Winners 2025
Congratulations to the 2025 Civil Service Awards winners! This year we received over 2,500 nominations across our award categories. After a rigorous judging process, the fantastic individuals and project teams listed below were selected as the overall winners for their category.
Excellence in Delivery Award
BOLD Programme - North Essex Probation Delivery Unit Case Information Dashboard
Ministry of Justice
Developing and Supporting People Award
Neil Osliffe
Department for Work and Pensions
Neil has made an outstanding contribution to investigation training across NW & Wales, voluntarily taking on this role alongside his Team Leader duties to address the lack of structured support for new and existing fraud investigators. He designed and delivered a comprehensive training programme grounded in DWP’s strategic values, quality standards, and lawful, Tier 2-compliant methodologies. Over the past three years, Neil has developed 11 bespoke training presentations, using real-life examples to simplify complex investigative processes and build confidence among new recruits. His dedication has led to measurable improvements, including reduced Tier 2 failures and higher-quality submissions to the CPS, resulting in more successful prosecutions. Feedback from colleagues highlights his engaging style, practical examples, and ability to make complex concepts “click” for learners.
Innovator Award
supported by Accenture
Splink Team
Ministry of Justice
Splink is a free open-source software package for deduplicating and linking large datasets, supporting the government’s National Data Strategy. Originally created to link MoJ datasets lacking a shared unique identifier, Splink enables more accurate reoffending data and cross-system analysis, overcoming challenges of duplication and siloed data. Since its first release in 2020, Splink has been downloaded over 12 million times and adopted by central government departments, local authorities, NHS bodies, charities, universities, and international organisations including the UNHCR, EMA, and governments in Germany, Canada, Australia, and Chile. It works on datasets 1,000 times larger and 100 times faster than alternative software, with a positive match rate rising from 83% to 92% at MoJ. Splink has improved data quality across key government assets, including the census, Demographic Index, Business Index, NHS patient data, and justice datasets. The software has delivered significant cost savings, avoiding licensing fees and contractor costs estimated at over £2 million per year, with wider government savings likely in the tens of millions.
Delivering for Citizens Award
supported by Local Partnerships
AI Diagnostic Fund Programme
Department of Health and Social Care
Programme of the Year Award
supported by PA Consulting
One Public Estate
Cabinet Office
Prisoners Building Homes (PBH) is an innovative, cross-government programme transforming rehabilitation into regeneration. Prisoners are trained to build modular, low-carbon homes on public land, providing safe housing for vulnerable communities while gaining skills and employment opportunities that reduce reoffending. Launched in 2021 through the South West Reducing Reoffending Partnership, and supported by the One Public Estate programme, PBH equips prisoners with construction skills, delivering high-quality homes quickly and cost-effectively, supporting Net Zero targets, and boosting the modular housing industry. The pilot successfully upskilled over 100 prisoners, with 89% securing construction employment upon release. Reoffending rates among participants have dropped to 0%, compared with the national average of 35%. PBH has delivered over 80 homes to date, with 700 more in the pipeline, involving 10 house builders, 10 prisons, and more than 20 local authority and third-sector landowners. Homes can be delivered in under 16 weeks for £100,000 per unit, generating long-term social value.
Evaluation and Analysis Award
US Tariff Analysis
HM Treasury and Department for Business and Trade
The Global Economics team at HMT and the Trade Modelling Unit at DBT played a pivotal role in analysing the economic impacts of US tariffs, supporting ministers and the UK negotiating team. Using a combination of general and partial equilibrium models, structural and macroeconomic frameworks, and qualitative evidence, the teams provided rapid, high-quality analysis during a period of unprecedented trade uncertainty throughout 2025. The teams produced timely insights which were instrumental in supporting ministerial decisions, shaping policy, and enabling negotiators to secure the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal. By providing a rigorous, evidence-based framework, the teams have strengthened the UK’s long-term capacity to respond to trade policy shifts and safeguard national economic interests.
Collaboration Award
supported by Baringa
Air India 171 crash response
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Department for Transport
On 12 June 2025, flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick crashed killing 260 people, including 52 British nationals—the largest loss of British life in an air accident for more than two decades. The continued impact of this tragic event on families and loved ones of those that died cannot be overstated and our thoughts remain with all those affected.
