Met Police IT project at least £10m over budget

New HR system is costing taxpayers £48m and counting

Met police IT project is late and over budget

A computer system that was supposed to manage the HR department and reduce office costs of the Metropolitan Police is running six months late and £10m over budget, according to a report in The Times.

The police force had planned to spend £38m overhauling its HR department, but the computer system is estimated to have already cost £48m and is still far from completed.

The Met has consulted legal advisers about the troubled contract, which is with French IT firm Steria.

Details of the Met’s difficulties come as police chiefs are under mounting political pressure to cut spending. Most are trying to find similar ways of cutting administrative costs and some forces are considering mergers.

Labour set the police in England and Wales a target for £480m in savings this year, and the £6bn in extra cuts the new coalition government is planning will mean further projects aimed at reducing costs.

A Met spokesman acknowledged the problems: “It is a major change programme. The original go-live date was forecast to be December 2009 but the technology is not yet fully developed."

Although he was unwilling to be drawn on a specific date, he predicted that the system would be ready in the second half of the year.