Service assessments
Services must be assessed against the Service Standard at the end of each phase. Being assessed is a condition of Cabinet Office spend approval.
Complete an assessment report as an assessor
As a trained assessor, when writing the report you'll consider each of the Service Standard points and give a green, amber or red rating for each one.
Each profession will lead on different standard points.
Assessors may have a view on all 14 standard points, but specialist roles will lead on certain ones. For example, standard point 1 should be led by user research, and standard point 12 by architects and developers.
You should always take into account the context the team are working in and evaluate the Service Standard in a proportionate way.
You'll detail any actions that the team must take, where an amber or red rating is given.
The report should also include an overall rating for the service, for how it's currently meeting the Service Standard. The panel should work together to consider this, but it's the lead assessor's responsibility to finalise the overall rating.
Draft the report
During the assessment, work with the other assessors to gather your findings for each of the 14 Service Standard points, and provide any actions for the team.
Do this in a way that suits you. Before adding your final notes to the report. For example, in a Word doc or the panel chat in Teams.
You could also add comments directly to the report in the Service assessment service during the assessment.
It's the lead assessor's responsibility to add the overall rating, review the report and submit it to the Service Assessment Plus team. They'll then forward it on to the delivery team.
Give the service a rating for each Service Standard point
Following changes to GDS (Government Digital Services) policy for service assessments, services will be rated as green, amber or red against the 14 Service Standard points.
Plus, you'll also provide an overall rating for the service. This replaces using 'met' or 'not met'.
If a service receives 1 amber-or-red-rated standard, this means the overall outcome will be amber or red.
Green rating
This replaces the 'met' rating.
Services that receive green ratings for all 14 Service Standard points can progress into the next phase.
Amber rating
This replaces the previous rating of 'not met', or 'met with conditions' that's been used in DfE.
Services that receive any amber ratings will be able to move into the next phase.
However, they must address these points within a 3-month timeframe.
All amber recommendations must be addressed before booking the next assessment.
Red rating
This also replaces the previous rating of 'not met'.
If any of the standard points receive a red rating, the overall outcome of the assessment will be red.
The service must be reassessed against the points of the standard that are rated red at this assessment.
In order for the service to continue to the next phase, it must meet the standard points and get Cabinet Office spend approvals.
Add details to red or amber-rated standards
For red or amber-rated standard points, you will need to list things that the team have not demonstrated.
For any standard points rated red, the team will need to be reassessed against those points and demonstrate they've done this work.
If a standard point is rated amber, the team can continue to the next phase, but should complete the things they hadn't evidenced within 3 months of assessment.
Review and submit report
Once you've added your notes and ratings, you may want to meet again as a panel, to review the completed report before submitting it.
You should aim to complete the report within 7 working days.
What happens after the report is submitted
The DfE Service Assessment Plus team will share the report with the delivery team.
If the team accepts the report and there are actions to take before their next assessment, they may be in touch with the panel. This could mean having a follow-up call, or advice on a workshop, depending on the actions that need addressing.
If the team challenge the report or ask for clarification for any of the points made, they should speak to the DfE Service Assessment Plus team, who will set up a meeting with the panel.
Support the team
Assessors will be expected to support the team after the assessment to action any recommendations.
The lead assessor will mainly be responsible for overseeing this, their role will involve reviewing any actions taken if a service receives any amber-rated Service Standards.
If you're an assessor, you may be contacted as an expert within your profession to support the team with specific tasks to meet amber-rated standards.