The government is paying private sector consultants the equivalent of million-pound wages to work on its test-and-trace system.
Some executives from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) helping the government to set up and run its testing system are being paid day rates of about £7,000, equivalent to a salary of about £1.5 million, according to Sky News.
The revelation is the latest evidence of the cost of the testing scheme, which is budgeted to be £12 billion this year. According to the documents, the government has paid BCG about £10 million for a team of about 40 consultants to work on the testing system between the end of April and late August.
While the government pays the consultancy, its fee is set by the “day rates”