Ministers criticised after £550,000 of taxpayer money spent on Headspace app for officials
The government has been accused of ‘blowing their money’ on ‘lifestyle perks’ after they spent more than £550,000 on meditation apps for civil servants since Covid.
Government departments paid tens of thousands of pounds per year for the mindfulness site Headspace.
The Department for Education (DfE) spent just shy of £65,000 in March for a contract to use the Headspace for work app from April 2026 to March 2027.
The discovery prompted a row about whether digital self-help tools are a lavish perk or crucial for employee wellbeing.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance said the civil service was wasting cash on the mindfulness site, but the government insisted it was ‘value for money’.
Headspace is a wellbeing app that offers users guided meditation, mindfulness exercises, sleep tools, and online mental health services.
The software – founded by Brits Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson in 2010 – also provides ‘SOS sessions for moments of panic’, as well as mood trackers.
The DfE, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have all published details of contracts with Headspace, totaling more than £550,000.
The DfE began purchasing the anti-stress app for its staff in January 2021.
Their most recent year-long contract, which kicks off in April 2026, has cost the taxpayer £64,512.
Bosses consider the app a preventative measure aimed at improving staff health in the hopes they won’t have to pay for stress-induced absences.
However, the TaxPayers’ Alliance investigations campaign manager, Callum McGoldrick, blasted: ‘Taxpayers will need some headspace when they see what civil servants are blowing their money on.’
‘Spending tens of thousands of pounds on meditation apps for civil servants is difficult to justify when taxpayers are already funding generous public sector pay and benefits.
‘Departments should be focused on delivering core public services efficiently, not buying lifestyle perks for staff.’
However, a Government spokesperson said: ‘All purchasing decisions must represent value for money. Staff wellbeing supports employee productivity and reduces sickness.’
Headspace say their platform leads to an 11 per cent increase in resilience after 30 days, as well as a 32 per cent decrease in perceived stress.
Defra paid £75,000 for a year-long contract from April 2021 to March 2022, before spending £162,000 on a two-year agreement ending in 2024.
The app, with ‘state of the art mindfulness content’ was made available to up to 27,000 users across the Defra group, which numbers 12 organizations.
Contracts show DCMS paid around £13,000 a year from January 2021 until November 2023 for Headspace.
It is not clear whether DCMS, Defra, or any other departments besides the DfE are still paying for their employees to use Headspace.
The government did not respond to questions about this.
Contracts seen by Metro also show that the Ministry of Defence spent more than £680,000 to give 32,000 Navy and Royal Marine service personnel use of Headspace.
Headspace did not respond to a request for comment.
Politics Editor
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