A couple of weeks ago I wrote that The NAO report into HMRC’s 2012-2013 accounts noted that the cost of implementing RTI is £356.6M (£115M over budget).
HMRC has issued a rebuttal of sorts, blaming the high costs on an extended pilot of the system.
HMRC had initially intended to put a few hundred PAYE schemes through a six-month pilot, but decided later to include 60,000 on a year-long test-run of the system.
Payroll World quote Suzanne Newton, RTI programme director at HMRC, who explained to a select committee of MPs that in recognition of the significant change brought about by RTI HMRC needed to “invest well” to ensure a successful implementation.
“Our initial cost assumptions back in 2010 were based on delivering a rather different solution, but as we worked through and consulted with stakeholders what was put through the pilot, and ultimately into the national rollout, changed quite considerably.”In other words reality didn't match expectations/budget!
The good news is that “only in the highly unlikely event of a catastrophic incident which took out a whole data centre” would the RTI system be unable to continue its normal output.
Hoozah!
Tax does have to be taxing.
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Can't we protest against HMRC'S budget in the same way as we used to deal with estimated tax assessments in days of yore: "We appeal against this budget on the grounds that is estimated, and will inevitably prove inadequate. We therefore apply for the postponement of any money charged under it."
ReplyDeleteI fear that we are well past the 30 day limit.
Ken/fellow readers,
ReplyDeleteCan anyone respond with knowledge, as opposed to speculation wrt this query?
Has/is HMRC been subject to Cabinet Office/Government special measures, and if so what/when?
In April 2011 this site referred on more than 1 occasion to special measures.
The fact that RTI cannot survive the loss of a Data Centre means they do not have a proper Disaster Recovery plan in place, That is a bit of a shocking admission and may explain how they have kept within budget. Presumably HMRC think they are never going to suffer a major fire, flood, accident etc in one of their computer halls. I think that is a pretty big assumption. It reminds me of the old quote that there are only 2 kinds of people in IT - Those who have tested DR plan to use after a major failure and those who are about to find out why they ought to have had a tested DR plan. HMRC are clearly in the latter category
ReplyDeleteHMRC foregoes £950m in PAYE amid system overhaul
ReplyDeleteEstimated savings from RTI £300 million. Cost of lost tax £950 miliion. This suggests a net cost of introducing RTI is at least £650 million without counting the cost of developing the IT system
Sheer genius