The government has spent more than £550,000 on meditation apps for civil servants since Covid, with departments paying tens of thousands of pounds per year for the mindfulness site Headspace. At least three government departments—the Department for Education, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs—have provided their civil servants with the Headspace app since the start of the pandemic, according to contract details that total more than £550,000. The DfE began purchasing the anti-stress app for its staff in January 2021.
Specific contracts show the Department for Education spent just shy of £65,000 in March for a contract to use the Headspace for work app from April 2026 to March 2027, with the most recent year-long contract costing taxpayers £64,512. 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, making the app available to up to 27,000 users across the Defra group of 12 organisations. DCMS paid around £13,000 a year from January 2021 until November 2023 for Headspace.
Headspace says its platform leads to an 11 per cent increase in resilience after 30 days and a 32 per cent decrease in perceived stress. The TaxPayers' Alliance said the civil service was wasting cash on the mindfulness site. The government insisted the spending on Headspace was 'value for money'.
HMRC has come under fire for spending 'staggering' amounts of money on Snapchat filters while Britons face down a record high tax burden. Critics have accused the taxman of spending tens of thousands of pounds from the public purse on 'PR stunts' and not treating hardworking Britons' money with respect.