Workplace Transformation

Government Transformation and Service Delivery

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £3.4bn
Published schedule: 01/07/2020 – 31/03/2031
NISTA delivery confidence: AMBER
Senior responsible owner: Ruth Studley

What the project is for

The Workplace Transformation Programme (WTP) is a 10-year programme to support the change to the Department’s operating model, consolidate the estate to the right size and shape and provide more flexible, efficient and better quality sustainable buildings in alignment with the Government’s greening commitments, Places for Growth, and building back better. Throughout the transformation, WTP remains committed to proactively supporting colleagues and customers through this period of change. WTP is working with other Programmes to modernise the services underpinning the DWP ambition of becoming a simpler, cheaper, and more efficient organisation, enabling our people to deliver quality outcomes; reflecting citizens’ and the Modern Civil Service’s needs: enhancing lives; enabling success; and ensuring value. WTP will deliver far more than a smaller, better and greener estate. It will fundamentally reshape our support to customers, how we work, where we work and when we work, helping to make DWP a great place to work. WTP works closely with colleagues delivering the new jobs and careers service, who are setting out the future operating model to transform the Department’s customer facing presence and better support communities. In our Service and Support Centre estate, where colleagues do not see customers face-to-face, the Department is rightsizing the estate to ensure efficiency by only paying for the space we need. This will lead to fewer, larger, multi-product line buildings, investment in some sites we retain to improve the working environment, and, where it is the most cost-effective solution, acquiring new sites. It will also change the way people work through investing in new ways of working, changing the way staff use buildings by more flexible ways of working and to deliver on the Department’s obligations to fully embed Smarter Working and PAS 3000 standards and supporting the shift towards the delivery of digital services. WTP requires significant capital investment but delivers huge financial and social benefits each following year by consolidating and improving our workplace with a direct positive impact on customer experience and outcomes.

Departmental delivery commentary

The NISTA review carried out during January 2026 assessed the Programme as Amber indicating that WTP is in a good position to deliver further success. It noted that the Programme is well led and has strong inter-personal relationships with key stakeholders. The SRO has agreed the recommendations detailed in the report and an action plan has been developed. Regular updates will be provided to the boards on progress to address the recommendations. The rating recognises the transformation journey the department is on – with a dependency on other transformation programmes and the department’s evolving departmental operating model in terms of understanding the size of the estate, particularly beyond 2030. This includes a dependency on the DWP Target Operating Model (TOM).

Schedule

WTP is complex, and as an enabling Programme it has a number of key dependencies including future size of the workforce, how that workforce is deployed, and the underpinning ways services are delivered (the operating model) during modernisation/transformation. The third iteration of the Programme Business Case (PBC) was approved by HMT in June 2025 with a fourth iteration of the Programme Business Case (PBC4) was approved on the 23/03/26 securing approval for a "Balanced Approach" to rationalise the estate into a smaller, more efficient, and sustainable footprint starting from FY2026/27. Deliverables achieved within 25-26 include: · Closure of selected Jobcentres and Service and Support Centres · Decommissioned temporary jobcentres established to support customers during the pandemic. Only one temporary jobcentre remains open to the public and this will be converted to a permanent jobcentre. · Completed investment work in Jobcentre and Service and Support Centre sites to improve the standard of buildings. · Progression of high-profile office moves in London · Moved colleagues into ‘award winning’ Fylde View building in Blackpool, contributing to wider local authority plans to regenerate the town centre. · Started construction of new Newcastle hub - due for completion in 2027. · Installation of 255 electric car charging points at over 100 DWP sites saving over 199.76 tonnes of CO2 to date. · Repaired or installed cycle racks at 94 sites. · Installation of Under Setting Sensors to improve our understanding of space utilisation within sites. · Feasibility work to inform future investment and divestment of sites · Launched a lift share app at five pilot sites, reducing travel costs and carbon impacts by facilitating shared commutes to the office. · Led on the implementation of 60% In Office Attendance across the Department.

Cost

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the programme’s departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) at £3367.17m. This increase is primarily due to the following factors: The transition from Programme Business Case (PBC2) to the departmentally approved Programme Business case (PBC4). PBC2 focused on Spending Review (SR21) delivery, largely targeting specific projects. PBC4 incorporates more detailed delivery planning for SR25 onwards. Key drivers include: • Revised assumptions following detailed delivery planning for SR25 including changes in the strategy for the number of sites. Previous PBC2 assumptions were based on SR21 hence less refined for future years. • More complex and higher cost projects compared to earlier network design activity. • Updated people impact costs reflecting lease end positions, alternative options, and ministerial decisions. • Updated cost modelling assumptions aligned to current industry benchmarks and construction inflation. • In PBC4 we have reclassified the IFRS 16 (International Financial Reporting Standards) impacts which are no longer part of the financial case cash position based on NISTA (National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority) advice

Benefits

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the programme’s departmentally agreed Whole Life Benefits at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) decreased to £3938m. This decrease is primarily due to the following factors: • The transition from Programme Business Case (PBC2) to the departmentally approved Programme Business Case (PBC4). PBC2 focused on Spending Review (SR21) delivery, largely targeting specific projects. PBC4 incorporates more detailed delivery planning for SR25 onwards. • Updated assumptions and delivery timelines led to revisions in projected benefits, aligned to the latest cost and phasing data. • In PBC4 we have reclassified the IFRS 16 (International Financial Reporting Standards) impacts which are no longer part of the financial case cash position based on NISTA (National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority) advice.