The UK’s Home Office has abandoned its attempts to migrate the Police National Database (PND) to the cloud after technical difficulties, delays, and rising costs.

As reported by The Register, the PND will now be moved from the ‘supplier’s site’ to a Home Office data center.

A letter from Gareth Davies, current Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, to MP Dame Karen Bradley, details the project’s downfall.

The program to migrate the PND was set up in 2021 when the database was separated from the National Law Enforcement Data Programme, but work did not start until January 2024. By May 2025, Davies writes, around £35.1 million ($47.77m) had been spent on the project.

Total costs from FY21/22 to GY25/26 was £146.6m ($199.54m), including the annual costs of running, sustaining, and maintaining the live service and “elements of continuous improvement.”

The goal of the program was to reduce technical debt and improve the resiliency of the PND by migrating it to the cloud. However, according to Davies, initial assumptions that around 80 percent of the code would be reusable proved incorrect – “only 20 percent was reusable, meaning additional work that would push the June 2025 target beyond reach without significant extra time and funding.

“With the support contract expiring in March 2026 and no further direct award available, the program explored contingency options, but analysis concluded continuation was not value for money.”

The “contingency options” provided by the supplier suggested around £26 million ($35.4m) in further costs, and a 15-18 month delay.

Now, the PND will “move from the supplier’s site to a Home Office data center. “

“This move is underpinned by discovery and planning, experienced teams, and robust governance drawing on prior transfer experience; while some disruption risk remains due to the age and complexity of the legacy infrastructure, mitigations are in place, and stakeholders will be kept informed; options have been developed with policing stakeholders and Home Office legal/commercial input to address legacy extension risk.”

Davies writes that the program will now focus on strengthening the on-premises PNG, and costs of stabilization are estimated at £20.3m ($27.63m), with annual running and sustainment costs of around £24m ($32.7m).

The upgrades are hoped to sustain the service for a further five to 10 years. However, Davies noted that the “long-term strategic direction of the PND system is yet to be decided.”

Separately from the Police National Database, the Police National Computer is currently working on moving to the cloud from its Hendon Data Centre at the Metropolitan Police’s training college.

The Home Office put out a “preliminary market engagement notice” earlier this year, looking for a data center management partner, though details about the Home Office’s data center footprint were not shared.

The Home Office previously signed a cloud computing contract with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2023, worth $568.64m at the time.