Thousands of members of the UK armed forces received
incorrect salary payments because of a "catastrophic" computerised
payroll system, an MPs' report says.
The Joint Personal Administration (JPA) system introduced by the
Ministry of Defence (MOD) in 2006 was found to hold incorrect
details for 20,000 people, according to the
Metro newspaper.
The Commons Defence Committee said in a report published today
that it is difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of the failure of
the JPA.
As a result of the failures, soldiers were short paid for
months, while £28.9m was overpaid to others, the report said.
The JPA was implemented by IT supplier EDS, which has been
linked to several problematic public sector IT projects, such as
the
Child Support Agency system.
EDS has paid more than £500,000 in compensation for the failure
of the system, the MP report said.
The MOD has apologised for the problems, but insists that the
£245m system is working better.