Low adoption threatens Palantir’s £330m NHS contract renewal
Palantir’s £330m NHS software deal faces a break clause next year after internal data revealed widespread non-use and a government statistics watchdog launched an investigation.
Two UK parliamentary select committees are urging the government to exercise a break clause on Palantir’s £330m National Health Service contract when it comes up for renewal next year. The intervention follows internal data revealing that the tech group’s software is barely being used by hospital trusts. A separate investigation by the UK Statistics Authority is now examining the accuracy of official rollout claims.
NHS England maintains that almost two-thirds of trusts are "live" on the Palantir federated data platform. Yet internal freedom of information data shows dozens of these trusts have not logged into a single application on the system in the past year. A flagship tool, Cancer 360, was used by just six of roughly 200 trusts in its first nine months, despite being lauded by Keir Starmer as "groundbreaking new technology" to "slash treatment delays".
The poor adoption rates raise immediate questions about return on investment for taxpayers. The core £330m contract is supplemented by individual implementation grants of up to £3m per trust. Consultancy firm KPMG also received an £8.5m contract specifically to drive the platform's adoption across the health service. Despite this capital deployment, clinicians report the system is slower than existing alternatives, with basic queries taking five minutes or more.
Beyond the NHS, Palantir's proprietary architecture is creating broader strategic risks for the UK public sector. NHS data analysts warn that all work on the platform would be lost if the contract ends, a "vendor lock-in" problem the Ministry of Defence recently admitted it is experiencing. Palantir's UK footprint is otherwise expanding rapidly, anchored by a five-year, £750m defence partnership and contracts with bodies including the Financial Conduct Authority.
However, this commercial momentum faces mounting political headwinds. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government recently ditched Palantir’s "confusing to use" software for an in-house system, saving millions annually. With the statistics watchdog probing NHS data and 230,000 signatures on petitions against the contracts, the incoming prime minister faces a strict financial test on whether to continue funding the rollout. As former Conservative party adviser Camilla Cavendish noted: "To me, what matters is what works."
