Warm From Home: Outrage as WFH civil servants 'have heating bills paid for by hard-working taxpayers'

By WILL HALLOWELL, NEWS REPORTER Published: 01:55, 23 August 2026 | Updated: 01:57, 23 August 2026 His Majesty's Revenue & Customs has been accused of a 'grotesque waste of taxpayer money' as it is revealed that civil servants have been paid more than £600,000 to help cover their heating bills while working from home. Since 2022, utility bill subsidy payments to HMRC staff working from home have more than doubled – from £95,000 four years ago to £211,000 in 2026.  In total, more than £610,000 has been spent on covering energy bills for the department's civil servants working from home over the past four financial years ending April 2026, according to The Sunday Telegraph. The subsidies are only for contractual WFH staff but the total figure across the civil service is expected to be much higher. HMRC is the third largest government department by the number of workers – followed by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice, meaning the total amount spent on WFH civil servants' heating bills could be higher.  The revelations have been branded a 'tough pill to swallow for hard-working Brits' who are facing increasing energy bills.  Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood told The Sunday Telegraph: 'With energy bills soaring thanks to Labour's net zero obsession, hard-working families have enough on their plate without having to shell out for hand-outs to public servants.'  And Reform MP Danny Kruger said: 'This grotesque waste of taxpayer money will be a tough pill to swallow for hard-working Brits forced to pay sky-high energy bills every single month.  HMRC has been accused of a 'grotesque waste of taxpayer money' as it is revealed that hundreds of thousands of pounds has been spent on energy bills for civil servants who work from home 'While ordinary families struggle with the cost of living, Whitehall mandarins use public cash to subsidise the bills they drove through the roof with their dogmatic net zero obsession.' According to a Freedom of Information request, 5,259 staff at HMRC are designated as home workers, representing 7 per cent of the 75,898 civil servants in the department.  An HMRC spokesman said: 'These payments only apply to about 7 per cent of our workforce who are contractual homeworkers whose designated workplace is their home.  'They are not available to staff working under HMRC's hybrid working arrangements.'  The Daily Mail has approached the department for further comment.  It comes after The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month that Foreign Office mandarins serving in Bali, the Maldives and Abu Dhabi get extra holidays and bonus pay for 'hardship'.  Under generous taxpayer-funded deals, staff get 'breathers' for taking up 'hardship posts'.  These are supposed to be in places where there are security threats, high levels of crime or air pollution. They also get tax-free bonuses of up to £10,000 a year. The perks are intended to alleviate the toll that serving overseas in dangerous places can take on officials' physical or mental health. Yet scores of exotic destinations have made it onto that list. Critics have questioned why Abu Dhabi – one of the safest cities on Earth – or Cape Town would cause officials 'hardship'. Both are sought-after holiday locations. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) does remove some destinations from the 150-strong hardship list.  Bamako, the crime-ridden capital of Mali, was removed this year. Yet honeymoon favourite Muscat remains on the list.  And officials posted to Turks and Caicos Islands, where they can enjoy 350 sunny days a year, get hardship relief. One defender of the scheme told the MoS: 'It is odd that there are some undeniably glamorous places on there. It may be for reasons of isolation.'  Whitehall bosses were accused earlier this year of allowing civil servants to 'work from the beach' (File image) Yet some civil servants have used their extra breaks to fly to other 'hardship postings' on taxpayer-funded jets.  One official took his partner on holiday from New Delhi to Kathmandu in the Himalayas to 'take a break away from local conditions'.  Since Labour took office, there have been a dozen taxpayer-funded jaunts from New Delhi alone. Ministers have begun to refuse Freedom of Information requests and parliamentary questions, citing national security reasons. And in June, the campaign group Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA) claimed that hundreds of civil servants were being paid to work 'from the beach' with Whitehall bosses now facing accusations that they are approving 'taxpayer-funded globe-trotting'.    The TPA has revealed that more than 350 civil servants were given permission to clock in remotely from holiday resorts in Spain, Greece, Australia and Brazil.  The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, led by 'Red' Ed Miliband, accounted for more than one-third of the 'jet-setting' Whitehall workers. The TPA accused civil servants of getting away with 'taxpayer-funded globe-trotting' at the same time that families have been forced to skip holidays abroad this summer due to the cost-of-living crisis.  It came after a YouGov poll revealed that one in five Britons do not have the money for a foreign holiday this year, while one-third have had to postpone trips due to the rising cost of air travel amid soaring jet fuel prices owing to the Iran war.  The TPA research found that of the 359 civil servants who had logged on 'from the beach', 140 worked at the Department for Energy.  Meanwhile, 96 worked for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, 83 logged on for the Department for Business and Trade and 19 worked for the Department for Transport.  Nine worked for the Ministry of Justice, while at the Ministry of Defence this figure stood at just six.  However, the Cabinet Office said working from abroad was only permitted in 'exceptional circumstances' including personal matters such as bereavement. A spokesman for the Government claimed the TPA's figures include staff 'who must travel abroad for their job'.