The cost of paying civil servants has ballooned under Angela Rayner in just five months, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The total spent on staff in the Housing Ministry and its associated quangos has gone up by £20 million since Ms Rayner took over the department.

The extra cost has mostly been driven by splurging on outside consultants, hiring officials and paying civil servants expensive overtime.

Last night shadow Paymaster General Richard Holden said: ‘While Labour are crippling British workers and businesses with higher taxes, the Deputy Prime Minister is splashing taxpayers’ cash on bureaucrats at unprecedented levels.

‘These levels of wanton waste will rightly raise real concerns about what the hell [Rachel] Reeves and Rayner are up to with public money.’

The amount spent on staff has gone up since July in every organisation Ms Rayner oversees – including the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Homes England, the Housing Ombudsman Service and the Land Registry.

Official data shows the total wage bill rose from £76.3 million in July to £96.2 million in December. In the seven months before Labour came to power, the bill went up by only about £2 million.

In Ms Rayner’s department alone, the amount spent on consultants has gone up by £1.4 million a month, while the civil service headcount has risen. The office is also currently hiring to fill new roles.

The total amount spent on staff at the Housing Ministry and its associated quangos has gone up by £20 million since Angela Rayner took over the department

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government at 2 Marsham Street. Official data shows the total wage bill rose from £76.3 million in July to £96.2 million in December

The amount spent on staff has gone up since July in every organisation Ms Rayner oversees, which also includes the Housing Ombudsman, Homes England and the Land Registry

The 5 per cent pay awards given by Labour to civil servants in November, backdated to August 1, has helped fuel the spending rise, as have more generous employer pension contributions. MHCLG said the consultancy spend fluctuates.

A ministry spokesman said: ‘We’re taking through ambitious new housing and planning legislation in Parliament to improve people’s living standards.

‘Slight staff increases in the last year to help deliver these important changes have contributed to a small rise in the wage bill, along with increased pay in line with public sector pay settlements.’