Senior Civil Servants' Tax Bills Paid Using Public Money

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's most senior civil servants are having part of their tax bills paid using public money in an arrangement that leaves them tens of thousands of pounds better off every year.

Whitehall departments are picking up the tax bills for perks such as official cars, first-class rail travel and rent-free accommodation.

The arrangements, which were described by tax advisers as “highly unusual”, were made between government departments and the taxman as part of a deal agreed more than a decade ago.

The effect of the deal is to increase the value of officials’ pay packages by up to £30,000 a year at the expense of taxpayers.

Those who benefited from the scheme include Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary; Sir David Nicholson, the head of NHS England; and Phillippa Williamson, the former head of the Serious Fraud Office.

Richard Bacon, a Conservative member of the public accounts committee, said he was “concerned” that officials are being given tax-free benefits while members of the public have to pay the taxman for theirs. Read on and comment » | Robert Watts, and Steven Swinford | Friday, August 16, 2013

Brown Steps in after Digby Jones Calls for Half of Civil Service to Be Sacked
THE GUARDIAN: PM's spokesman defends 'honest, decent people who work hard'

The former trade minister Lord Jones brought fresh embarrassment on the government today when he claimed that half the civil service should be sacked.

Jones told MPs that Whitehall could be run with "half as many" civil servants and that he had been amazed during his time in government by how many staff "deserved the sack".

The ex-Confederation of British Industry chief also described being a junior minister as "one of the most dehumanising and depersonalising experiences" anyone could have.

"The whole system is designed to take the personality, the drive and the initiative out of a junior minister," he said.
Jones stepped down as a government minister in October after just 15 months in the job.

Civil service union chiefs branded the peer "narrow-minded, naive and insulting", forcing Gordon Brown to step in to quell the row. >>> Deborah Summers | Thursday, January 15, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>