Public Sector IT - the simplicity dividend

Public Sector IT is very expensive, costing around £17Bn per annum (not that the government can tell you the precise cost). I think most of us would gladly trade some IT expenditure for the NHS or education, but how to do it? I will kick some ideas around in this blog, beginning with the costs of unnecessary complexity.

Consider New Tax Credits. Much has been written about the fiasco, the cost of overpayments (£1Bn+ pa), the cost of the IT system (£230m by 2005, apparently) and the penalties imposed on EDS for the IT failure (£70m+ reportedly), but the simple fact is that this is an example of unnecessary complexity creating enormous consequential costs. So why not reverse the policy - large organisations keep accounts payable and accounts receivable separate for good reasons, why would government wish to muddle them (other than for the then-Chancellor's political advantage)? Simplify the tax and benefit system, do away with New Tax Credits, put the tax thresholds up to compensate and channel any adjustments into the benefit system. The result will get rid of an IT system that has never worked very well and has cost (conservatively) a lot more than it costs to run my local Police Service annually. Turning off all those servers should help save the planet too........