Britain is paying professional aid workers up to £1,000 a day . David Cameron has been criticised for ramping up aid spending . Britain is paying professional aid workers up to £1,000 a day to work in Africa and Asia as part of a huge push to meet government targets on aid spending , it was claimed last night . Spending on consultants has doubled to £1.4billion over the past four years and now makes up more than ten per cent of all foreign aid spending , an investigation revealed . Hundreds of ‘ team leaders ’ working on aid projects earn at least £120,000 a year once the costs of their expenses , security and accommodation are taken into account , an investigation found . Daily rates of between £800 and £1000 are commonplace , the Times newspaper claimed . The revelations will return attention to Britain ’ s growing aid budget , which now accounts for some £12 billion of public spending a year . The Coalition government committed to spending 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid – and even passed legislation to enshrine the target into law . That target means that aid spending will increase every year if the economy grows , even if other areas of government spending face swingeing cuts . David Cameron has been criticised for ramping up aid spending while slashing funding for the police , defence and justice . The details of consultant spending sparked outrage among backbench Tories who have opposed the aid target . Philip Davies , who is Tory parliamentary candidate for Shipley said : ‘ When people think of overseas aid they think of people who have aid their homes damaged by an earthquake , a hurricane or a tsunami . They don ’ t expect to be lining the pockets of consultant fat cats . ‘ This is what happens when you are judged only by how much you are spending . How you actually spend the money becomes immaterial . It leads to grotesque waste and overspending. ’ The Department for International Development said it uses private sector companies as well as charities to deliver aid projects if they were the best placed to do the job . But officials insisted that spending on external consultants giving advice to the department had fallen . A spokesman said : ‘ DfID has slashed spending on external consultancy and advisory services by 98.9 per cent since 2009 , down to just £200,000 last year , but we rightly continue to use the private sector where it delivers aid projects on the ground that are effective and the best value for money. ’ Afghan widows queueing up and waiting to receive aid in Kabul , Afghanistan . The Times quoted anonymous ‘ insiders ’ claiming that private firms were making huge profits of 50 per cent on aid projects . A report in January by the National Audit Office found civil servants at the department went on a £1billion spending spree over eight weeks to hit the government target . Money was spent at the end of last year on humanitarian programmes but MPs questioned whether the rate of spending meant it achieved value for money . The coalition aid commitment – meant Dfid was required to spent some £11.46 billion in 2013.. But in June that year officials realised they would have to spend another £2.7billion in November and December to hit the target . Months later that target was revised up again by another £1billion over those two months , taking the total to £3.7billion . The NAO report said the burst of spending that raised concerns the money was not used wisely . It said : “ Given the limited time available the department could only choose activities where funds could be paid out during 2013 . It may therefore have missed opportunities to get the best outcomes from this spending. ” .
Spending on consultants doubled to £1.4billion over the past four years . Daily rates of 0.7 per cent are reportedly commonplace . David Cameron has been criticised for ramping up aid spending .