‘Archaic’ legacy tech is crippling public sector productivity

‘Archaic technology’ is holding UK public sector workers back and is costing the taxpayer £45 billion, new figures show.

A scathing government report due to be published tomorrow found that legacy technology is crippling productivity and damaging public satisfaction in services.

Notably, the report found the previous government's over-reliance on contractors has sent costs rocketing, and outages and cyber attacks are endangering NHS and public services.

"Technology that sits at the foundation of our country has been left to wither and decay under the hands of the previous government, too often grinding to a halt and stalling essential public services – racking up a huge bill for the taxpayer," said technology secretary Peter Kyle.

"The new findings are also expected to show government departments have been pushed towards bringing in contractors and consultants to complete basic technological tasks instead of full-time staff.

"This trend was driven by weak salaries and headcount restrictions that stopped departments. This is despite them costing three times more than civil servants and eating up £14.5 billion in taxpayer money a year."

The report specifically highlighted the public sector’s over-reliance on paper, with some departments managing more than 500 paper-based services.

More than one-in-four digital systems used by the central government were also found to be outdated - with this figure rising to seven-in-ten in some cases.

This, the report pointed out, can rack up huge maintenance costs, ultimately resulting in the taxpayer paying three-to-four times more than if the technology was kept up to date.

Meanwhile, a growing number of these outdated systems are 'red-rated' for their reliability and security risk. NHS England alone saw 123 critical service outages last year, often meaning appointments were missed because staff were forced back to using paper-based systems.

Later this week, a new offering from an expanded Government Digital Service will be announced. This will scan for vulnerabilities across the public sector that hackers could use to shut down essential services. Support will then be provided to help fix any issues.

The government is also launching new AI tools designed to speed up the process of connecting clean energy projects to the national grid.

Similarly, another AI solution, dubbed Scout, is aimed at helping officials deliver major multi-billion-pound projects on time and to budget by automatically analyzing thousands of documents to detect problems earlier and enable timely interventions that keep projects on track.

It replaces processes whereby up to 150 reports and documents are manually reviewed, leading to crucial details being glossed over and opportunities to prevent problems missed.

"There is a £45 billion jackpot for the public sector if we get technology adoption right - that’s twice the size of the black hole we faced when we took office, and it’s not an opportunity we can let pass us by," Kyle said.

Last week, the National Audit Office (NAO) released a report into the way the government has worked with technology suppliers, saying it had wasted taxpayers’ money and missed opportunities to modernize government.

Digital contracts, it said, were awarded without enough preparation, thanks to pressure to deliver.

Legacy tech isn’t restricted to the public sector

The issue of legacy technology isn’t unique to the public sector, with research showing outdated IT infrastructure still plagues private enterprises globally.

A report from NTT Data in June 2024 found legacy tech is holding back more than eight-in-ten organizations worldwide - and this is having a serious impact on digital transformation goals.

An overwhelming majority (94%) of C-suite executives told NTT Data that legacy infrastructure is hampering business agility.

Contributing factors behind this included rapid modernization, a fragmented supplier ecosystem, and the proliferation of technology consumption models.