Investigation: UK spends millions on VPNs as government weighs ban for children

Date:
Thu, 19 Mar 2026 09:56:50 +0000

Description:
MPs, local councils and government regulators including Ofcom and Ofsted continue to invest in VPN technology despite increasing political scrutiny

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
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now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Public bodies including Ofcom, Ofsted, and the NHS have all purchased VPN technology since the start of this government The combined value of awarded contracts is over 2 million The UK government says VPNs have "legitimate" purposes but that they must "deal with circumvention methods" MPs continue to claim expenses for enterprise and consumer VPN solutions Politicians and public bodies have spent millions of pounds on VPNs while the government considers banning children from using the same technology.

The bodies in question include the schools inspectorate, Ofsted, regional police forces and local NHS departments. The list also features HM Revenue & Customs and Ofcom the agency tasked with enforcing the Online Safety Act. These enterprise-grade VPNs are vital for securing public sector data. While they are not typically used to bypass content filters, they rely on the same encryption and tunneling protocols as the consumer brands currently facing regulatory scrutiny. Article continues below You may like UK government may 'age restrict or limit childrens VPN use' following three-month consultation UK government targets VPNs in online safety consultation as Lords vote for
ban VPN companies 'open to meaningful dialogue' with UK government during children's online safety consultation

Other countries that have attempted to regulate the use of consumer VPNs
such as Russia's protocol blocking or Pakistan's national firewall have inadvertently caused operational damage to businesses that rely on the same technology for "legitimate" purposes.

The findings follow reporting from Politico which revealed that British lawmakers, including senior government ministers, are expensing commercial
VPN software.

James Baker, policy manager at the Open Rights Group, told TechRadar that the UK's reliance on VPN technology "demonstrates how important these tools are for cybersecurity across the modern internet."

Baker said that VPNs provide real security benefits and argued that young people should be free to "benefit from those protections too." Public
spending on VPN tech A TechRadar analysis of public records shows that VPN-related deals since the current government took office have a combined value of over 2 million. While some of these contracts include VPN tools bundled within broader software packages, the scale of the investment signals widespread adoption.

In January 2025, Ofcom the UK's primary communications regulator spent nearly 40,000 on firewalls for a VPN replacement project. That same month, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) awarded a 30,000 contract for VPN technology to the IT firm Computacenter.

However, these figures are dwarfed by Ofsted's spending. The schools inspectorate which is responsible for evaluating mobile phone policies in classrooms has earmarked 490,000 for a "fully managed VPN service." What to read next 'The UK war on VPNs is an embarrassment' backlash grows over proposed VPN age-checks 'No approach is a silver bullet' UK launches online safety consultation that could see VPNs age-restricted Australias age verification rules: Is a VPN ban on the horizon?

According to a market engagement notice published in January 2026, the agency is seeking a specialist provider to handle the end-to-end design, operation, and monitoring of its encrypted network until at least 2029.

Local government is also investing heavily. In December 2025, Kent County Council awarded nearly 300,000 to Bytes Software Services for "Checkpoint
VPN" technology to facilitate remote access and secure its firewalls.

While these contracts focus on enterprise-grade solutions from B2B providers, the underlying technology remains the same. Whether its used by a government official or a teenager, the process of data encryption and tunneling is identical. Swipe to scroll horizontally

Buyer

Description

Value (Inc. VAT)

Supplier

Source

Ofsted

Fully Managed VPN Service

490,000

TBC (Procurement in progress)

Find a Tender

Kent County Council

Checkpoint VPN & SPARC Support

298,227

Bytes Software Services

Contracts Finder

Notts Police Crime Commissioner

7,200 Secure Access VPN Licenses

270,432

Insight (UK) Limited

Contracts Finder

NHS Mid & South Essex

Always-On remote access VPN

103,680

Healthroam Limited

Contracts Finder

Ofcom

Firewalls for VPN Replacement

37,037

Specialist Computer Centres

Contracts Finder

HM Revenue & Customs

VPN FirePower Infrastructure

30,431

Computacenter (UK) Ltd

Contracts Finder MPs' VPN expenses Since the beginning of the current government, several MPs have also expensed VPN solutions. Yuan Yang (Labour
MP for Earley and Woodley) has spent over 600 on VPN technology since the beginning of April 2026.

Given the unusually high monthly amounts, it is likely the MP is using a high-end enterprise solution for their entire constituency office.

Other MPs have expensed well-known consumer brands. While Politico
highlighted that senior ministers were expensing the software, TechRadar can now reveal the full list of MPs claiming for VPN services since the start of this parliament: Yuan Yang (Labour): Undisclosed (approx. 100/month) Sarah Champion (Labour): Norton Secure VPN (29.49) Alex Sobel (Labour / Co-op): NordVPN (83.99) Jonathan Reynolds (Labour / Co-op): NordVPN (80.68) TechRadar contacted Yuan Yang's office to ask if there was a tension between their position advocating for an Australia-style social media ban and expensing
over 100 a month on tools capable of bypassing digital restrictions.

They did not respond to requests for comment. The government's stance on VPNs The UK government recently launched a landmark three-month consultation which specifically targets VPNs . The process is expected to inform new policies that could force consumer VPN providers to implement age verification
measures to block children from using their services.

However, it remains unclear how the government intends to distinguish between consumer and enterprise VPN solutions, given that both rely on the same underlying encryption and tunneling protocols.

One question in the government's survey asks respondents to consider the consequences of age-restricting VPNs for the "privacy and data" of all users, as well as the impact on "business costs, revenue, and innovation."

The Open Rights Group's James Baker suggests that the consequences could be far reaching.

"Policies that treat widely used security technologies as inherently suspicious risk sending the wrong signal about the UKs approach to cybersecurity," he said.

"Creating uncertainty around core internet infrastructure could undermine the UKs reputation as a stable and credible place for digital businesses and security innovation."

Despite repeated requests for comment regarding the findings in this investigation, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) did not provide a response.

Speaking to TechRadar last month, a spokesperson said that the government recognizes that "VPNs serve legitimate purposes, including protecting privacy and security online" and that any measures will be "targeted and proportionate." Today's top VPN deals NordVPN 2 Year 2.59 /mth View Deal +3 months free Surfshark 24 Months 1.49 /mth View Deal Proton VPN 2.39 /mth View Deal We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/investigation-uk-spends-mil lions-on-vpns-as-government-weighs-ban-for-children


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