The Cabinet Office, Home Office and Scottish Government have quietly renewed their travel-management agreements with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) for up to a further 12 months, even as the Australian-listed agency continues to repay clients over a £118 million billing irregularity. The extensions—confirmed by CTM in a market filing and first reported by Business Travel News Europe—will keep the company in charge of public-sector travel through at least August 2027 under Crown Commercial Service framework RM6342. According to CTM, the additional year will generate roughly £105 million in total transaction value, with the Home Office alone accounting for around £65 million. The Cabinet Office has prolonged its contract until 31 August 2027, while the Scottish Government has pushed its deal to 11 September 2027 covering 93 public-sector bodies. Travel buyers were surprised by the move because the Home Office opened an “urgent investigation” last December after uncovering widespread mis-charging across air, rail and accommodation bookings. CTM has agreed to refund 86 percent of the disputed sums—about £87 million—by September 2027, but has so far returned only £11 million. Critics argue the government is rewarding poor performance; CTM counters that it has overhauled its audit controls and remains best placed to deliver cost-efficient, risk-managed travel at scale. The renewals also buy time for the Crown Commercial Service to finalise its next-generation RM6408 travel framework, due to be tendered next month. For corporate mobility managers the saga is a reminder of the due-diligence burden that comes with outsourcing travel. CTM’s missteps were uncovered by clients who noticed discrepancies between supplier statements and booking data—underscoring the value of independent reporting tools and periodic forensic audits. Organisations with material CTM exposure should monitor the repayment schedule and verify that credit notes are accurately applied to future invoices. In the meantime, travellers booked through CTM should see no day-to-day disruption, but procurement teams may wish to re-benchmark service fees ahead of 2027. The episode could also influence the design of RM6408, with tighter financial-control clauses and mandatory real-time data feeds likely to appear in the new framework.
Source: Business Travel News Europe
