Job's a good 'un: Bank of England tech project wins watchdog praise
The Public Accounts Committee has praised the Bank of England's £431 million Real-Time Gross Settlement system as a rare success in public sector tech transformation. Unlike typical large-scale government IT projects, the RTGS implementation avoided major delays and cost overruns. The committee urged other public bodies to learn from this example to improve future digital programs.
- ▪The Bank of England successfully implemented its £431 million Real-Time Gross Settlement system on time and within budget.
- ▪The Public Accounts Committee highlighted the project as an unusual success compared to other troubled public sector IT initiatives.
- ▪Other failed or delayed projects cited include the Emergency Services Network and National Savings & Investments' digital overhaul.
- ▪The committee recommended that the Cabinet Office and other government bodies adopt lessons from the Bank's project.
- ▪The PAC typically reports on project failures but made an exception by promoting a positive case study this time.
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Public Sector Job's a good 'un: Bank of England tech project wins watchdog praise PAC: Now why can't everybody else in public sector do it like this? Lindsay Clark Sun 3 May 2026 // 08:34 UTC Parliament's spending watchdog has held up a successful large-scale public sector tech transformation as a rare example worth emulating, in a striking departure from the usual diet of failure and overspend. Reporting on the implementation of the Bank of England's £431 million Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, the Public Accounts Committee said the UK central bank worked hard to deal with the "inevitable challenges that arise over the course of a major long-term digital program, overcoming many common problems that we see in public sector transformation." Instead of requiring the public bodies…
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