After being attacked by David Cameron in the leader’s debates during the general election, there’s more bad news for the Met as it is revealed their HR system is £10 million over budget.
The Metropolitan Police Service’s new HR system is currently £10 million over budget and running six months late, according to a report in The Times. So far, the system-in-progress has cost £48 million, and there’s now no fixed date in place for when it will go live.
The new platform, which is being provided by ICT vendor Steria, will eventually manage over 55,000 staff at the Metropolitan Police Service, and was expected to deliver £15 million of cost efficiencies per year.
The terms of the contract include the provision of a call centre, and self-service functionality for a number of areas, including sick leave, holidays, and pay, for both police officers and civilian staff. The overhaul of the HR department, which began four years ago, forms part of the Force’s wider plan to find £366 million in overall efficiency savings by 2013.
One source told The Times, “It’s a very sensitive matter…Lawyers have been consulted but the cost of litigation would be greater than the cost of trying to fix it.” Another said while it was too soon to conclude the system has “completely broken down” if it wasn’t live by the autumn, “the sky will fall in on those responsible.” Eyes are now beginning to turn towards the New Scotland Yard’s HR director, Martin Tiplady.
According to a spokesperson for the Met, the new HR system is now expected to go live in the ambiguous ‘second half of the year’ timeframe.
One Response
Nice post
This is not good to hear. Without knowing all the facts about who may be accountable and the process that they went through when selecting the system it is difficult to ascertain where and how it went wrong.
— Dave Evans, commercial director at accessplanit, specialising in training administration software and learning management system.