Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Legacy IT systems consume vast expenditure while posing persistent risks to public services.
Conclusion
Many of government’s IT systems are ‘legacy’, because they are ageing and outdated but still in use. The government estimated that it used nearly half of its £4.7 billion IT expenditure in 2019 to keep legacy systems running. Risks to public services posed by legacy technology have built up over many years.51 In 2023, the Government Digital Service published a legacy IT risk assessment framework. It has used this to collect data from some departments about the legacy systems they own, the risks they present, and plans to remediate them.52
Government Response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 18 September 2025. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document ↗