NS&I's IT car crash considers cutting legacy links to stop the bleeding
(2026/01/30)
- Reference: 1769765407
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/30/nsandi_latest/
- Source link:
A British state-owned bank is reconfiguring its modernization project, including considering reducing connections with legacy systems, as it tries to claw back schedule and budget overruns that are far beyond early plans.
The National Savings & Investment (NS&I) transformation program is already £1.3 billion over budget and four years late. In December, chief executive Dax Harkins told MPs the organization was [1]outside HM Treasury spending limits and timetable under a revised plan from systems integrator Capgemini.
In [2]a letter to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week, he confirmed "that plan is currently forecast to complete outside the March 2028 target date and outside the agreed budget" set in the Spending Review last year.
[3]
He told Parliament's spending watchdog: "We recognize the challenge this presents and are working on options to improve the cost and time of program delivery, including what would be required to live within our Spending Review budget. The new options include reducing the need to connect our older legacy systems with our new services and new banking systems, and areas where we could reprioritize work.
[4]
[5]
"Work is underway now to assess the potential risks, impacts, and benefits of each option to inform our decision. This includes reviewing finances and dependencies for all options, and producing a draft business case for the preferred option, with the final decision on the delivery plan to be taken by ministers."
NS&I is an executive agency of the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer.
[6]
Last year, the National Audit Office (NAO) [7]slammed the program [PDF], which includes both a new customer-facing technology and banking engine, pointing out that it "carries an extremely high level of risk."
In 2020, NS&I began a business transformation program called Project Rainbow, which aimed to reduce the bank's running costs and replace its 20-year outsourcing deal with Atos by splitting the work into five separate contracts.
In 2014, the bank awarded Atos a new contract to run until 2021, and then extended it until 2024 and again until 2028 without competition.
[8]UK's state-owned bank launches hunt for core systems worth close to $1b
[9]MPs ask who's responsible when AI crashes the UK finance system
[10]Bank of England's Oracle cloud migration bill triples as project grinds on
[11]AI investment is the only thing keeping the US out of recession
As well as being the incumbent supplier for the legacy system, [12]Atos was awarded a £474.4 million ($612 million) contract to build systems including modernizing the core banking engine, as well as running payment, reporting, and business-to-business services from December 23, 2024, until March 31, 2028.
NS&I had originally gone to market to launch the competition for a new core banking, payments, and reporting system. However, the government-owned bank later said the award was made to Atos "as the incumbent service provider, Atos and its key sub-contractor(s), are the providers of the existing NS&I core banking platforms, which rely on interdependent leveraged technology and resources."
[13]
The total cost of the program is expected to hit £3 billion until 2030-31, including its contract with Atos and other running costs. The total cost increase is set for £1.3 billion compared to the 2020 business case, [14]the NAO said in November .
In his letter to the PAC, Harkins said NS&I was working with Capgemini to finish its options analysis by the end of March 2026. By June 2026, it hopes to get plans approved by HM Treasury. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/19/nsi_treasury_spending_cap/
[2] https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/51157/documents/283901/default/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/national-savings-and-investments-business-transformation-programme.pdf
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/04/nsandi_it_procurement/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/treasury_committee_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/09/bank_of_england_oracle/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/ai_investment_us_recession/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/troubled_french_outsourcer_atos_finds/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/nsandi_nao_report/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The National Savings & Investment (NS&I) transformation program is already £1.3 billion over budget and four years late. In December, chief executive Dax Harkins told MPs the organization was [1]outside HM Treasury spending limits and timetable under a revised plan from systems integrator Capgemini.
In [2]a letter to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week, he confirmed "that plan is currently forecast to complete outside the March 2028 target date and outside the agreed budget" set in the Spending Review last year.
[3]
He told Parliament's spending watchdog: "We recognize the challenge this presents and are working on options to improve the cost and time of program delivery, including what would be required to live within our Spending Review budget. The new options include reducing the need to connect our older legacy systems with our new services and new banking systems, and areas where we could reprioritize work.
