The Achieving better for Less Award Shortlist

IMS Finance, Planning and Control Team, HM Revenue & Customs

When HM Revenue & Customs was formed in April 2005 it created one of the largest IT functions in the UK. Information Management Services (IMS) is responsible for managing suppliers, infrastructure and support for this, one of the UK’s most complex and extensive IT operations.

Limited integration of the IT meant that the newly formed IMS inherited a huge, complex and ageing estate. Increasing maintenance costs, a perception within HMRC that somehow IT was free and not their responsibility, and a view that all needed bespoke IT systems, meant that the IT model was unsustainable, even before the challenges presented by the SR10 settlement.

IMS tackled the perception that IT is free by introducing a Consumption Unit Pricing (CUP) Model, a ‘soft chargeback’ system which makes the cost and usage of IT transparent to the Department. This model is seen as best practice in government and the government CIO is keen to roll it out across Whitehall.

The solution was a series of dynamic and innovative initiatives to fundamentally change the way IT is viewed in HMRC, challenge IMS and our suppliers to deliver a technological environment that reduced costs while delivering an enhanced IT estate.

The results so far have been impressive, with IT costs falling from 22.8 per cent to 16.3 per cent of departmental spend while delivering significant improvement to the IT estate.