Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden has accused users of 20,000 procurement cards issued to civil service staff of ‘wasteful spending’, cancelling the majority of the cards after the annual spend has quadrupled in just four years.

In the last financial year over £600m was spent on government credit cards, increasing from £150m in 2020-21 during the pandemic.

Senior staff have been told to take disciplinary action as well as revoking the cards if misuse is identified.

Any civil servants who claim they need their cards will have to re-apply for them and will face more stringent criteria. Card holders that have their applications rejected will have their cards cancelled by the end of March.

The government plans to halve the number of procurement cards in use.

The Cabinet Office stated: ‘Only a minority of cards, used for specific operational purposes such as by diplomatic staff working in unstable environments, will be exempt from the mass freeze.’

Pat McFadden, Cabinet minister said: ‘We must ensure taxpayers’ money is spent on improving the lives of working people.

‘It’s not right that hundreds of millions of pounds are spent on government credit cards each year, without high levels of scrutiny or challenge. Only officials for whom it is absolutely essential should have a card.

‘Our clampdown on government credit cards will deliver savings that can be used to drive our Plan for Change - securing our borders, getting the NHS back on its feet and rebuilding Britain.’

The card limit will be reduced to £500 from the current £2,500. Anything above £500 will need be approved by a very senior member of staff, such as a director general in each Whitehall department, the equivalent of a CEO in the private sector.

McFadden himself ordered the review of cards to go ahead after he witnessed ‘unnecessary spending’, telling Sky News: ‘I don’t think some of the lines of expenditure I’ve seen are justified.’

Civil servants are also going to be banned from using the cards where there is either a departmental or cross-government procurement route.

The Cabinet Office added: ‘These procurement routes deliver better value for money by procuring at scale for common goods and services, like booking official travel, training, or office supplies.’

The decision followed the announcement last week that the government was going to downsize the civil service workforce.