2. The project suffered delays and

2. The project suffered delays and in May 1999 the government decided that removing the payment card from the project was preferable to continuation, and offered better value for money than complete cancellation which would prejudice the early automation of the Post Office. The Comptroller and Auditor General reported that cancellation of the benefit payment card had cost the parties and the taxpayer upwards of £1 billion in abortive costs, the write down of assets and delayed reductions in benefits fraud.[2] We therefore examined the lessons to be learned from the Benefits Payment Card project, and the alternative arrangements now being developed for paying benefits. We took into account the report of this Committee's predecessor, in January 2000, on the lessons to be learned from the implementation of more than 25 IT systems, and the Government's response.[3]
3. In the light of our examination, we draw three overall conclusions: