Whitehall Monitor 2026: Conclusion

The past year has seen some real and welcome changes to the way the government work: from proving – at least in theory – that central government, local authorities and communities can work closely together through Test, Learn and Grow pilots, to showing the state can innovate through a wide landscape of artificial intelligence experiments. In small pockets, where ministers and civil service leaders have together set direction and driven reform, change has happened.

The government should take heart from this. Ministers and civil service leaders alike need to set clear – and precise – ambitions for reform of the state, and out how they will tackle the structural workforce issues set out in this report. They will then need to sustain focus and effort on delivering them in the coming year. When it may be tempting to reach for a quick fix, the real work of state reform will require consistency and resolve.

The bold rhetoric of the past year has not been delivered on. The changes to date have been neither of the scale or nature required to transform, or ‘rewire’, the state. Problematic workforce trends of the past decade have continued.

The newly appointed chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Darren Jones, told parliament in December that he was a moderniser, and that the government would make progress on state reform. 2026 is the year to prove it, and we have set the tests for the year ahead. The government has the levers to deliver reform: the next 12 months will show whether it can make the necessary change happen.