DWP launches IT modernisation plan

The Department for Work and Pensions is revising supplier contracts to slash costs through standardisation

Stephen Timms, cabinet minister for pensions, today outlined new plans for modernising IT usage, platforms and contracts at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Timms and Steven Holt, chief operating officer at the DWP, described a five-point programme designed to make better use of current systems. It includes the revision of existing outsourcing contracts.

The initiative has already seen the DWP revise contracts with both BT and EDS, which Timms said would lead to cost savings going forward. The revised agreements will enable the DWP to benefit from BT's 21st Century Network project, a wide-ranging plan to update BT's infrastructure using internet protocols. Holt said that the DWP's network would be the biggest implementation of its kind and would enable a single IP infrastructure to link up a wide range of legacy systems. "This gives us massive flexibility," Holt added.

Rejuvenating legacy systems is increasingly important to the DWP, which will seek to implement a single architecture that will enable these systems to communicate.

Another key aspect of the programme is that all future IT roll-outs will be incremental. Speaking of past failures Holt said, "We will no longer see big-bang launches - no one builds systems like that anymore."

Rather than try and build new systems from the ground up, the DWP will also look to use off-the-shelf systems where possible. And finally, the department will regularly benchmark itself against industry practices, to ensure it is using the right equipment, that its technology is future-proofed and that it is paying a fair rate for it.

Timms said that he found the reporting of "bad news" about IT failures depressing and wanted to redress the balance, adding, "We are seeing the challenges that we face being successfully addressed". The minister added that a £2.2bn investment in IT would see the DWP make savings of approximately £1bn a year by 2008 and was already letting the department cut staff across its subsidiaries, such as within Job Centres.

Timms said that the department must address three main issues. The first of these, payment modernisation, is the most advanced. "Until recently benefit payment was done using 1940s ration book technology," Timms said. "Now, 95 percent of such benefits are paid direct into a bank account." He added that this was enabled through the placing of keypads at every Post Office counter in the UK, a rollout that sceptics said could not be achieved, but was, on time and successfully.

Secondly, the department will continue to roll out its job point terminals for employment agencies. These terminals replace the traditional 'post card' method of displaying job advertisements in Job Centres. The information held on these machines is also available on the internet and is the government's most popular online service.

The DWP is also attempting to modernise the way it pays out pensions with its Pensions Transformation Programme. Here Timms said that the department would use information it already holds about individuals to asses their eligibility for new benefits. "We are applying technology to achieve transformation. We are now active, rather than passive" he added.