The Service Standard helped define what “good” looks like for digital services.
Now, we’re working together to define what “good” looks like for the future of public services.
A digital national treasure
Lauded at home and abroad, the Service Standard has been at the heart of how we design and provide digital public services for over a decade.
It began with the launch of the Service Design Manual in 2013, which brought together guidance for applying user-centred design and the first version of the Digital by Default Service Standard. A year later, the standard came into force across government, compelling teams to build services that are simpler, more accessible and focused on user needs.
Since then, the Service Standard, Service Manual and Service Toolkit have worked together as a set of products to support thousands of service teams across the public sector with the:
- Service Standard defining what good looks like
- Service Manual helping teams understand how to achieve it
- Service Toolkit providing wayfinding for tools and resources that support delivery
Together, they have improved usability, accessibility, sustainability, interoperability and value for money.
Why we’re evolving the Service Standard
The context in which services are delivered is rapidly changing — and so must the Standard we set for good services.
The current Service Standard remains a successful baseline for quality across government, including industry recognised and internationally respected user-centred design practices in a government setting.
From our research we believe the standard has become:
- closely associated with assessment of central government services at important delivery stages, rather than embedded in continuous improvement of service operations
- harder to apply consistently across complex, end-to-end services that span organisations and channels
- designed for a different era, the Standard now needs to do more to support complex end-to-end services, and the modernisation of legacy systems
- developed with limited co-design, so it doesn’t yet reflect a shared, cross-government view of good
At the same time, we’re seeing:
- strong digital practice emerging across departments, local authorities and arm’s-length bodies
- inconsistent interpretations of “what good looks like”
- increased expectations from users of the Standard, shaped by modern digital services
- new technologies changing how services can be designed and delivered
This creates a risk of inconsistent experiences, both for those employed to build digital services and the people that use them to reach an outcome.
We want to address that.
Our vision: a modern standard for modern services
We are reimagining the Service Standard as part of a broader shift from a static, assessment-led model to a living system that supports the whole life cycle of a service.
This represents an important step in improving how we design and deliver public services. By bringing together strong standards, sector collaboration and practical implementation, it sets a clear direction for how we can make services simpler, more consistent and more effective for people and businesses.
In the future, the Service Standard will:
- support continuous improvement towards meeting standards, enabling methods for evaluation and assessing what has been created
- reflect the reality of end-to-end services, including operational and non-digital elements
- bring together best practice from across the public sector
- provide leaders with better visibility of the development process and means to evaluate the adoption of standard
Our aim is simple: to make the Service Standard something organisations actively demonstrate every day — not something they prove.
Building a system around the Service Standard
To achieve this, we are developing a broader system of standards, guidance and support.
A shared, evolving standards framework
We will move from a single, static standard to a framework for developing and maintaining standards over time.
This will allow:
- standards to evolve based on evidence and real-world practice
- new standards to emerge where they are needed
- organisations across the public sector to contribute to and adopt standards
Stronger collaboration
We will work collaboratively with organisations across the public sector to ensure standards are developed by diverse contribution so that they meet the needs of the many.
This will:
- give greater transparency in how standards are developed and maintained
- enable collaboration between departments, local government and wider partners
A service to support adoption
We will provide a service that helps organisations adopt and apply standards in practice, not just assess against them.
This includes:
- clear guidance and support for organisational adoption and practitioner implementation
- stronger links between standards and practical application
- better alignment with communities of practice to inform continuous improvement
Connecting the Standard and Service Manual
The relationship between the Service Standard and Service Manual remains central but it needs to evolve.
As we develop this work, we will:
- ensure the Service Manual continues to provide clear, practical guidance aligned to the Standard
- explore how tools, products and guidance can be better connected through a more integrated experience
- make it easier for teams to move from understanding the Standard to applying it in their day-to-day work
Our ambition is to create a more joined-up set of standards, guidance and tools that work well together.
What happens next
We are at an early stage of this work.
Over the coming months, we will work on:
- shaping and validating the vision for a modern Service Standard
- working with partners across government and the wider public sector
- developing and testing our approach to governance and standards development
- building a roadmap for implementation
We will continue to share updates and opportunities to get involved as this work progresses.
Get involved
The Service Standard exists to serve the people who use it, enabling them to change digital services and provide for citizens.
As we evolve it, we want to work openly with, and have contributions from teams across the public sector to:
- test ideas
- understand what works in practice
- ensure the Standard reflects real challenges in practice
If you’re interested in contributing to this work, we’d like to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected].
The Service Standard helped define what “good” looks like for digital services.
Now, we’re working together to define what “good” looks like for the future of public services.
