67th Report - NS&I’s transformation programme
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1237
13 February 2026
Recommendations
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Conclusions (16) Observations and findings — click to expand
1
Conclusion
Acknowledged
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from National Savings & Investments (NS&I) and from HM Treasury (the Treasury) on NS&I’s Business Transformation Programme.1
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the Committee's foundational conclusion and provides an update on NS&I's Business Transformation Programme, including plans for developing options for a revised Full Business Case by Q2 2026-27 and leadership changes to address operational failures.
10
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Despite the lack of information on timetable and cost, NS&I claimed it was confident that it could find a way to deliver the Programme by 2028, by “deprioritising” some aspects of the Programme.22 When asked how it could be confident without an agreed integrated plan, NS&I could only say this …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about the lack of information on timetable and cost and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
11
Conclusion
Acknowledged
When we asked if decisions were being taken based on evidence, NS&I said that “there is always a chance that assumptions are incorrect”.26 The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority had found that NS&I’s understanding of the alternative approaches had not been robust, and NS&I said its understanding had improved …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge these concerns and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance. NS&I is working to develop a comprehensive integrated plan that includes clear timelines, cost estimates, and resource allocation.
12
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The external organisations that have reviewed the programme told the NAO that NS&I was sometimes or often slow to act, or did not act at all, on advice.29 We asked whether NS&I’s leadership had learned from the issues with the Programme. NS&I offered two lessons: it acknowledged that it had …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about NS&I's slowness to act on advice and commit to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
13
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked the chief executive if he was creating a ‘good news’ culture, which the NAO has identified as a factor in why programmes resets may not work, and which can lead to a situation where decisions are not made and disagreements between stakeholders are not resolved. He told us …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about a 'good news' culture and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
14
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Government Internal Audit Agency’s review of NS&I’s culture in December 2024, found that staff felt decision-making was slow and hierarchical, decision-making processes were not understood, and there was a lack of transparency within Programme processes.36 NS&I introduced a leadership development programme as a response to the review, and NS&I …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge these concerns and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance. NS&I is working to develop a comprehensive integrated plan that includes clear timelines, cost estimates, and resource allocation.
15
Conclusion
Acknowledged
In taking forward the Programme, NS&I launched multiple procurements and planned to deliver four transitions in parallel, with no understanding of the risks that this was exposing the organisation and its customers to. NS&I said it had identified supply chain risk as a key area of focus.38 However, NS&I focused …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about the Programme's procurements and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
16
Conclusion
Acknowledged
There are still many risks for the Programme to manage, for example the replacement of the ‘core banking engine’ is extremely high risk, but the main work has yet to start.41 NS&I agreed that when it replaced its banking engine, data migration would be a “huge consideration”, and said it …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about risks to the Programme and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
17
Conclusion
Acknowledged
In 2025, NS&I implemented a new Risk Management Framework, but has not yet fully embedded the framework throughout its organisation.43 We wanted assurance that this framework is good enough to ensure that risks to customer data could be managed, and NS&I claimed it was “comprehensive”.44 NS&I did say that it …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about risk management and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
18
Conclusion
Acknowledged
NS&I had most of its operations contracted out when starting the Programme, and it had limited capability to deliver a digital transformation.46 NS&I told us it has found it difficult to recruit the additional skills and capability the Programme needs. It has made substantial use of consultants in the Programme, …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about skills and capability and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
19
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We pushed NS&I to tell us if it now had the skills and capability it needed. NS&I acknowledged that it had needed to bring in more capability, including in systems integration and at senior levels.50 It also, eventually, recognised that for a Programme “this big and complex, we will not …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about skills and capability and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
20
Conclusion
Acknowledged
NS&I said it was now developing a plan for workforce management in a more structured way, but did not provide details.54 It had identified the need to transfer knowledge from consultants to permanent staff.55 Its recruitment 45 Q 63 46 C&AG’s Report, paras 8, 13 47 Q 67; C&AG’s Report, …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about workforce management and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
21
Conclusion
Acknowledged
NS&I will continue to rely on Atos, which suffered financial distress in 2024, until at least 2028. NS&I told us it now has a contract management framework to manage Atos and the contracts with new suppliers. NS&I will need to be much better at managing supplier contracts to maximise the …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge these concerns and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance. NS&I is working to develop a comprehensive integrated plan that includes clear timelines, cost estimates, and resource allocation.
22
Conclusion
Acknowledged
NS&I has its own accounting officer and its own Board, and is responsible for the Programme, while the Treasury is NS&I’s sponsor in government and also has a role overseeing major programmes across government.64 The Treasury told us that it has to judge how it provides this oversight, operating an …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about the Treasury's oversight role and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
23
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The NAO found that the Treasury has increased its scrutiny of the Programme since 2024, and had instigated changes to governance, including appointing new NEDs.66 The Treasury noted that it has now moved to a “quite interventionist” approach, but agreed that this could have happened earlier.67 Although the Treasury knew …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about the timing of increased scrutiny of the Programme and commit to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.
24
Conclusion
Acknowledged
NS&I said its governance structures had evolved, and it would add more NEDs. It said these changes were improving delivery, but gave no substantive answer to how its governance would ensure problems did not happen again. It also acknowledged that there was still a lack of clarity over the role …
Government Response Summary
The Treasury and NS&I acknowledge concerns about governance structures and are committed to addressing them through robust planning, risk management, and governance, including developing a comprehensive integrated plan and strengthening systems integration capabilities.