Birmingham City Council’s doom laden Oracle finance and IT project – now four years behind schedule – has been delayed to at least the summer, it has been revealed.

The project, supposed to provide the council with a gold-standard finance, procurement and IT service fit for the 21st century, has been dogged with huge delays and soaring costs.

It was a critical cause of the council going bust, after costs rocketed in the wake of a catastrophic failed first attempt at ‘go live’ in 2022.

Now the council has had to confirm it faces another major delay. It says it needs more time to carry out testing and ensure the suite of services is fully functioning before it goes live.

Staff have been told the hoped for new go-live is end of July, but that it could be the autumn. Insiders have said the continued delays and obfuscation were troubling, especially given the huge focus being put on it.

The project has had a dedicated, £1,100 a day commissioner overseeing it for more than two years, Myron Hyrck, who was brought in specifically because of his prior knowledge of Oracle projects like it, while more than 90 external consultants were said to be working on the scheme – yet it was still facing significant problems. The project is currently managed by Philip Macpherson.

Originally said to cost less than £20 million and trigger millions in savings a year by being more ‘efficient’, the project has rocketed exponentially in cost and is now said to have run up bills to date of £171 million. The council had not confirmed that at the time of writing.

The council also claimed the delay would not cost more as a contingency budget – agreed last year of £40m – was already in place and had sufficient funds to meet costs.

In September, it was reported that a vital component of the project – the income management system that ensures that the thousands of payments in and out of the council every week match up with bank records – had been delayed three times. Whistleblowers said that the whole project was ‘a mess’.

As a result, the council called an extraordinary meeting to discuss the failed project. It did not at that time say the go-live of April was in jeopardy.

Sources have said that the mental health impact on staff working in the finance and digital teams had been considerable because of pressures linked to the delayed project. Repeated delays had further damaged morale, especially given the rapid turnover of staff involved in it. The continued failure to have clear deadlines was causing additional stress, they said.

In a statement the council said: “Following a review as part of the ongoing programme management it has been decided to continue on with testing of the reimplementation of the Oracle system. The council’s HR, finance and procurement programme, known as Brindley, will now have a go live date later on in 2026 and not as originally anticipated in April.”

Cllr Saima Suleman, Labour Cabinet Member for Digital, Culture, Heritage and Tourism, has previously been criticised for not having the technical expertise to properly hold the project leaders to account.

She backed the delay saying: “This decision reflects the council’s focus on ensuring that the reimplementation goes smoothly and the programme is successful – prioritising readiness and stability over fixed dates. There is no impact on the running of the current system and services will continue to function as they are now, with colleagues and suppliers still being paid.

“The Brindley programme’s budget included a contingency to accommodate for eventualities such as this. Therefore, this is not adding further cost into the existing budget.

“The council is taking a staged approach to the reimplementation, with independent assurance at agreed checkpoints. We will continue to test whether we are progressing as expected and meeting all the milestones required, as we recognise the importance of getting this programme right.”

Council opposition leader Cllr Robert Alden, Cons, Erdington, said: “Once again, the council’s botched IT rollout is having to be delayed.