The shocking answer is 30% of the UK's largest companies are unlikely to achieve Y2K compliance by the new year. This is the key finding from a new study commissioned by law firm Dipp Lupton Alsop.
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| Robin
Guenier, executive director of Taskforce 2000 |
This follows a similar study conducted in December last year, when the results attracted huge public and media attention. Commenting at the launch of today's report, Robin Guenier, executive director of Taskforce 2000, the independent Y2K watchdog, said "attitudes have slipped back to the cosy assumption that big business has the problem under control."
"300 of Britain's largest businesses are playing Russian roulette with the millennium bug," Guenier said. "These businesses are not just a danger to themselves and their trading partners - they threaten the economy: jobs, growth and public confidence."
Although Guenier admits that all large companies are making progress in
comparison to earlier results, he emphasises that "50% of large business
are still behind" with only six months left until the question is no longer
an issue.
Today's survey report revealed that companies are also complacent about regulatory issues in relation to Y2K. Only 60%, the same figure as in the previous survey, felt that the regulatory question concerned them. Julian Stait, a partner with Dipp Lupton Alsop and head of its Year 2000 team disagrees: "Every one of the top 1000 companies will be subject to regulatory scrutiny or pressure in relation to Y2K," he said.
The Health and Safety Executive and the Financial Services Authority are clamping down on businesses who cannot demonstrate compliance. "If they find that companies have not properly addressed the risks of the millennium bug, they may take immediate action in advance of anything going wrong," Stait said. "In certain cases, that action could include the closure of a business or part of its operations."
