Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Set out monitoring and mitigation strategies for cultural change risks in service modernisation.
Recommendation
Realising the benefits of service modernisation will require strong leadership to embed cultural change within DWP and its outsourced providers. DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme is an 11–year organisation-wide programme estimated to cost £312.1 million, running from 2022–23 to 2032–33, which is seeking to deliver benefits for customers, staff and taxpayers. However, the scale and complexity of the programme means delivery involves significant risk. Strong leadership is needed to make the necessary cultural changes within DWP and its outsourced providers who help to deliver services such as health assessments and telephony. DWP considers this cultural change is critical to realising the programme’s benefits, but also acknowledges that cultural change can be the biggest challenge to successfully implementing any transformation programme. DWP’s expected net return from the programme has fallen by almost £150 million over the past year, from £680 million to £531 million. By March 2024, just two years into the 11-year programme, DWP had already spent £211.5 million, two-thirds of the total estimated costs of £312.1 million. 4 recommendation DWP should set out how it will monitor and mitigate the risk that it does not achieve the cultural change necessary for successful service modernisation.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, stating it is already fostering cultural change by enhancing behaviours and skills. It monitors progress through People Survey indicators, wider colleague insight, customer experience research, a Risk Management Framework with change champions, and a Service Maturity Framework.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented The department recognises that successful service modernisation requires long-term, genuine systemic and organisational culture change. It is fostering a cultural shift by enhancing behaviours, skills, and support to deliver high-quality customer experiences, promoting innovative solutions that improve outcomes and public service delivery. The department monitors progress using various tools. It tracks performance against People Survey indicators to assess positive culture change. For example, it monitors perceptions of change management and innovation driven by customer experience. Improvements were made in 2024, with results above the Civil Service benchmark. Equipping staff to adapt is crucial for culture change. The department utilises wider colleague insight to monitor and act on feedback. Its Customer Experience research also ensures that direct feedback from customers is heard and used to inform improvements to customer services. The department’s change programmes adhere to a Risk Management Framework, recognising and managing risks related to cultural change. For instance, a key risk identified by the Service Modernisation Programme (SMP) is the potential failure to achieve necessary behavioural changes to land change successfully. This risk is mitigated by the provision of change champions within modernisation areas who facilitate two-way communication between programmes and front-line staff. The SMP has also developed a Service Maturity Framework for services in its scope, which is a key performance measurement and assesses maturity levels in areas such as culture and leadership, identifying gaps to focus on. Additionally, initiatives like the Change Management Community of Practice, co- chaired by SMP, support cultural change across the department by driving change management improvements and supporting colleagues throughout its change community.