A 'slap in the face' to taxpayers as civil servants claim thousands in expenses to travel to their OWN departments

Published: 09:51, 6 April 2026 | Updated: 09:51, 6 April 2026 Civil servants have been claiming thousands of pounds in expenses so they can commute to work in London - spending the money on overnight stays and dinner. Senior officials are using the taxpayer cash to reimburse trips to their own departments at offices in Whitehall. It follows the government's decision to relocate 23,000 civil service jobs outside the capital in a bid to cut costs. Newly unearthed data shows one senior officer at the Department for Transport claimed £7,019.58 for nine trips to a London office, including on food and accommodation - averaging £779.95 a trip. Another was paid £7,270.98 for 10 trips to London's Department of Health and Social Care - the equivalent of £927.09 per trip. And a third made 31 trips to the Department of Transport within the space of three months, racking up a bill of £3,485,50. Critics have called the spending a 'slap in the face' to taxpayers who are expected to pay for their own commute - questioning why the London meetings cannot be held online. Overall, published government figures showed officials claimed a total of £139,719.97 in travel expenses, food and accommodation for overnight stays from October to December 2025. Senior officials are using the taxpayer cash to reimburse trips to their own departments at offices in Whitehall (file image) Danny Kruger (pictured), Reform's head of preparing for government department, said: 'This is a slap in the face to every hard-working taxpayer forced to commute at their own expense' At the same rate over a year, this would amount to more than £550,000. Under the Government's Plan for Growth scheme, thousands of civil service jobs have been moved out of London meaning 34 per cent of senior officials no longer work in the capital daily. In a bid to cut costs, three central London offices with high rental expenses have closed with satellite offices opening in less expensive parts of the country. New regional bases include a Manchester office focussed on artificial intelligence and energy campus in Aberdeen. However, many senior civil servants moved out of London have since been required to travel to the capital to attend meetings. Civil servants are not permitted to claim expenses for day-to-day commuting, under the Civil Service Management Code, though costs can be reimbursed if they are 'actually and necessarily incurred in the course of official business'.  Alex Burghart MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told the Telegraph: 'This is exactly the kind of absurdity that erodes public trust in Government.' Danny Kruger, Reform UK's head of preparing for government department, said: 'This is a slap in the face to every hard-working taxpayer forced to commute at their own expense just to pay for privileged civil servants with gold-plated pensions. 'This is the rotten culture of entitlement and wasteful spending that has been allowed to fester unchecked in our Civil Service.' The chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, John O'Connell, said such claims should be banned - adding that ministers should 'put a stop to all expense claims for travel, accommodation and any other for coming to the office.' The highest spending of any department was recorded by the Ministry of Justice - at £42,498.98. This was followed by the cabinet office at £16,841.81 and the Department for Health and Social Care at £12,736.80.  A Government spokesman told the Daily Mail: 'Officials cannot claim travel expenses for commuting to their office - only for official travel to other locations. The cost of official travel is tiny to the £94million we are saving by closing 11 London office buildings. 'A third of senior civil servants are now based in government offices outside of London, in the communities they serve. These expenses reflect routine travel for them to deliver their roles and responsibilities.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.