Government website revamp costing taxpayers £500k slammed as 'wasteful vanity project'

23 June 2025, 08:16 | Updated: 23 June 2025, 09:36

Critics have slammed the government for spending over half a million on a 'vanity' makeover for the website.

The redesign forms part of a 'brand refresh' - with contracts reportedly amounting to £532,000 handed to global ad agency M&C Saatchi.

The gov.uk site, which is used for essential services including tax renewals and passport renewals, will see its traditional black masthead transformed blue and its 'dot' turned turquoise.

The logo redesign is set to go live this month, yet some civil servants have criticised it for being 'tacky', 'cheap' and questioned why someone was paid 'to move a dot'.

Zia Yusuf, head of Reform UK's efficiency drive, slammed the 'revamp' as a public waste of money.

He said: "The disrespect for taxpayers' money continues to be astounding.

"Spending more than £500,000 on changing a logo on a government website is a joke at the taxpayer's expense, quite literally.

"This is just the kind of thing we have been uncovering in county halls on a daily basis. It's abundantly clear that Whitehall also needs a visit from Reform's DOGE team."

The previous Conservative government tendered two contracts for the brand resign, which has been carried on under Labour - according to publicly available papers.

It's understood that M&C Saatchi landed deals potentially worth up to £750,000.

The final bill reportedly came to £532,000, with the cost drawn from existing department budgets - according to a government source.

On an online forum, one civil servant said: "As a government we are trying to maximise efficiency and save money.

"Why was this what we chose to spend time and resources on?"

Elliot Keck, campaigns chief at the TaxPayers' Alliance, told the MailOnline: "Taxpayers will be baffled that hundreds of thousands have been blown on minor graphic design changes.

"At a time when public services are stretched and families are feeling the pinch, shelling out for a vanity rebrand is an insult to hardworking Brits.

"Ministers should be focusing on delivering frontline services, not petty optics."

However, officials defended the splash of cash, outlining the six-figure bill included 'refreshing and extending' the Gov.UK brand across web, mobile and app platforms.

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A government spokesman said: "This was committed to by the previous government, with two of the three contracts signed and delivered by July 2024.

"The new government then chose to turn the rebranding and research work into consumer-friendly digital products, including our upcoming gov.uk App, gov.uk Chat and more."

In a royal rebrand last year, the St Edward’s Crown used under Queen Elizabeth was swapped for King Charles’s chosen Tudor Crown in the logo.