Britain digitized the state not through revolution, but through evolution—openly, gradually, and with an emphasis on citizens’ needs. Its story offers practical lessons for countries that want to build services with reliable continuity and a unified experience. Let’s look at what the government team GDS did differently and why it’s worth watching.
GDS at the center: one state, one unified face
Digitization began at the center of power—in the Cabinet Office, where the Government Digital Service (GDS) was created in 2011. The original task was modest: improve the main government website. However, user research showed that people do not see ministries separately, but as a single state they turn to when they need something. It became clear that tweaking one site would not be enough.
GDS therefore introduced a unified design and guidelines for all public websites. Thanks to similar structure and navigation, citizens quickly find information, no matter which institution’s site they are on. That is crucial in a diverse society—it helps older people, those with lower digital skills, and those for whom English is not a first language. Uniformity saves time for both citizens and offices.
From procurement to “Lego”: how services are built
Instead of a single large software purchase, Britain reworked procurement into phases. First comes Discovery, which checks whether the service is needed at all and whether an existing solution can be reused. Next is Alpha—a quick prototype to gather feedback—then Beta, and only afterwards live operation. Consistent quality is also supported by the Service Manual: a checklist with 14 points that every phase and every service must meet.
Not everything is custom-built, though. GDS offered reusable building blocks—forms, notifications, payments, and prototyping tools—that agencies can plug into their websites without deep technical knowledge. The result is processes that look consistent and are easy to understand, whether it’s registering to vote or applying for child benefit. Today, citizens have access to more than 500 digital services created by 65 public institutions, and it’s likely that new standards for technologies such as artificial intelligence will come from there as well.
