back to article DWP CIO and chief digi officer Mayank Prakash quits

Mayank Prakash, chief digital officer and CIO of the UK Department for Work and Pensions has quit today, The Register can exclusively reveal. Prakash, who has worked at DWP for four years and been the sole head of digital reforms within the department since 2016, told colleagues of his decision this morning. A spokeswoman at …

  1. James 51

    All those civil service bigwigs are cashing in their chips now, I wonder what they see on the horizon that has prompted them to do that.

  2. Troll.the.trolls

    He was always a dead man walking after Robert Deveraux's departure.

    This might clear the way for Kevin Cunnington's return (or possibly Nic Harrison) ?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The handcuffs haven't yet been made ..

    to keep someone in this job now.

    1. James 51
      Go

      Re: The handcuffs haven't yet been made ..

      I'd happily do it for £150,000 plus expenses.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    re:I'd happily do it for £150,000 plus expenses

    You might be better off being paid in Euros ....

  5. SVV

    Who offered him a job?

    Yep, that Universal Credit thing was such a cost effective success, we simply must offer him a highly paid senior role!

    1. Roger Kynaston
      Mushroom

      Re: Who offered him a job?

      ATOS?

      Just thinkin.

    2. Adrian 4

      Re: Who offered him a job?

      To be fair, he's probably leaving because the job is impossible, not because he's unable to do it.

      The fault lies with IDS and his evil masters.

  6. Bibbit

    Impressive

    Amazing anyone could work under IDS for even 4 years. Might be worth a knighthood. £1.9 beeeeliiion on IT? Look upon government IT projects and shudder! But it fucks up poor people so the Tories will be happy. Job done.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Impressive

      Amazing anyone could work under IDS for even 4 years.

      IDS resigned in 2016. So presumably this unmemorable job-hopper worked under IDS for two years.

      You are Diane Abbot, and I claim my five pounds

      1. Bibbit

        Re: Impressive

        I would love to give you 5 pounds but I have no money left after sending my kids to public school. Also my bad maths are due to diabetes. We can chat about this again when I get back from Liverpool.

        (fight the power)

    2. Bibbit

      Re: Impressive

      Three Tory voters are on here? Your downvotes warm me at night. And I am too poor to afford heating. I win!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe senior civil servants now realise that, despite all the claims to the contrary since the 1980s, their private sector equivalents are actually just as clueless and ineffectual as they are, but much better paid.

  8. cantankerous swineherd

    rearrange the following words

    ship rat sinking leaving

  9. Danny 2

    Sickie Selfie

    I had to sign off sick for a couple of weeks at the start of the year. I had to before but this time I was allowed to just email a photo of my doctor's sicknote rather than post it, which was a godsend since I couldn't walk to a postbox.

    I have a comprehensive paper trail that proves the head of the DWP ten years ago and many of his staff were blatant liars, and their department seemed designed to abuse and deceive, but I guess some things change slowly behind the scenes.

    That being said Universal Credit is such a dogmatic disaster that I would beg on the streets rather than claim it. But that's a political disaster, not an IT disaster.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He wasn't responsible for UC delivery!

    Universal Credit was owned by the DG for Universal Credit - Neil Couling. He had a multi disciplinary team which made all of the decisions regarding UC Technology, despite Mayank constantly trying to interfere.

    The core problem is that the politicians only care about Policy delivery rather than investing in technology, thus it's a rats nest of old systems and infrastructure.

    Good luck to any poor sap that picks this up!

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon