Taxpayers have been left footing a £9million bill after thousands of civil servants were paid for unused holidays they never took.
An investigation found that around 8,000 departing government staff received payouts for untaken annual leave over the past three years, with some individuals pocketing as much as £30,000.
The practice has become common across Whitehall, where staff can build up large amounts of leave and then cash it in when they leave their jobs.
Most civil servants get 25 days of annual leave each year, plus an extra day for the King’s birthday, rising to 30 days after five years of service.
In some departments, employees can take up to 31.5 days and carry over as many as 10 days into the next year, meaning the costs quickly add up.
Treasury data reveals that 783 departing staff received a combined £844,021 for unused annual leave last year, whilst 786 employees claimed £870,491 the previous year.
In 2022-23, the Treasury paid out £1.4million to 1,295 staff who left without taking their full holiday entitlement.
The Department for Business and Trade recorded particularly high individual payments, with one senior civil servant receiving £30,850 for accumulated leave upon departure last year. Another official left with £26,229 in 2022-23.
Some 12 departments that provided data collectively spent £9,139,757 compensating 7,979 civil servants
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Freedom of Information requests obtained by The Telegraph exposed the extent of these payouts across government departments.
Some 12 departments that provided data collectively spent £9,139,757 compensating 7,979 civil servants for untaken holidays over the three-year period, highlighting the scale of the practice across Whitehall.
Bob Blackman, the Conservative MP and chairman of the 1922 Committee, expressed serious concerns about the practice, stating: “This is an extreme concern. These people are not taking leave when they should and therefore, without casting aspersions, it seems quite a deliberate decision.”
He questioned whether employees were genuinely working whilst accumulating such extensive unused leave, asking: “Were they actually working and not taking holiday, or were they actually doing things as if they were on holiday but not taking their leave when they should have been?”
Treasury data reveals that 783 departing staff received a combined £844,021 for unused annual leave last years
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GETTYThe MP linked the issue to flexible working arrangements, noting that some civil servants had been permitted to work from locations including the Bahamas and Seychelles.
He added: “We know there were people who were allegedly working from home but were abroad. If they can do the job there, fine, but it does beg the question, what level of productivity is there?”
Office attendance figures from 2022 showed some departments averaging merely 25 per cent daily presence, prompting Jacob Rees-Mogg, then Cabinet Office minister, to leave notes on empty desks encouraging staff to return.
Joanna Marchong from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which obtained the data, said: “Taxpayers will be astonished that millions are being shelled out for civil servants who didn’t take their holidays.”
Experts have noted that managers should be making sure leave is taken and that taxpayers aren’t shelling out thousands on exit bonuses
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GETTYShe added: “With budgets tight and a seemingly burnt-out culture in the civil service, managers should be making sure leave is taken and that taxpayers aren’t shelling out thousands on exit bonuses.”
A government spokesman said: “Civil servants are encouraged to take all of their leave entitlement – but as is standard practice in private and public sector workplaces, employees can claim payment for a limited number of days if they do not take the full amount of leave they are entitled to.
“More broadly, we are committed to rooting out wasteful spending across the Civil Service, such as by saving more than £550m by reducing spending on consultancy services in 2024-25 alone.”