Birmingham City Council's £131M Oracle rebuild in danger as go-live nears
The second attempt by Europe's largest local authority to implement an Oracle finance and HR system – after the first left it unable to produce auditable accounts – remains on an "Amber-Red" risk rating less than nine months before it is expected to go live.
According to an independent review of the project in May 2025, published this week, the delivery confidence assessment of the Oracle reimplementation was "Amber-Red" for a system expected to manage billions of pounds in spending.
It highlighted ongoing risks due to pressure on project resources. A combination of Oracle Consulting, council staff, and other contractors is trying to reimplement Oracle Fusion as well as "support of an extant inadequate live service," all while they cope with the "significant changes" involved in an organizational restructure.
Investigators were also concerned that "data ownership and the risk that resolving data issues is seen as a program, Oracle, or ICT issue rather than a business issue."
