Local authorities across the UK are throwing money away on software licences, according to Bull UK &Ireland, by failing to adopt open source software. In a survey of 107 local councils in England, Wales and Scotland, it found that only 5% have implemented open source software to date.

Bull claims that adopting open source software would enable the councils to significantly reduce their software licence spending. According to its findings, Microsoft licences cost the councils an average of more than £250,000 a year.

Three-quarters of the councils that responded to the survey said they were aware of the benefits of open source software. But more than half said they cannot use it because they are tied into existing proprietary software contracts, and nearly one-quarter cannot implement open source projects because they do not have the resources.