A Government-imposed governance review of Birmingham City Council has been expanded after massive failures in its accounts IT system emerged.
Last week, it materialised that the £19m costs of an IT and HR contract, which was supposed to streamline the council’s accounts, had ballooned to nearly £40m.
The Oracle contract – due to be delivered in December 2020 – is unlikely to be up and running until next year. Currently, the council’s payment system is in chaos, with the finance department unable to track who owes it money.
According to sources close to Birmingham, it is thought that up to 100,000 transactions for 2022-23 could have been affected, with a further 2,000 new transactions a week going through the failing system.
Now local government minister Lee Rowley has stepped in and demanded the Whitehall governance review planned for the troubled council’s housing and special educational needs and disability services be extended to cover its finances too.
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