[4]
[5]
"Work is underway now to assess the potential risks, impacts, and benefits of each option to inform our decision. This includes reviewing finances and dependencies for all options, and producing a draft business case for the preferred option, with the final decision on the delivery plan to be taken by ministers."
NS&I is an executive agency of the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer.
[6]
Last year, the National Audit Office (NAO) [7]slammed the program [PDF], which includes both a new customer-facing technology and banking engine, pointing out that it "carries an extremely high level of risk."
In 2020, NS&I began a business transformation program called Project Rainbow, which aimed to reduce the bank's running costs and replace its 20-year outsourcing deal with Atos by splitting the work into five separate contracts.
In 2014, the bank awarded Atos a new contract to run until 2021, and then extended it until 2024 and again until 2028 without competition.
[8]UK's state-owned bank launches hunt for core systems worth close to $1b
[9]MPs ask who's responsible when AI crashes the UK finance system
[10]Bank of England's Oracle cloud migration bill triples as project grinds on
[11]AI investment is the only thing keeping the US out of recession
As well as being the incumbent supplier for the legacy system, [12]Atos was awarded a £474.4 million ($612 million) contract to build systems including modernizing the core banking engine, as well as running payment, reporting, and business-to-business services from December 23, 2024, until March 31, 2028.
NS&I had originally gone to market to launch the competition for a new core banking, payments, and reporting system. However, the government-owned bank later said the award was made to Atos "as the incumbent service provider, Atos and its key sub-contractor(s), are the providers of the existing NS&I core banking platforms, which rely on interdependent leveraged technology and resources."
[13]
The total cost of the program is expected to hit £3 billion until 2030-31, including its contract with Atos and other running costs. The total cost increase is set for £1.3 billion compared to the 2020 business case, [14]the NAO said in November .
In his letter to the PAC, Harkins said NS&I was working with Capgemini to finish its options analysis by the end of March 2026. By June 2026, it hopes to get plans approved by HM Treasury. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/19/nsi_treasury_spending_cap/
[2] https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/51157/documents/283901/default/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/national-savings-and-investments-business-transformation-programme.pdf
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/04/nsandi_it_procurement/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/treasury_committee_ai/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/09/bank_of_england_oracle/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/ai_investment_us_recession/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/troubled_french_outsourcer_atos_finds/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXyPVR0_fDDBui0S-G8ctwAAAkg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/nsandi_nao_report/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The only banking app that didn't accept payments
af108
Up until maybe 12 months ago the NS&I mobile app didn't even let you pay money in.
They have updated it so you can now make a bank transfer to top up an account. Prior to this you had to use the website to do that - or use a card. You still have to use the website to withdraw money because the app doesn't support that either.
What kind of over budget bollocks is going on here when the basics of a bank (money in, money out) aren't even a function of it's digital service??
For those wondering the older version of the app literally let you see your accounts & balances. That was it.
Re: The only banking app that didn't accept payments
af108
Edit: I've just checked the app and it's worse than I thought.
To make a payment in it simply gives you an account number, sort code and reference on an info screen. Which you then have to instruct your bank to use. Pay by card or any other means? Not possible. Website only.
Payments out? Still website only.
It's 2026 ffs.
What do they actually do with all this money?
VoiceOfTruth
What is it being spent on? Why does it cost so much?
Somebody is making some money out of this. And, as usual with the way-over-budget 'progress', nobody will be held to account.
Re: What do they actually do with all this money?
Valeyard
The usual suspects line up like piglets to suckle at that government teat
A classic Systems Integrator approach to shafting clients
juliansh
The usual land and expand approach to get fingerprints all over the key applications, hollow out any in-house expertise and then hold the client to ransom over self-inflicted legacy dependencies (technical and personnel).
Tragic and immoral, yet Governments (of all colours) and big corporations fall for it time after time
Ns&i
The absolute irony of this article and those sums for no return being associated with the words "NATIONAL SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS"