Guest blog, Clare Young from dxw: 5 things the public sector must do to bridge the digital skills gap

The public sector doesn’t have the depth, breadth and volume of skills needed to meet its transformation aspirations over the coming years.

We see government sticking with a handful of large suppliers who have a monopoly. They may be well placed to provide systems integrations, traditional IT or management consultancy services but they are not necessarily the best to offer digital skills. One department is only offering £19 million contracts with little specificity of what they need, which only allows suppliers who are very large and already embedded to bid.

There are thousands of suppliers who specialise in digital delivery. These suppliers can be found on a variety of frameworks (e.g. G-Cloud, DSP and DOS) on the Digital Marketplace, which can be used by anyone in the public sector to find people and technology for digital projects. Importantly these frameworks also offer transparency about these opportunities and the suppliers credentials to deliver. Suppliers have to win places on these frameworks in a competitive process so a level of assurance is already provided to the buyer. Making use of these frameworks and asking questions of these trusted suppliers will allow buyers to get skills into their teams in a relatively simple way and will improve overall quality.

Over the last 18 months there has been a shift towards large capability contracts that ask suppliers to provide large volumes of relatively junior people into unspecified projects. The performance of these contracts is measured by how quickly people are available to start work and does not seem to consider the skills of the people and quality of their work. This approach is not good value for money for the public sector; contracts have become bloated, teams are siloed, and no-one’s responsible for outcomes. It’s also demoralising for in-house and supplier teams and, importantly, it’s not a sustainable and reliable way of delivering. Suppliers, like dxw, have 16 years of experience delivering services that work and last. We do our best work with buyers when they give us a clear problem to solve and let us deliver it in the way we know works with the people we think are best experienced to do it.

There is a well defined Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework to help organisations learn about the digital, data and technology roles in government, and the skills you need to do them. However, skills around working with suppliers, understanding the commercial tools needed to buy digital services and effectively managing contracts to achieve proper value for money for the public sector are notably missing from this list. These skills are essential when operating large digital services or running transformation programmes. Not recognising these required skills mean decision makers, including service owners, can get blocked by commercial teams who are not well versed in using the Digital Marketplace or how to work with suppliers providing digital services. So while we’re seeing the capability of the people building services improve, there’s more work to be done to help the people buying services understand what good looks like.

When appointing a supplier who is a specialist in digital delivery, buyers should make the most of the opportunity for increasing the skills in their own team. Procurement strategies must intentionally include time and resources for capability building. Our preferred delivery approach is to work in an integrated dxw / client team that helps to transfer knowledge and develop internal capability. However, time is often stretched on projects which can make this challenging . It would be brilliant to see budget allocated specifically for developing in-house skills as part of working with suppliers. This approach not only ensures that projects are delivered successfully but also leaves departments stronger, with a more digitally-capable workforce. By embedding learning into contracts, the public sector can create a culture of continuous improvement, where employees grow alongside the projects they’re working on.

To truly bridge the digital skills gap, it’s not enough to just build capability—we must also retain it. One of the biggest obstacles here is the disparity between public and private sector salaries. While the public sector offers unique challenges and the chance to make a real impact, these factors often aren’t enough to compete with the financial incentives offered by private companies.

If government wants to keep its skilled workforce, it needs to find a way to consistently reward people for their contributions. This isn’t just about money, though that’s a significant part of it - bridging the salary gap is essential. But it’s also about creating a work environment where digital professionals feel valued, have opportunities for career progression, and can see the impact of their work. Ultimately, the workforce needs to feel a sense of purpose and achievement within government roles. We see high turnover in digital teams, across all levels, and this is damaging productivity and morale. Working with suppliers can bring new ideas, energy and be a great learning opportunity for staff.

Ultimately, these steps point to the fact that achieving better outcomes for citizens relies on two things:

Both are inextricably linked and must be prioritised equally in order to make significant strides towards a smarter state that delivers impactful and sustainable public services.

If you’d like to continue the conversation or find out more about our work, please drop us a line.

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The techUK Central Government Programme provides a forum for government to engage with tech suppliers. We advocate for the govtech sector, evangelise tech as a solution to public sector challenges, facilitate market engagement, and help make the public sector an easier market to operate in. Visit the programme page here.