UK Home Office Hikes Tech Consultant Spend To £350M Despite Pledge To Cut Costs

The UK Home Office has upped its planned spending on external data and tech consultants by £100 million to a maximum of £350 million.

The move follows a six-month delay to the start of a deal designed to provide external skills for the central government department's Data Services & Analytics (DSA) service. This comes despite the government's promise to cut spending on consultants and warnings that the shortage of internal skills was holding up digital transformation.

Last week, the Home Office published a revised notice for the procurement of DSA contracts designed to "provide data related professions on a resource augmentation basis as well as… outcome based pieces of work," using industry-speak for consultants' spending.

As well as data and analytics roles, it was also looking for consultants to help with tech delivery, architecture, and user-centered design. It pegged the maximum value expected from a framework call-off at £350 million, with the contract expected to start on March 2, 2026.

However, an earlier "future opportunity" notice published in October last year said the contract would start on August 11, 2025. An "early engagement notice" published in June 2024 said the indicative value of the contract would be £250 million over five years.

The Home Office said it would use an existing framework agreement (Digital Specialists and Programmes) to find suppliers for the deal. Signatories to the framework include regular names in government consultancy including Accenture, Capgemini, Capita, CGI, Deloitte, Sopra Steria, and Tata.

The Register has asked the Home Office why it has increased the expected maximum value of the contract and delayed its start date.

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The government's spending review in June promised to bring down the costs of spending on external consultants [PDF]. It said it had saved £550 million in the 2024-25 financial year "by stopping non-essential spending on consultancy" and expects to save more than £700 million per year by 2028-29, "reducing spend by half compared to previous trends."

The government has previously promised to slash spending on consultants. As well as the rising cost, the erosion of internal skills will likely concern government watchers.

In 2023, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee reported on the barriers to achieving greater efficiency through digital transformation. Dame Meg Hillier MP, chair at the time, said the government's digital ambitions were "hobbled by staff shortages, and a lack of support, accountability and focus from the top."

The Register has also asked the Home Office how it has improved recruitment, retention, and development of internal tech roles in light of these comments. ®