Taxpayers moan as Milton Keynes City Council spends thousands on free lunch for all its staff

All council workers have been invited to the free lunch social lunch in the garden at the civic offices on July 18.

There will be food – a choice of burrito bowls or Middle Easter shawarma to eat, with ice cream afterwards, plus live entertainment to keep people amused.

The invitation describes the event as a ‘social lunch in the garden’ and states: “It’s a great opportunity to chat to colleagues you might not always spend time with.”

Food will served in four shifts between 12 noon and 2pm to cater for the hundreds of council staff.

However, a few residents have contacted the Citizen to criticise the event as a waste of council tax payers’ money.

One said “As a council tax payer I find it disgraceful that MKCC are spending our money on feeding all their staff a free lunch in the garden.”

But another said: “These staff work hard for the council all year round, The least the council can do if treat them to lunch – they deserve it.”

A Milton Keynes City Council spokesperson told the Citizen: “We’ve made savings on recruitment spend this year and this has allowed us to say thank you to our hard-working teams with a summer lunch-break event.”

They added: “The cost of providing food from local vendors is around £7,000”.