Gov still battling against 2022 invoice backlog

Tuesday 15 August 2023

Government officials are still working to clear invoices from 2022 in the wake of a finance systems switchover that unearthed 8,000 outstanding payments totalling £22 million, it has emerged.

As of yesterday, the Government was processing around 1,200 invoices totalling £1.5 million in payments relating to 2022.

Express has asked how many of these were discovered during the systems switch to 'Connect Finance', which was intended to improve how the government manages finances, assets, inventory and suppliers - but was hindered by technical problems.

The IT issues affected the government's ability to pay invoices and left Treasury Minister Ian Gorst pleading with suppliers for "patience" while the backlog was resolved.

Deputy Gorst also revealed that "a number of overdue invoices from previous years" had been discovered during the systems switchover, which the government later confirmed related to 8,000 invoices totalling £22 million.

Pictured: Treasury Minister Ian Gorst had previously asked suppliers for "patience" while the payment issues were resolved.

At the time, Deputy Gorst described the pile of outstanding invoices as "clearly unacceptable" and said the backlog "falls short of the standards we set ourselves as a government, and that suppliers rightly expect of us".

The government has said that it is still receiving invoices from suppliers relating to 2022 and is unable to clarify how much of the current backlog comprises leftovers from the initial 8,000 invoices found during the switchover.

Yesterday, Treasury officials confirmed that: "The Government has paid invoices totalling over £320 million in the first half of 2023.

"Since the start of 2023 the Government has made payments totalling £26 million (circa 9,600 invoices) relating to 2022 invoices.

"Invoices from suppliers relating to 2022 continue to be received and a further 1,200 invoices (£1.5 million) relating to 2022 are being processed for payment."