The Whitehall unit is to work on a variety of programmes intended to support wider goals related to skills and recruitment, including measures to boost salaries and offer external education
The capability function of the Government Digital Service is to deliver a range of initiatives this year, including proposals to reform pay frameworks for civil servants in digital roles.
Other programmes of work will see GDS launch a new offering in which vendors will provide tech training to officials, as well as a pilot version of a ‘returnship’ scheme in which government will seek to recruit professional technologists that have taken an extended career break.
By the end of the current 2026/27 year, the digital unit will put forward its plans for “digital, data and cyber pay framework reforms designed to improve recruitment, retention and competitiveness for specialist digital and AI roles”.
By the close of the year’s third quarter at the end of the 2026 calendar year, GDS will also “launch Get Tech Certified, [providing] free technology learning and certification programme providing access to vendor-led training and industry-recognised certifications for all civil servants”.
According to recent correspondence with parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, another scheme that will come to fruition within the next six months is an initial pilot of a new returnship initiative.
The letter – written by Emran Mian, the permanent secretary of GDS’s soon-to-be-abolished home, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – states that the scheme will be dedicated to “supporting experienced professionals who have been out of work for an extended period to return to digital careers through structured placements, specifically into senior software developer roles”.
The missive to MPs says that these programmes form part of an overall government commitment to “strengthening digital and AI capability”, as part of wider ambitions to support the use of artificial intelligence across departments.
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Is AI applying for top government jobs? These objectives will see GDS spearhead efforts to deliver “a coordinated programme of workforce reform, capability development, leadership accountability and performance management… [through] interventions [that] combine into a coherent plan”.
Other work to be undertaken by the digital unit in the coming weeks and months include the publication by the end of 2026 of the Digital Workforce 2030 Strategy, which will set out “cross-government guidance on responding to the current changes shaping digital workforces”. GDS will also be instrumental in “setting out a long-term visions for digital, data and AI capability across government through the [overall] Civil Service Strategic Workforce Plan”.
To complement the existing Digital and Data Capability Framework – which defines each of the 50-plus roles that constitute to profession – GDS will also shortly unveil a public beta version of a new “Government Cyber Capability Framework… providing clear definitions of cyber skills, career pathways and proficiency standards across government”.
By April 2027, the digital unit – which is being moved from DSIT, which is being scrapped, into a new home into an expanded Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – will also “deliver multiple cohorts of the AI and Data Scientist Accelerator… intensive upskilling programmes enabling existing civil servants to progress into advanced AI, machine learning and data science roles”.
There will also be further cohorts of graduates via the digital track of the civil service’s Fast Stream programme. This will support work geared to “developing future digital leaders and specialists across roles including delivery management, product management, user research, business analysis, data science and software engineering”.
The final GDS initiative cited by Mian is to “continue delivery of TechTrack, [the] cross-government digital apprenticeship programme building a pipeline of digital talent through apprenticeships in priority digital professions”.
“The government does not regard any individual intervention as sufficient in isolation,” the letter adds. “Rather, the intended outcome is delivered through the combined effect of these reforms. Progress will be assessed against workforce, leadership and capability measures and reviewed regularly through established governance arrangements. This will enable government to determine whether reforms are delivering the intended outcomes and whether further action is required.”