OUT-OF-DATE technology is being used by the Home Office to decide who is allowed into the UK – and the cost of replacing it has risen by £173 million, a spending watchdog has found.
According to the National Audit Office (NAO), the department had to “reset” its Digital Services at the Border (DSB) programme and pushed back delivery from March 2019 to March 2022. The Home Office started DSB in 2014, aimed at replacing legacy systems which it considered increasingly expensive, difficult to maintain and unfit for the future needs of government.
It intended to replace it with a system giving Border Force staff better information to make decisions about people crossing the border and to track goods entering and leaving the UK.
However, when it started, the NAO said it lacked clear objectives, a timetable for delivery and a budget.
Over time, the programme’s scope expanded but the Home Office underestimated the technology requirements and capability to deliver them.
“The Home Office now has 16 months to introduce its new systems, including delivering the more technically complex aspects of the programme which it has previously struggled with,” said the NAO.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “The Digital Services at the Border programme did not achieve value for money by March 2019, failing to deliver what it intended and leaving Border Force staff to rely on outdated legacy systems. Since resetting the programme, there have been improvements and the Home Office has a better understanding of the significant risks and challenges ahead.
“It now needs to build on this work to ensure that it can deliver the programme at the pace and scale it requires.”
The Home Office said it had accepted the NAO’s recommendations, and there was now a clear focus and delivery plan in place.
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Meg Hillier, said the Home Office had failed to learn from mistakes with previous failed attempts to update systems.
She added: “The Home Office once again lost sight of the programme’s core purpose, trying to add more and more features like baubles on a Christmas tree. Failure was inevitable.”
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