Service assessments

When working on services for central government clients, it’s likely each delivery phase will need to pass a service assessment to progress to the next stage. It measures a service against the 14 points of the GOV.UK Service Standard.

The peer-reviewed assessment takes roughly 4 hours and will be run by a panel of experienced specialists, from user researchers and designers to technical leads and performance analysts.

They will assess:

• why you’re solving the problem you’re solving

• who your users are and what they’re trying to do

• the work you’ve done to understand the user’s wider journey

• what you have built (where applicable)

• the user journey through your solution (where applicable), including assumptions

• how you have met the requirements of the Government Service Standard

After the assessment, the panel will award you with a green, amber or red result.

• Green means you have passed and can continue to the next delivery phase

• Amber means that standard has not been met but issues are not critical. The service can continue to the next phase while these issues are resolved

• Red means that there are critical issues, and your project must remain in the current delivery phase to resolve the issues

Tips from our team

When preparing for a service assessment, you should refer to the Government guidance. But here are some top tips from our team:

1. Document your processes and the rationale behind your actions

2. Record key decisions made throughout the project to support evidence gathering at the end

3. Justify the team you’re using and the value they’re adding to each delivery phase

4. Think about the best way to tell the story and show the work you’ve undertaken during this delivery phase

5. Be prepared for questioning. Your team needs to be able to respond confidently to any questions asked on the day

6. Book the assessments in advance. They can take 6 to 8 weeks to schedule in, so don’t let it hold up the process by booking too late

7. Make sure you have strong representation from your multidisciplinary team at the assessment. This allows the panel to hear directly from experts across various disciplines and ensures that a diverse range of questions can be addressed effectively

8. Before the day, feel free to reach out to the lead assessors in the government department you’re working for. They’re very receptive to questions and can give you guidance and support about the assessment

9. Each government department can do things slightly differently. Try and find literature on the assessments and how they’re run.

10. And lastly, try and relax. The service assessment panel are there to support you and are willing you to succeed