Public money has been diverted to the private sector for services including consultancy, research, legal services, recruitment and IT services since June 2016.
A total of 85 Brexit-related contracts were signed by the UK public sector, with a combined value of £107.3m, according to the report by analysis group Tussell and the BBC.
The majority of that money – 85% – went on consultancy services, and the bulk of this came from just nine contracts issued by the Cabinet Office.
Local government has also invested in research services totalling £0.6m, alongside £3.2m spent on research by central government.
Gus Tugendhat, founder of Tussell, said the rise in private sector contracts was understandable: “Even in the best of circumstances, the civil service alone would never have had sufficient capacity to pull off a project like Brexit in the time available.
“Due to the sheer breadth of issues the government is having to grapple with, it was pragmatic to engage the expertise of consultants – even if it has led to extra cost for the public sector and a windfall fort consulting firms.”
The volume of contracts awarded by the public sector nearly doubled from 2017 to 2018 – jumping from 27 contracts to 49. The value of contract spending rose from £14.8m in 2017 to £90.8m in 2018.
Already in 2019, the public sector has awarded five contracts with a combined total value of £1.4m, the report found.
The 2019 total includes a £275,000 Home Office contract to IT firm Fujitsu to provide identification and document scanners.
Read PF’s investigation into the slowdown in local government outsourcing.
