Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Acknowledged
Department’s legacy IT upgrade plans risk repeating past digital transformation failures
Conclusion
The Department told us that, if implemented successfully, its plans to upgrade its legacy IT could transform its customer service and productivity, enabling it to provide services where customers could do more for themselves where they are able to, and to take away some of the more administrative tasks that staff spent too much time doing to free up their capacity to spend more time serving customers. It said that it had just launched a customer account which would enable citizens to do things across multiple benefits, rather than just one by one.40 However, we have previously noted that major digital transformation programmes have often failed to deliver as intended, with government struggling to modernise a legacy environment at the same time as harbouring a major ambition to exploit opportunities from new technologies.41 38 Qq 62-63 39 Qq 58-59, 68-69 40 Qq 53, 64 41 Committee of Public Accounts, Government’s relationship with digital technology suppliers, Twenty-Seventh Report of Session 2024–25, HC 640, 6 June 2025, p 1 15
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and states that the Service Modernisation Programme is delivering as intended. They outline several achievements and future improvements to the Customer Account.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
5.8 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.9 The Service Modernisation Programme is delivering as intended. The Customer Account went live in September 2025 providing customers with a 24/7 service enabling them to access and immediately download a Proof of Benefit letter for Employment Support Allowance, Job Seeker’s Allowance, Income Support, State Pension, Pension Credit, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance and Personal Independence Payment. 5.10 To date over 50,000 requests have been processed and by Summer 2026, the department expects customers will be able to view past and upcoming payments information across a range of benefits via the account. 5.11 Moving forward, the department will deliver the ability for customers to report certain changes in circumstance via the account. All required information will be captured at the first point of contact and shared across relevant benefit lines. The department is currently working on the first iteration of that service. 5.12 The department will deliver a message centre capability enabling customers and colleagues to view digital copies of letters. A minimum viable product is due to go live this Summer, followed by planned six monthly releases for additional notifications to be included. 5.13 The department will deliver functionality for customers to upload documentary evidence to support claims and changes, reducing risks associated with postal services, improving convenience for customers and reducing fraud, error and debt. All new capabilities will be rigorously evaluated following Government Digital Service standards, before releasing services to the public. As a Government Major Projects Portfolio programme, all deliverables are reviewed by the National Infrastructure and Transformation Authority (NISTA) to ensure quality, value and readiness for scale.