by Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager
The TaxPayers' Alliance finished the year with a bang, uncovering front-page investigations and staying at the forefront of current issues. Let’s recap some of the best investigations.
First up, the absurd decision to hand out taxpayer cash for a Star Wars-themed climate change study. Boffins at the Open University secured funding from UKRI to explore the franchise’s utopian world and its similarities to Earth. While academics play around with fictional realities, taxpayers are left wondering why their hard-earned money is being diverted into such frivolous projects rather than real-world challenges.
The education sector is another black hole for public funds, and the TPA is dedicated to exposing it. Covered by the Telegraph, Agency teaching staff has cost taxpayers a staggering £1 billion a year, with schools increasingly reliant on short-term fixes instead of long-term solutions. After taking a deeper dive, we were able to reveal that 14,000 teachers call in sick every day, further fuelling the cycle of inefficiency and disruption in classrooms. Instead of prioritising staff actually showing up to work and retention strategies that actually work, the government is throwing money at short-term fixes that only exacerbate the problem.
The TPA has previously revealed the costs of EDI roles in councils and the NHS. However, it is clear that the problem doesn’t stop there. The number of police diversity jobs has increased by almost a third in three years, costing taxpayers just under £15 million. At a time when crime rates are rising, and police forces are stretched thin, it’s beyond belief that police budgets are being spent on ideology instead of officers on the beat.
Similarly, local authorities have splashed out £650,000 on Pride Month celebrations. The annual farce of Pride Month now seems to last all year in the public sector. Published in the Telegraph, councils hosted drag bingo, rainbow-themed tea parties, and even funded pronoun badges, all while claiming they didn't have enough money to fix potholes or collect bins. It’s yet another example of public sector bodies prioritising virtue-signalling over value for money.
Meanwhile, as seen on the front page of the Express, foreign farmers are receiving £500 million in aid while British farmers face increased tax hikes that could cause many of them to lose their farms and livelihood. Ministers may claim they’re supporting British food production, but their policies tell a different story, one that favours overseas competitors at the expense of hardworking UK farmers who are already struggling with rising costs.
And we aren’t just sending money abroad but also council staff! The front page of The Daily Mail broke the news that councils have also approved thousands of requests for staff to work abroad, including one employee who managed to work from Ibiza for four years and a number of staff who are permanently in weird and wonderful locations. The idea that public sector employees can jet off to sunny beaches while taxpayers foot the bill is an insult to every hard-working Brit.
These examples make one thing clear: public bodies remain addicted to waste. The TaxPayers' Alliance will continue to expose these failures and hold decision-makers to account.
If you have examples of public sector waste that deserve scrutiny, email me at [email protected].