Insolvency Service five-year strategy targets IT modernisation

New five-year strategy sets out how the Insolvency Service will develop its services to support businesses, consumers and deliver economic confidence.

The strategy sets out how the Insolvency Service will develop its services over the next 5 years to strengthen the UK’s insolvency regime and contribute to the UK being the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

"The Insolvency Service has an important role to play in supporting a growing economy by tackling financial wrongdoing, supporting those in financial difficulty and ensuring the insolvency regime delivers the best outcomes possible for those impacted by financial failure.It is important that we continue to evolve, innovate and keep pace with the changing economic landscape. Underpinning everything we do is our commitment to delivering excellent standards of service to the thousands of businesses and citizens we work with each year."

One of the seven strategic themes revolves around modernising the agency's technology and infrastructure, with a stated aim to 'become a ‘digital first’ service provider, customer-focused and recognised as one of the easiest and most efficient government agencies to do engage with. We want the agency’s infrastructure of systems and offices to provide a great environment for colleagues to undertake their important work effectively, and for the public to be able to access our services and interact with our systems easily.'

Specific technology initiatives are detailed below:

The Insolvency Service will replace several legacy IT systems and implement a new, integrated case management system to all operational business areas across the agency. They will also work on an agency data strategy that will improve the quality of their data, enabling better evidence-based decision-making, improved operational efficiency and organisational insight.

Part of this will require improvements in the handling, storage and maintenance of their data so that they have a consolidated records management system that is easy to use, removes duplication, and meets data security standards. This will support closer working internally and with other government departments and partner organisations to share data and documents securely and effectively.

Looking ahead, the Insolvency Service is also looking to enable customers to actively access information through automated communication and customer self-service portals and webchats.