Going digital ‘would slash cost of government services’

18 Jan 13
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has pledged to reduce spending on government transactions after publishing the costs of providing many basic services.
By Richard Johnstone | 18 January 2013

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has pledged to reduce spending on government transactions after publishing the costs of providing many basic services.

Government services applying for a passoport Photo: Shutterstock

The data show the average cost of processing 44 services, ranging from passport applications to driving test bookings. These represent 88% of the more than 1 billion transactions handled by central government, and cost just over £2bn a year to run.

According to the breakdown produced by the Cabinet Office, the most expensive service is the Single Payment Scheme managed by the Rural Payments Agency. This makes payments to farmers under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, and processing each claim costs an average of £727.

The figures also reveal it costs £223 for the government to deal with a successful visa application, while completing the process for a new passport costs the Home Office’s Identity and Passport Service £64.68.

Among the cheaper transactions, Revenue & Customs spends an average of only 5p on stamp duty reserve tax returns. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s Statutory Off-Road Notification system, for vehicles no longer used, costs just 47p.

These low-cost services, which can be undertaken online, illustrate the savings that can be made by making government ‘digital by default’, Maude said. It is estimated that, in total, more than 650 transactional services are provided by central government, costing between £6bn and £9bn to run annually.

‘Making this data public is an important step for transparency and ensuring government is accountable for the cost and efficiency of the services it provides,’ Maude said.

‘This data sets a baseline for service performance – something the public can, and should, judge our progress on as we move to making all government services digital by default, as set out in the Government Digital Strategy and the departmental digital strategies published at the end of last year.’

Among other frequently used services, it costs an average of £46.58 to process an application for a student loan. Completing a Child Benefit claim costs £6.20, and booking a practical driving test is £1.10. Each filing of an account at Companies House costs £5.20.

Mike Bracken, executive director for the Government Digital Service, added: ‘Greater visibility around service performance – including cost per transaction – is an essential step towards delivering digital services that are simpler, clearer and faster. We are working closely with departments to transform key public services and help them to become digital by default.’

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