Sir, The registration of births and deaths in England and Wales was changed on March 26, with the introduction of registration online and the doing away with the old handwritten registers.

This huge IT project was some years in the pipeline, yet its rollout has met with complete system failure.

At the register office where I work, the new system began on March 26 (it had been rolled out to test sites earlier). The system was delivered by the General Register Office, based on a bought-in US system. Apart from issues such as identity theft inherent in this technology, it replaces a very adequate system which was able to capture information in accordance with UK legislation. The new RON system still contains old fields, relevant only to the US.

The system cannot cope with the number of users, although the number of staff working in register officers remains static and was always known. The failure seems to be basic ineptitude.

In March, when the chaos began, we had to go through the process with grieving widows twice as the system failed, resorting in the end to entering details by hand. The failure means that some important operations, such as issuing multiple death certificates, are not possible.

In order for the public to be able to receive their certificates and forms, we have had to use the previous system and then, out of hours, try to access RON to “back capture” the registrations.

The new system was introduced to support the civil partnership arrangements. Its robustness and functionality were always in question even for this relatively compact aspect of the service.

This fiasco, which has had the most regrettable impact on the relatives of the recently deceased, could easily have been avoided. Work to remedy the capacity has had knock-on effects, and the system will not be available for the foreseeable future. The latest update sent to register offices states: “The complexities of the current problems suggest that full resolution may take some months”, and that “the steering group and project board are focused on the contingency options”.

I would just like to know how much this system cost, how it was tested and how the IT provider was chosen.

S. THOMAS, Aylesbury, Bucks

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