British diplomats in six locations around the world, including Buenos Aires and Santiago in South America, will no longer get hardship payments for working in dangerous cities.
Bonuses and respite breaks are granted to those working in cities considered risky, like Beirut in Lebanon, or with high crime, such as Pretoria in South Africa, or high air pollution in cities including New Delhi and Beijing.
The UK government has removed Santiago, in Chile, Panama City in Panama, Pyongyang in North Korea, Bamako in Mali, and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in addition to the two south American cities, according to the latest list published last week, external.
The 144 locations still on the list include many trouble spots but also popular holiday destinations such as Bali and Rio De Janeiro, prompting criticism from the Conservatives.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said civil servants receiving extra pay for working in such areas is unfair on the taxpayer.
The Foreign Office has given civil servants extra payments for working in areas where there is a high level of danger, or high risks to health, for the past 30 years.
They are meant to compensate staff and families for the additional costs and challenges of living overseas in difficult locations and are reviewed regularly.
Factors and risks covered by the allowance include security measures, climate, natural disaster, isolation and other impacts on quality of life.
Amounts are not routinely published but in 2009, the last time a breakdown was released, the highest payments for civil servants and their spouses were for postings to Karachi, Pakistan, which was worth an extra £26,647, or £14,804 in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
The hardship payment for being posted as part of a couple to Buenos Aires was £1,517 and Santiago was £777, according to the 2009 Diplomatic Services Allowances, external.
Answering a parliamentary question from Tory peer Lord Moylan, external, Foreign Office minister Lord Wood of Anfield said assessments of hardship take into account factors that mean members of staff are required to take additional breaks for the benefit of their physical or mental health.
He added: “These arrangements are not new, and indeed have applied consistently under successive governments for a number of decades.”
Bangkok, Cape Town, and Kuala Lumpur are still among the cities that qualify for hardship payments, alongside Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat.
Hollinrake said it was unfair that taxpayers were “footing the bill” for these destinations and pledged to cut the size of the civil service if Conservatives were returned to power.
“Whilst businesses and families are paying higher taxes to fund this government’s policies, civil servants are being sent on taxpayer-funded jollies to places like Bali, Cape Town and the Maldives,” he said.
“This kind of nonsense has no place in government.”
But the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office defended the scheme, with a spokesperson saying: “British diplomats serve their country around the globe, including in some of the toughest and most challenging physical and political environments in the world.
“We have a duty of care to ensure our staff are properly supported, and compensation and other provisions reflect the circumstances of the posting, as it would be in any private sector job.”
