West Sussex County Council's Oracle Fusion Project Delayed Again as Costs Explode to £41M—15 Times Original Budget
Key Takeaways
- ▸Oracle Fusion HR and payroll implementation delayed to October 2026, now five years behind the original 2021 timeline
- ▸Project costs have skyrocketed from £2.6M to £41M, a 1,475% increase over six years
- ▸DXC contract terminated in 2023 after determining no viable delivery plan existed; contractor was paid £6.6M despite original £4M contract
Summary
West Sussex County Council has postponed the rollout of Oracle Fusion for HR and payroll to October 2026, marking another delay for a project that was originally supposed to launch in 2021. The implementation, which will affect over 20,000 users, has seen costs balloon from an initial £2.6 million estimate in 2019 to £41 million today—a 15-fold increase. The council cited the need to ensure system stability and reliable payroll processing for schools and term-time employees as reasons for the extended timeline.
The troubled project has been plagued by poor governance, budgeting weaknesses, and contractor challenges. Systems integrator DXC was terminated in September 2023 after the council determined there was no viable plan for delivery, despite the firm receiving approximately £6.6 million in payments—over 50% above its original contract value. Auditors EY previously flagged "weaknesses regarding budgeting, governance and risk management." To fund the ballooning costs, West Sussex has increasingly relied on capital receipts from selling council assets, with asset sale funding tripling from £4 million to £12 million year-on-year.
- Council forced to rely on asset sales to fund the project, with capital receipts from building sell-offs tripling to cover the budget gap
- Auditors identified significant weaknesses in budgeting, governance, and risk management oversight
