The UK government is creating a new unit, based in the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, to drive what it calls "the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation." The unit will coordinate departmental insourcing efforts, remove delivery obstacles, and identify cross-government opportunities to improve value for money and accountability. It will also work alongside the recently introduced Public Interest Test, which applies to central government service contracts worth at least £1 million and pushes departments to look beyond short-term price.
The push has gained urgency after the chaotic start to Capita's seven-year, £239 million contract to run the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Capita took over in December 2025 and quickly produced a glitchy website, leaving some former civil servants unable to access their pensions. Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has called the contract "a prime candidate for insourcing," but also said terminating it immediately would cause severe disruption to payroll. The contract's initial term runs until December 2032, with an option for three more years, so any move would likely come later.
The new unit is also expected to reduce spending on consultants and professional services by building capability inside the Civil Service. One early candidate for insourcing is the Cabinet Office's own building management work, including cleaning and security, which the government will consider bringing in-house when existing contracts end in 2028. That timing makes it a more realistic near-term target than the pension system. The source offers no further examples of specific technology contracts under review, but frames the unit as a broad push to restore direct operational control across government. Note: this article is filed under Compute & Hardware because the affected contracts are heavily technology-based, though the source itself focuses on public-sector outsourcing policy. The one source provides no countervailing perspective or industry response.