AUTUMN 2025 DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 40
LEGAL & LAW
Transform’s pioneering
public service design work
recognised in landmark
government review
Transform, a long-term advocate for human-centred public services, has been featured in the new Public
Design Evidence Review (PDER) published by the Cabinet Of昀椀ce and Policy Profession. Their design work
in partnership with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) was selected as one of just 13 case
studies helping to demonstrate the potential impact and possible outcomes that can be achieved through
design.
The PDER is the most signi昀椀cant
review to date of the value of
design within UK public services.
Over 1,000 designers were
surveyed and dozens of design
leaders interviewed, to de昀椀ne the
role and value of design in public
services and settings. The Review
marks a signi昀椀cant moment for
Transform’s design practice led
by Ian Pocock MD Research and
Design, validating their humancentred, participatory approach.
The Review highlights
Transform’s project’s success,
which is a direct result of their
participatory methods. Through
Transform’s work, in partnership
with HMCTS, 25% of immigration
and asylum appeal cases are now
resolved early without the need
for a hearing and there is over
80% uptake in their reformed
service design. This was achieved
by creating a “platform of
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participation,” using accessible
and collaborative design tools
in workshops to bring judges,
lawyers, policymakers, and
appellants together as codesigners – as a community
of design and change. Their
accessible design methods
enabled changes to policy and
judicial rules, helped re-write
complex legal language into
plain English and dramatically
simpli昀椀ed the appeal application
from 128 questions down to just
10 – to name just a few design
outcomes.
This recognition is built on
Transform’s two-decade history
of demonstrating design’s
value in the public sector. The
company’s human-centred
methodology has consistently
delivered tangible bene昀椀ts for
citizens across government.
Through their work with Public
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Health England, over seven
million people have downloaded
the Couch to 5k app, starting their
paths to sustainable exercise.
They also brought hundreds
of veterans’ stories into focus as
key ingredients of their design
processes, to enable the creation
of the UK veteran card, helping
former service members access
critical support. In the face of a
rapid exit from the EU, Transform
also co-designed the UK’s 昀椀rst
independent trade service in 40
years, protecting the UK market
and defending against job losses.
“Being featured in the PDER is
a powerful validation of our core
belief: that participatory design
breaks down silos and builds
connection and trust across
policy and service ecosystems to
create lasting, positive change,”
said David Singer, Director of
Design at Transform. “This review
provides the evidence that our
approach not only builds better,
more human services, but also
delivers signi昀椀cant ef昀椀ciencies
critical to this period of public
sector reform”.
PDER is a milestone
document that aims to shift the
understanding of design in public
settings. It moves beyond toolkits
and invites leadership from
across government and public
services to use design to deliver
public sector reform that’s more
inclusive, open and adaptive. By
providing a working de昀椀nition
and model for public design, the
PDER gives leaders and civil
servants clarity that design can
help solve complex, system-wide
problems, by building services
with, not just for, communities.
