UK introduces body to lead digital public service transformation

The UK government is launching a new digital public service delivery unit within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to make it easier, faster and more efficient for people to access government services.

The unit will be called CustomerFirst, and led by former Monzo VP of Marketing, Communications and Policy Tristan Thomas and co-chair Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy. CustomerFirst will attempt to harness innovation, AI and “modern solutions” to improve government service delivery.

Its mandate is to do away with the “(l)ong phone queues, repeated form-filling, and endless paperwork” that are typical of UK public services.

The move could generate as much as £4 billion in savings by replacing interactions carried out over the phone, in-person or at a post office with online processes, the government says.

“A culture of ‘computer says no’ is not good enough, and this Roadmap sets out the wide range of brilliant work happening across government to improve public services and citizens’ interaction with them,” says Minister for Digital Government Ian Murray in the announcement.

First practical steps

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is the first public body to partner with CustomerFirst, with the goal of improving the millions of interactions it completes each year around driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations and other services.

CustomerFirst is also now hiring for senior roles in service design, solutions architecture and product management.

The move is just one portion of an overall “Roadmap for a Modern Digital Government 2025-2030,” which was published over the weekend. It includes enabling people in the UK to perform quick and secure identity verification with the country’s new national digital ID, to use the GOV.UK app and NHS App for personalized services, and secure storage and sharing of digital versions of driver’s licenses and other documents in the GOV.UK Wallet. Fast and secure right to work checks are also mentioned, but without the now-reversed requirement to use the national digital ID.

More than 13.2 million people have used GOV.UK One Login and its identity verification app as of October, 2025, according to a written statement submitted to Parliament by Murray.

The Roadmap also includes strengthening and extending the UK’s digital public infrastructure (DPI), and establishing frameworks for secure and ethical data use.

A long-recognized challenge

The launch follows the Friday publication of a paper on “Public-Service Reform in the Age of AI” by The Tony Blair Institute. The policy paper argues that by replacing the foundations of government services with digital technology, including a “universal digital ID,” will turn an expensive system with poor outcomes into a more effective, responsive and modern one. The Institute proposes a series of digital reforms, including the introduction of a digital learner ID to improve the management and value of educational records.

A paper published by the Global Government Forum in September and based on interviews with 12 UK permanent secretaries proposed a direction for “Rewiring the state: Unlocking government transformation.”

Many of the points in contains, from building public sector capacity for digital transformation to “joined-up government” are included in the Roadmap.

Article Topics

digital government  |  Gov.UK  |  GOV.UK Wallet  |  government services  |  identity verification  |  One Login  |  UK digital ID