A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) reveals shared services are failing to failing to deliver value for money.

The NAO examined five shared services: the centres used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Ministry of Justice, Department for Transport (DfT), Research Councils UK and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

It found the cost of building and operating the centres ran £0.5bn over the allocated £1.4bn budget, while the £159m of savings that the centres were expected to generate by the end of 2010-11 didn't materialise. Only one of the centres broke even, while the two remaining centres generated a cost of £255m.