Government Service Standard¶

The Government Service Standard is the 14-point framework that governs how UK government digital services are designed, built, and operated. It sets the bar for public-facing government services — covering everything from user research and accessibility through to technology choices, operational readiness, and ongoing iteration.

CDS has worked with the Service Standard for over a decade — not as a compliance checklist, but as a genuine framework for building services that work for the people who use them.

What the standard covers¶

The 14 points address:

Understanding users and their needs through research
Solving the whole problem for users (not just the part within one organisation's boundary)
Providing a joined-up experience across channels
Making the service simple to use
Making sure everyone can use the service (accessibility)
Having a multidisciplinary team
Using agile ways of working
Iterating and improving frequently
Creating a secure service that protects users' privacy
Defining what success looks like and publishing performance data
Choosing the right tools and technology
Making new source code open
Using and contributing to open standards, components, and patterns
Operating a reliable service

How CDS applies it¶

Designing to it. When we build public-facing government services, the Service Standard shapes our approach from discovery onward — it's built into how we frame the problem, how we structure the team, how we approach research, and how we make technology decisions.

Assessing against it. CDS has experience running internal pre-assessments — structured readiness checks against all 14 points before a service goes to formal GDS assessment. We give teams an honest view of where they are and what to address, not a reassuring one.

Rescuing services that failed it. Some of our most important advisory work has been on programmes that have already failed a GDS assessment and need to understand why, and what to do about it. We have audited failing government services against all 14 points and structured the route to a passing standard — work that requires both the technical depth to understand what went wrong and the credibility to be trusted with the recovery.

Coaching teams through it. Particularly in blended squad engagements, we work alongside client teams who are new to the standard, building their understanding and capability alongside delivery rather than simply delivering to the standard ourselves.

What this means in practice¶

Discovery — we follow Government Service Standard discovery patterns: user research, problem framing, options development, service blueprinting, and the documentation needed to proceed through a GDS assessment. In commercial contexts, we apply the equivalent rigour without the formal framework.

Alpha and Beta — we design our delivery to produce the evidence needed for assessment at each stage, rather than treating assessment as a separate documentation exercise at the end.

Live — the standard doesn't end at go-live. Ongoing iteration based on user research, performance monitoring against defined metrics, and continued accessibility compliance are live-stage obligations, not launch-day deliverables.

The assessment process¶

Government services typically go through assessment at Alpha, Beta, and Live stages. Assessments are conducted by a panel of assessors — typically from CDDO or the relevant department — against all 14 points. A service must pass all 14 points to proceed to the next phase.

CDS has experience on both sides of this process: as the delivery partner preparing a service for assessment, and providing assessment-equivalent review capability for pre-assessments.

Note

The Service Standard applies to transactional services used by the public or by civil servants. If you're unsure whether it applies to a specific engagement, check with the client's digital team or the relevant departmental standards team.

Delivery Approach — how the engagement lifecycle maps to Service Standard phases
Accessibility — WCAG 2.2 and accessibility compliance in delivery
Architecture — technology decisions in the context of the standard's requirements