The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), has significantly increased its IT spending over the past three years, investing more than £91 million to IT budgets and staff costs as part of its ongoing modernisation efforts.
This investment comes amid the NHS rollout of its new AI patient-triage app, a move that has intensified scrutiny on the digital foundations that public services rely on. The launch highlights how essential well-governed systems are when AI begins influencing frontline decision-making.
As the NHS adopt more automation, DHSC’s own upgrades reflect the need for secure digital infrastructure that can support safe AI-enabled services.
The data was obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and analysed by the Parliament think tank, observing the total budget for IT in the department, the number of staff in IT roles and what their total salaries were between March 2023 and February 2026.
Over this period, the DHSC invested a total of £91 million in IT systems and the teams who support them. Annual IT budgets totalled £37,731,565 in the 2023 to 2024 financial year, £29,145, 513 in the 2024 to 2025 financial year and £25,099,000 for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.
During the same timeframe, the number of staff in the department increased from 35 to 39 people, with total salary costs rising from £1,639,500 to £2,067,600 from March 2023 to February 2026.
Sachin Agrawal, Managing Director for Zoho UK, commented:“It’s encouraging to see a long-term commitment from DHSC in strengthening their digital foundations that public services rely on. When staff have the right tools and systems, collaboration becomes easier and services are better able to remain resilient as demand continues to grow.”
“As government departments become more dependent on digital systems and look to modernise, it is also important to consider comprehensive data governance. This means they need to be sure that their data is governed securely and transparently. By prioritising digital infrastructure, DHSC is supporting both operational effectiveness and the UK’s wider ambitions toward modern transformation and responsible AI adoption.”
Stuart Harvey, CEO of Datactics commented: “Modern public services depend on reliable digital infrastructure, so DHSC’s continued investment in its core systems is essential, but the foundations have to be right. Migrating old systems without fixing the underlying data and infrastructure will just move old problems into new environments.”
“Without reliable data and technology, the risk of delays or errors increases significantly. For digital government to work for everyone, the underlying systems must be robust, well-governed and built to support the scale.”
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