Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 7
67th Report - NS&I’s transformation programme
Published 13 Feb 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee NS&I’s transformation programme All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We asked NS&I why it had been trying to do such a complex Programme, splitting operations undertaken by a single supplier into a multi-supplier model, in such a risky way. The NAO report shows that NS&I original planned expected four transition stages to happen largely at the same time, and NS&I accepted that it was originally trying to do too much at once, and that it should have recognised this before 2024, taken a step back and re-evaluated, and made sure that it had a viable implementation plan. NS&I said it originally wanted to do things in a more sequential way, and suggested it had been forced to change approach when it had been unable to award a contract (for the second phase, customer experience) as planned.11 5 C&AG’s Report, para 13 6 Committee of Public Accounts, Government’s relationship with digital technology suppliers, Twenty-Seventh Report of Session 2024–25, HC 640, 6 June 2025, para 2; C&AG’s Report, Government’s approach to technology suppliers: addressing the challenges, Session 2024–25, HC 543, 16 January 2025, para 3 7 C&AG’s Report, para 10 8 Q 1 9 C&AG’s Report, para 10 10 Qq 5, 15 11 Q 11; C&AG’s Report, Figure 6 8
From: Public Accounts Committee, 67th Report - NS&I’s transformation programme (HC 1237), 13 February 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 April 2026 (deadline 13 April 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the recommendations in the report, and sets target implementation dates between June and Autumn 2026.
- On the integrated plan, the government agrees that NS&I should prepare a realistic plan. NS&I is developing costed options, which will form the basis of a revised Full Business Case in the second quarter of 2026-27, "subject to Treasury and Ministerial process timings".
- NS&I will write to the Committee "within six months" setting out the integrated plan, including timelines and a revised estimated cost, and will provide a written update on its risk management framework "by June 2026".
- On culture, a business-wide programme of cultural change activity will be developed, with an initial plan to go to the Board and the Treasury in early Summer 2026 for "rolling implementation over the coming 12-18 months".
- The Treasury says it will evaluate NS&I's agreed plan through a full Treasury Approval Panel process and will write to the Committee in the Autumn on lessons learned from its oversight.