Synergy Programme

Government Transformation and Service Delivery

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £2.0bn
Published schedule: 01/04/2021 – 31/01/2029
NISTA delivery confidence: AMBER
Senior responsible owner: Dianne Jeans

What the project is for

Synergy Programme is a collaboration between the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Home Office (HO) and Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to achieve the Government’s Shared Services Strategy by transforming shared services to make them smarter, swifter and more streamlined. Synergy is a business transformation programme to replace the current services provided by Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) to those four departments and their. Arms Length Bodies (ALBS). It focusses on simplifying and aligning processes, data systems, and services, to transform our users’ experiences and drive interoperability between departments, resulting in increased productivity and value for money. Synergy will transform the business-critical services (people, finance, commercial) for the four departments. It will be delivered through shared capabilities and technology as a platform for innovation, automation, and improved customer experience. The four departments support more than 250 000 civil and public servants who deliver some of the most vital and high-risk public services in our country. Synergy will make it easier for our people to do their job and deliver efficiencies that free up resources to focus on public outcomes.

Departmental delivery commentary

Compared to financial year 24/25 Q4, the NISTA/SRO Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) rating at 25/26 Q4 increased to AMBER. This is primarily due to the following factors: - Delivery of structured Roadmap to Amber addressing NISTA recommendations - Demonstrable progress against NISTA critical findings (planning, governance, readiness) - Strengthened operating model, roles and cross-department working - Improved dependency, contract, and integrated delivery management - Increased planning maturity and clarity of delivery approach - Sustained improvement trajectory confirmed through Stage Gate 3 assurance

Schedule

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the project's end-date at 25/26-Q4 increased from December 2028 to January 2029. The shift from December 2028 to January reflects the re-baselined delivery plan which extended the common design phase and adjusted the release strategy and sequencing. This resulted in a small, controlled extension to accommodate a more robust and deliverable implementation profile.

Cost

The projects departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) was £1990.99m. This is primarily due to updated numbers and reassessment undertaken in the move to full business case 2 from full business case 1.

Benefits

The benefits are £734.07m over the 10 year business case period. Benefits were re-baselined in 25/26 for FBC2 and the landscape of the programme hasn't changed enough since 25/26 to re-baseline as the BPS provider is still onboarding. Work is ongoing to identify further benefits, particularly with the BPS and the Hub.