29 February 2008
The Jobcentre Plus agency has won praise from the National Audit Office, after establishing more than 850 offices around the country in a project that was completed for £314m less than the original £2.2bn budget.
The new offices replaced 1,500 former jobcentres and social security offices, uniting their functions in one of the largest UK public sector construction programmes in recent years.
The agency has also transferred the processing of benefit claims to 79 centralised centres.
In its report, The roll-out of Jobcentre Plus office network, the NAO said that about £136m of the £314m saved came from reductions in the project's scale.
Another £120m–£140m savings were produced through improved procurement after switching to a 'partnering environment', with a further £50m saved through other efficiencies.
'Delivering the offices using a more conventional procurement strategy would have cost around 15% more,' the report published on February 22 says.
Tim Burr, the auditor general, said: 'There are lessons here for other government departments undertaking major procurement projects.'
Public Accounts Committee chair Edward Leigh welcomed the delivery of the project 'under budget, albeit slightly behind schedule'.
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