Underpowered and Under-Resourced: The PMO Delivery Crisis
PMOs contribute £186.8bn to the UK economy, yet only 36% of projects finish on time. Fix your delivery engine.
The project management profession is a £186.8bn engine for the UK, representing 9.2% of total GVA. However, the delivery metrics are embarrassing. Wellingtone’s 2026 report indicates that only 36% of organisations consistently complete projects on time and within budget.
This is a failure of PMO empowerment. Most PMOs are treated as reporting bureaus rather than delivery engines. They lack the authority to kill failing projects or reallocate resources based on ROI.
To fix your PMO, you must give it teeth. Invest in the 2026 skills gap: data literacy and AI-augmented resource planning. Stop tracking activity and start tracking value. If a project isn't delivering GVA, end it.
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