Shared Services Strategy focuses on Civil Service efficiency

A vision to transform and streamline the way back-office services support Civil Servants has been revealed in the new Shared Services Strategy.

Launching the roadmap, Matthew Coats, Director General of Government Business Services said: “Our new Shared Services Strategy promises intuitive and agile systems, every time a civil servant pays an invoice, moves to a new department or transfers a pension, whether that’s in the office or remotely. We want to make our shared services smarter, swifter, and streamlined, for the good of our people and the public.”

Government Business Service led development of the strategy which aims to deliver modernisation and efficiency in Civil Service systems and processes. 

It’s built around five work-streams focused on transformation and interoperability,  improving back-office processes, offering better services and value for money in Whitehall.

1. Five Shared Service Centres will support Defence, Overseas, Delivery, Policy and HMRC.

2. Commercial convergence, will allow departments and the Commercial function to deliver value for money in a move to cloud-based services.

3. Data Sharing will allow the Civil Service to make insight-driven decisions based on government data from HR, finance, and commercial.

4. Process convergence and transformation will enable automation, interoperability, and improvements

5. A common quality and performance framework supported by shared KPIs will allow comparisons across government, driving continuous improvement.

The key objectives of the strategy are: 

1. Meeting end-user needs, promoting excellence and convenience for both staff and managers.

2. Delivering value and efficiency, including by separating technology from Service Centres, and including all transactional services.

3. Convergence around processes and data, including the consolidation and modernisation of technology platforms, while maintaining choice for departments.