With just 16 weeks to go on the project timeframe of the sign-in tool to be used across government, leaders have given a positive view of the outlook for delivery
As the £300m-plus GOV.UK One Login programme enters the final weeks of its scheduled delivery, the minister responsible for its oversight has asserted that the programme “is on budget and on schedule”.
Having formally begun work at the start of 2021, the One Login scheme is slated to conclude at the end of March 2025, according to data sets published by government on its major project portfolio (GMPP). The yearly roundup released in 2023 indicates that the total cost of delivery is estimated at £305m – from which government believes it will achieve benefits of £1.75bn.
Last year’s annual GMPP report gave the programme to deliver a new cross-government system for securely access services an amber rating on the traffic-light scale used by assessors from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority. This indicates that “successful delivery of the project to time, cost and quality appears feasible but significant issues already exist requiring management attention; these appear resolvable at this stage and, if addressed promptly, should not present a cost [or] schedule overrun”.
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Comments made this week by AI and digital government minister Feryal Clark suggest that any such issues have been resolved and – with 16 weeks left until One Login’s slated conclusion – work is on track.
“The GOV.UK One Login programme is on budget and on schedule. It operates under the controls outlined in its full business case, including Cabinet Office and HM Treasury spend controls, and independent assurance reviews conducted by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority”, Clark said, in answer to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MP Richard Holden. “The IPA’s most recent review concluded that the programme is delivering effectively despite operating in an inherently complex environment, and remains on schedule.”
While March 2025 is the delivery target set out in the GMPP, this marks the deadline for departments to begin rolling out One Login across their services – a process which will likely continue for months beyond this point. The new government-wide sign-in tool is already in use supporting more than 40 services and the aim is for the system to ultimately be implemented ubiquitously across all government agencies and hundreds of individual services. In doing so, it will replace a previous patchwork of almost 200 separate accounts systems and 44 separate sign-in methods.