Officials immediately stood up a crisis response to provide direct support to bereaved families, establishing response centres in Ahmedabad, Delhi and London with additional staff rostered in the UK, India and the wider region. The needs and welfare of British nationals were front and centre of the response, with specially trained consular staff deployed to Ahmedabad to support families through the immediate period following the crash.
In addition, HMG logistics teams, joined by Disaster Victim Identification-trained experts, Red Cross specialists and UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigators, helped deliver a coordinated response on the ground, working with Indian authorities to establish information needed. The Foreign Office continues to provide support to bereaved families including dedicated consular caseworkers to each family who requests support.
20th Anniversary: Lifetime Achievement Award
supported by Mastek
Tracie Jackson
Home Office
Tracie Jackson has dedicated nearly four decades to transforming border security and canine detection in the UK. Since joining Customs & Excise in 1987, her career has spanned diverse operational roles, from passenger screening and controlled deliveries to leading multi-functional teams across major UK ports and airports. Early experiences at the Dover and Sheerness Dog Units laid the foundation for her pioneering work in detector dog operations, including the groundbreaking passive response dog trials ahead of the Channel Tunnel opening. In 2019, Tracie joined the Border Force National Dog Team, leading the development of the world’s first canine detection capability for New Synthetic Opioids (NSOs), including nitazenes. Collaborating with the University of Lincoln and scientific partners, she introduced novel training methods, evidence-based benchmarking, and advanced chemical analysis, redefining standards in detection science globally.
Rising Star Award
supported by Newton
Faeeza Jabeen
Department for Work
and Pensions
Faeeza has demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation in redesigning the Movement to Work (MTW) programme, which supports disadvantaged young people into employment. Recognising low engagement and high dropout rates, she led a strategic overhaul, introducing a flexible hybrid delivery model aligned with DWP goals on inclusion, digital transformation, and social mobility. Faeeza engaged stakeholders across government, youth ambassadors, and delivery partners to identify barriers, including accessibility challenges posed by traditional in-person sessions. She led a working group to design virtual modules paired with practical, community-based projects, while incorporating one in-person employability and networking day. Her model included structured participant engagement, risk monitoring, and continuous quality checks, ensuring fairness, flexibility, and impact. The redesigned programme delivered measurable improvements: completion rates increased significantly, participants secured employment quickly, and community projects generated tangible results.
Cabinet Secretary's Outstanding Leader Award
Shahida Mamanji
Home Office
Prime Minister's Award for Exceptional Public Service
School Attendance Team
Department for Education
Following the unprecedented rise in pupil absence during and after COVID-19—with one in five pupils persistently absent and 171,000 missing over half their schooling—this team led a national transformation in school attendance. Recognising the complex causes spanning mental health, housing, and illness, they developed a bold, evidence-driven strategy. Central to their approach was an upgraded, world-leading attendance data tool, now enhanced with AI-powered benchmarking and early-warning reports for incoming pupils. With over 450,000 interactions and 19,000 downloads, these tools helped schools act early and compare performance with similar peers. The team drove improvement through regional conferences for up to 3,000 leaders, challenge sessions with trusts and local authorities, the creation of an eventual 90 RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hubs providing direct and scalable support to thousands of schools. They also developed an innovative one-to-one mentoring programme and updated statutory guidance. Their work has helped to recover over 5 million days of attendance in one year, equating to around £3 billion in future lifetime earnings.
People's Choice Award
HMRC Borders & Trade CHIEF Decommissioning Team
HM Revenue & Customs
The CHIEF Decommissioning Project team successfully delivered a Government Major Project & Programme, retiring HMRC’s 30-year-old customs system while ensuring zero disruption to UK border operations. The CHIEF system processed over 5 million monthly customs declarations and secured £11 billion in annual excise duty, supporting more than 150 systems and processes across HMRC and government. Facing an unprecedented challenge with no existing blueprint, the team coordinated the decommissioning of 96 interconnected systems. Their discovery-led approach ensured seamless transition and uninterrupted service for traders despite significant backend changes. This achievement
delivered £28 million in annual IT cost savings, modernised essential customs infrastructure, and avoided costly IT upgrades. The team also implemented a new VAT908 process, moving £1 billion in fuel duty to a new platform, and established modern interface standards to enhance integration.