14 The project was an ambitious one, and with hindsight, probably not fully deliverable within the very tight timetable originally specified. It had special features that added to its risks; notably its status as a pioneering Private Finance Project, the need to join up the systems of two purchasers with differing business objectives, and the need for the development and testing of more new software than was originally envisaged.
Key Statistics of the Project |
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Estimated contract value, (Payments by Department and Post Office): | £1 billion, net present value over 7 years |
Number of post offices to be equipped: | Up to 20,000, with 40,000 counter points in Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
Number of post office staff to be trained in use of the system: | 67,000 staff, serving 28 million customers per week |
Number of social security benefit recipients to be issued with Payment Cards: | 17 million, claiming some 24 different benefits |
Number and value of benefit transactions: | In 1999/2000 some 760 million payments worth £56 billion were made through post offices |