True cost of Guernsey States failed IT transformation is £21M

Tuesday, 21 April 2026 07:20

The MyGov IT programme investigation blames poor management and weak financial control but stops short of naming those responsible.

MyGov was meant to be an online portal that would make accessing Guernsey's government services easier.

It was promoted to the public as a modern, accessible tool that would make 'significant savings'.

However, the project has been labelled a failure with 'no meaningful benefit to taxpayers.'

A report published today (21 April 2026) reveals £21M of public money has gone into the work - £3M more than originally thought in November.

This investigation, spearheaded by Guernsey's Head of the Public Service, Boley Smillie, says things went wrong 'on multiple levels.'

He explains that other projects were added to the MyGov programme, making objectives, costs and responsibilities unclear to staff.

"Each change added complexity and made it harder to maintain a clear understanding of what MyGov was and what it was trying to achieve.

"This constant movement diluted focus and blurred accountability.

"The cumulative impact was significant: costs increased, while the benefits and savings originally promised were not realised."

Mr Smillie says these issues persisted, and despite opportunities, there was no 'decisive leadership intervention' to slow or stop the rate of
expenditure.

The over-reliance on external contractors, particularly Agilisys, is highlighted in the report and Island FM has approached them for comment.

READ: States of Guernsey terminates £200M IT contract with Agilisys

However, no senior civil servants are named in the report, as was expected.

Mr Smillie says 'The time for analysis has passed; the focus now is on action.'

As an organisation, he is promising 'reform how we approach leadership' and better transparency for the people of Guernsey.

This includes reducing reliance on external companies, taking internal control of tech, strengthening governance and accountability by aligning senior civil servants with principal committees and their projects.