used by people in conflict zones and so on abroad, where I can see the essential need, and asked that anyone who feels they need one of these cards has to reapply.
Read more: ‘We’ve never been closer to a peace deal’ in Ukraine, says White House ahead of Trump-Putin talks
Nick Ferrari is joined by Pat McFadden | Watch in full
"We will also lower the expenditure limit on them, without approval, from the current level to a fraction of the current level. And look, the whole idea behind it is this is taxpayers money and we want people to treat it with respect."
The move comes after Sir Keir Starmer vowed to reshape the "flabby" state and slash the cost of bureaucracy.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said the so-called government procurement cards should only be provided to officials when it is "absolutely essential".
Cards used by diplomatic staff in unstable environments will be among a small number exempt from the freeze.
The Government expects to reduce the number of civil service credit cards in use by at least 50%.
Billions of pounds in spending cuts expected in the Spring Statement
New spending controls will bring down the maximum spend for hospitality from £2500 to £500, with anything over the new limit requiring approval from the director general.
Civil servants will also be barred from using cards for common goods and services that can be dealt with at scale instead - such as booking official travel, training or buying office supplies.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Mr 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.
"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 Conservative Party said it supported cutting wasteful spending and that Labour was following in their footsteps.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: "Conservatives will always support cutting waste across government, and we will always support measures to stop the frivolous spending of taxpayer money.
They added: "It was Conservative government that took the first steps to increase Government Procurement Card transparency and cut nonsense spending."
The spokesman also accused Labour of refusing to publish information on its government credit card spending to Parliament.
