Civil servants claim for home-working kits despite being able to return to work for months

CIVIL servants have claimed for home-working kit for months since being able to return to their desks, we can reveal.

Some 219 items have been ordered at a cost of £16,738 by Defra staff since avoid-the-office rules went in January.

Only a third of civil servants are back to their desk and have been claiming home-working kit for months, says Jacob Rees-Mogg

It includes 75 monitors, 28 desks, eight footrests and two keyboard wrist supports.

A £444 ergonomic chair was among 55 chairs claimed. One mandarin requested a £448 “desk and sensory mat”, documents show.

Staff at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs have been slow to return to their offices.

Only a third are back, says efficiency minister Jacob Rees-Mogg.

John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers don’t appreciate paying for empty desks, let alone work from home luxuries. Civil servants are still splurging thousands kitting out home offices while their expensive offices lie empty.

“Ministers must ensure not a penny more is wasted on bureaucrats’ home comforts.”

Defra said its £150 home-working equipment allowance offered during Covid, plus special circumstances payments, was axed at the end of March.

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