Capita hit with £1.8m penalty for delays to criminal records IT system

The government has been forced to reveal that IT services provider Capita has been hit with a £1.8m penalty for delays relating to its handling of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) computer system.

The Home Office had initially declined to answer an MP's questions about charges relating to the contract because of confidentiality reasons and only responded after being ordered to disclose the figures following a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Paul Goggins, Home Office minister for the CRB, said in a letter that penalties incurred and agreed by Capita up to 31 January 2003 totaled £1.8m, which comprised £1.1m for failure to meet three-week turnaround times for teachers and schools staff last year, and £550,000 for delays in the development of the system.

There have been problems with the troubled £400m private finance initiative (PFI) CRB contract since its launch last year with massive backlogs delaying checks on employees who would be working with potentially vulnerable adults or children for criminal convictions such as serious sex offences.

MP and Liberal Democrat shadow Treasury spokesman, Matthew Taylor, called for an apology from the government and Capita and described the CRB as a "monumental failure".

"This contract was a botched job for which the government and private sector must share equal blame. To make matters worse, the contract and the penalties incurred under it have been shrouded in secrecy. The CRB is a vital part of the safety net protecting the most vulnerable from abuse and neglect."

A Capita spokesman told silicon.com that the company incurred the penalties because of changes in requirements added by the Home Office after the contract had been signed and the system designed.

"These relate to the original contract conditions and business processes. After those targets were set and before the CRB became operational the Home Office and CRB agency made significant changes to the business processes."

He said the Home Office has also been forced to pay Capita an additional £8.4m because of those changes to the original requirements. He also added that the renegotiation of the contract was "going well" and that reports Capita is considering pulling out altogether are untrue.