Hull Embarks On £5m IT Overhaul

Hull City Council has revealed it is planning a £5m IT upgrade, including a mobile strategy, with the help of consultants.

It is hoping the new technology strategy will improve the delivery of services to the public and increase levels of customer care.

The local authority is currently struggling with budgetary constraints and hopes the transformation will ultimately save millions in the long run.

“The lack of online services, associated integration to ‘back office’ systems and absence of investment in regularly upgrading supporting systems has resulted in the need for a significant overhaul,” a council report claims.

Deputy council leader Daren Hale also acknowledged that Hull’s digital offerings are currently not up to scratch and this leads residents to use alternatives.

“Our website is not very good. The reason why some people come to a call centre of customer service centre is because it is easier than using the technology available,” Hale told local press.

The local authority is currently cutting the opening hours for a number of its services and intends for better quality digital services to be built to make up for this.

Despite this, Hale has claimed that “core” face-to-face services will be retained for complex case.

Threat To Potential Savings

Procurement of software, software engineering and consultancy is expected to cost £5.2m, with ongoing costs of £442,000 per year.

However, there is some concern that there is “significant risk” that the projected savings of £19m by 2025 will not be realised.

Staff will not be affected by the savings drive in the short term but the report does reveal that some savings are predicted from staffing reductions.

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