Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 26
78th Report - The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme
Published 29 Apr 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The new RTGS provides a foundation for future development, but the NAO report has stressed how the Bank’s focus must now be on maintaining and enhancing the system to maximise benefits going forward.56 The Bank told us that the new system is more flexible than the legacy platform, with over 1,000 improvements made since its launch in April 2025.57 The Bank has adopted a new target operating model, bringing together payments and technology specialists, building technology support expertise and building in provision for continuous improvement.58 The Bank told us that as a result, estimated annual running costs have increased from £21 million to £40 million, reflecting the need for greater in-house technical capability to support RTGS operations, fix incidents and enhance the 51 Q 28 52 C&AG’s Report, para 2.21 53 Qq 43, 45 and 50; C&AG’s Report paras 1.14 and 1.20 54 Q 43 55 Q 31 56 C&AG’s Report, paras 23-24 57 Q 40 58 Q35; C&AG’s Report paras 3.2 and 3.8 15 system in the future.59 The Bank’s “evergreening” means that the technology function is enhanced on a continuous basis rather than “once-in-generation projects”60
From: Public Accounts Committee, 78th Report - The Bank of England’s Real-Time Gross Settlement Renewal Programme (HC 1732), 29 April 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 4 August 2026 (deadline 29 June 2026).