Ministers spent more than £500,000 of taxpayers' money on a 'vanity' makeover for the government website which critics say is little more than changing a colour and moving a dot.
The gov.uk site, used by millions for essential services such as tax returns and passport renewals, will see its traditional black masthead turned blue and its 'dot' coloured turquoise.
The tweaks were commissioned as part of 'brand refresh' with contracts totalling £532,000 handed to global ad agency M&C Saatchi.
The costly new logo, set to go live this month, has already met with ridicule from civil servants, with one mocking online: 'Did someone really get paid to move a dot?'.
Others labelled it 'cheap', 'tacky' and 'absolutely diabolical'.
