Civil Service spends £500k on ‘bedtime stories’ for staff
Taxpayer money funds government subscriptions to apps aimed at helping employees to doze off
SENIOR civil servants have been criticised for spending almost £500,000 on Civil Service subscriptions to “mindfulness” apps which offer users bedtime stories read by celebrities.
The Sunday Telegraph can disclose the public is paying for officials to be soothed to sleep by stars including Dame Mary Berry, Kate Winslet and Idris Elba.
The wellness programmes, which cost about £10 per month, are also equipped with hundreds of guided meditations, including ones titled “creating a safe space”, “being an ally” and “soothing anxiety at bedtime”. Since 2020, six departments have spent £490,000 on employee access to mindfulness apps, which are supposed to help improve mental health, analysis of government contracts shows.
Last night, MPs and campaigners criticised for spending public money on “bedtime stories for adults” as the country braces for tax increases implemented by Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor.
The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs has spent £266,100 on staff access to Headspace, an app founded by a Bristol-born Buddhist monk, since 2020.
Subscriptions to Headspace were also bought by the Department for Education and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency and the Department for Levelling
Up, Housing and Communities this year spent £45,124 on a subscription to Calm, a Silicon-Valley start-up famous for its celebrity collaborations.
Calm customers can drift off with Dame Mary, who reads a bedtime story about a tea party. Chris Advansun, the company’s head of sleep stories, previously said the feature “gives permission to grown ups… to return to what was one of the most comforting and soothing experiences they’d had as children”.
Cabinet Office officials spent £102,456 on a wellness app to provide staff with mindfulness and meditation sessions, along with a personal journal to “allow individuals to track their own thoughts and feelings”.
The 2020 contract was awarded to Unmind, a London-based “cultural change platform” which helps “empower employees to lead more fulfilling lives”.
Criticising the spending, David Jones MP said the Government’s duty of care “doesn’t extend to spending £500,000 of taxpayer money on what
‘Civil servants are in a zen state while precious resources are being wasted’
amounts to little more than bedtime stories for adults”.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Tory MP, said: “I don’t see why the employer should be paying for these services. It should be up to the individual to pay for it themselves.”
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It will come as no relief to working households that civil servants are in a zen state while precious resources are being wasted. “Mandarins must reflect on whether this is really an appropriate use of funds.” A Government spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering the best value for money, cutting waste and inefficiency, and ensuring every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent in the best possible way.
“As a responsible employer, we continue to improve our approach to health and wellbeing in order to help employees perform at their best.”