Programme of the Year Award Shortlist

An Ambitious Civil Service

Asylum Transformation Programme

Home Office

The Asylum Transformation Programme is enhancing processing capabilities, societal value, and cost-effectiveness of the asylum system, to meet the interests and concerns of stakeholders in UK asylum, now and in the future. Delivery of its projects helped the Home Office to clear the asylum legacy backlog, tripled asylum case working productivity and reduced reliance upon hotels for accommodation in 2023. The programme’s projects continue to deliver:
– productivity improvements,
– reduced decision-making time,
– introduced new digital tools,
– improved customer/colleague experience
– improved engagement with Local Authorities and commercial suppliers,
– cost-savings, reducing time spent in the accommodation estate and the strategic transformation of accommodation stock.

HMP Fosse Way Team

HM Prison and Probation Service

HMP Fosse Way is the second of six new prisons delivered as part of the Government’s commitment to build 20,000 new prison places. The war in Ukraine acutely impacted construction, with the effect on the labour market and supply chain changing the whole complexion of the programme. Significant pressures on prison population also meant it was crucial that the prison opened on time. Due to the extraordinary commitment and collaboration across both public and private sectors, the prison was opened on time. Further to this the team oversaw an accelerated ramp up – providing quicker prison capacity at a critical juncture.

State Pension Underpayments Programme Management Team

Department for Work and Pensions

DWP made a commitment to review 405k State Pension records, to rectify underpayments dating back to the 1980s, worth £1.1bn, and to do so within 2 years. Part way through the exercise, the total cases to review more than doubled to 860k, but the deadline for completion was only extended by 12 months. To deliver this significant programme, a multi-disciplinary team was established to develop training material, guidance and instructions for agents; create system scans, and digital automation, and to recruit and train 1,500 colleagues. This was overseen by a small programme team, responsible for delivery, policy and external engagement.