Top diplomats get free f lights home every weekend to see their families

Taxpayers’ cash for foreign ‘commute’

‘Difficult to justify’

diplomats posted abroad can soon fly home for free at weekends – and taxpayers will pick up the bill.

the perk is being offered to a small number of Foreign office staff allowing them to effectively commute to their embassy.

officials say the ‘cost-neutral’ move is intended to open up postings to the best and brightest civil servants who may otherwise be held back by family ties.

But campaigners say asking taxpayers to fork out for the privilege is ‘difficult to justify’ when diplomats are on generous pay and pension packages.

the Foreign office already spends more than £14million on school fees for the children of staff, even though many are based in the UK.

some £6.4million of that sum was spent on foreign schooling last year.

Bosses justified the bill by saying ‘postings often arise at short notice’.

they say the additional cost of weekly flights will be balanced by cheaper housing and relocation costs for a single diplomat rather than moving the whole family. accommodation will also be more modest to reduce the costs even further.

Fewer than ten diplomats have enrolled on a year- long pilot scheme, which starts this month and limits access to those living within ‘reasonable flying distance of the UK’. most of the staff are thought to be situated in Europe.

they would have to travel in their own time and would not be allowed to work remotely.

a Foreign office spokesman said: ‘this is a cost-neutral way of ensuring that where appropriate we aren’t held back from deploying our best diplomats because of personal commitments.

‘in a tight resource environment, it demonstrates that the Foreign office is thinking innovatively about how best to advance our interests around the world at no additional cost to the taxpayer.’

the scheme was introduced after a review last year highlighted the need for more flexible-working practices among diplomats.

it encouraged senior civil servern ants to create ‘next-generation ambassadors’ by accommodating ‘21st-century’ lifestyles.

the Foreign office has been criticised in the past for traditionally being ‘ a space for eccentric males’. However, there have been recent efforts to introduce mod- arrangements such as job sharing. the British High Commission to Zambia was headed jointly by married couple Carolyn davidson and thomas Carter between 2008 and 2012.

Jonathan aves and Katherine leach were joint ambassadors to armenia between 2012 and 2014.

they took turns doing fourmonth stretches while the other looked after their children in an arrangement heralded by the Foreign office as providing better value for the taxpayer.

miss leach, who had worked alongside her husband in Japan, said the double posting increased their effectiveness at work.

most ambassadors earn more than £100,000 a year. While posted abroad, many are put up in grace and favour homes in the most exclusive areas of the cities in which they are located.

diplomats who joined the civil service pension scheme before 2007 are eligible for a final salary deal that begins to pay out at 60.

John o’Connell, chief executive of the taxpayers’ alliance, said: ‘Because Foreign office officials work in an environment where they may have to pack their bags and relocate at a moment’s notice you can understand why flights may be offered over a short adjustment period.

‘But many of these civil servants already receive generous deals around pensions, pay and other perks and any additional privileges at taxpayers’ expense are difficult to justify.’