Working Document

Department Demo Briefing

Structured brief for preparing permanent secretary demos. Fill in each section as information arrives from Leanne, Tina, and the team.

Target: End March / Early April 2026 Format: Physical handouts (not screen presentations) Status: Awaiting persona briefs from Leanne
0

Timeline & Sequence

Rolling individual sessions with permanent secretaries. Emma arranging one-by-one. Coordinate with Alonzo's pitch deck — avoid duplicate artefacts.

Now Briefing & scenarios
W/C 24 Mar Build & iterate
W/C 31 Mar Review with Chris PS & Emran
April Department sessions begin
April HMRC deep dive
1

Department Profiles

For each target department: who is the permanent secretary, what are their priorities, what citizen services do they run, and what's the "so what" that will make them care?

1 Ministry of Justice

Perm Sec
Dr Josephine (Jo) Farrar CB OBE (since July 2025). Also Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. Previously Second PS MoJ; CEO NHS Blood and Transplant; CEO HM Prison & Probation Service; began career in Prison Service Parole Unit (1987). Priorities: justice reform, safer streets, prison capacity/safety, rehabilitation.
Key services
Lasting Power of Attorney (1.37m applications, 8-10 weeks), Probate (320k applications, 4.9 weeks online vs 12.3 weeks paper), Divorce (112k applications, 97% online, 63-74 weeks to final order), Civil Money Claims (1.94m claims, up 14%), Employment Tribunals (523k open, new claims up 54%), Legal Aid (971 ECF applications/quarter, £235m civil spend), Criminal Injuries/CICA (42k applications), Court Fees, Prison Visit Booking, Jury Service (347k summonses/year)
Known priorities
Crown Court backlog: record 76,957 open cases, 1,600+ rape cases waiting 12+ months (some scheduled for 2030). Legal aid crisis: 40% drop in provider firms since 2013, fees frozen since 1996. 24% of UK population digitally excluded from justice services. LAA cyberattack (Dec 2024, undetected 4 months) exposed data since 2010. HMCTS Reform Programme concluded March 2025 after £3bn, delivering 14 digital services. £356m efficiency target by 2028-29. Digital transaction cost: £0.22 vs £6.62 by post, £4.11 by phone.
Why they care
£15.5bn department with massive cost differentials: £0.22 per digital transaction vs £6.62 by post. Probate is 2.5x faster online (4.9 vs 12.3 weeks) — an agent could push more citizens to digital. Cross-departmental friction: probate requires HMRC inheritance tax payment first; probation needs DWP employment support (only 1 Prison Work Coach for entire women's prison); legal aid gaps span MoJ/DLUHC/DWP. The 76,957 Crown Court backlog and 24% digital exclusion rate make the case for agents that can simplify access. LPA rejections up 199% since 2021 — an agent ensuring application completeness could dramatically reduce this.
Persona focus
Awaiting brief from Leanne

2 Department for Work & Pensions

Perm Sec
Sir Peter Schofield KCB (stepping down July 2026). DG Finance at DWP, HM Treasury background. Priorities: technology in service design, going 'further and faster' with tech, IT modernisation.
Key services
Universal Credit (7.3m claimants), PIP (3.9m claimants, 66% appeal success rate), State Pension (13.2m recipients), Carer's Allowance (1.4m, 10-12+ week processing), Attendance Allowance (1.9m), Pension Credit (1.4m), Bereavement Support Payment (47k)
Known priorities
Technology in service delivery; £312m Service Modernisation Programme (2022-33); Route 101 contact centre contract (£200-265m); legacy benefits migration to UC (deadline March 2026). 5.3m calls abandoned in 2023-24. PIP processing crisis: median 15 weeks, 392k review backlog (~10 years to clear).
Why they care
Highest volume citizen interactions in government. £268.5bn in benefit payments, £9.5bn in overpayments (3.3%). UC costs £195/claim but PIP appeals succeed 66% of the time — suggesting flawed initial assessments. ESA calls: 26min avg wait, only 50% answered. An agent could reduce failure demand, improve initial assessment accuracy, and cut the £200m+ contact centre cost.
Persona focus
Awaiting brief from Leanne

3 HM Revenue & Customs

Perm Sec
John-Paul (JP) Marks CB (appointed April 2025). Previously PS to Scottish Government; DWP DG Work and Health Services; HM Treasury. Predecessor: Sir Jim Harra. Priorities: Transformation Roadmap, Making Tax Digital, digital-first services, tax gap closure.
Key services
Self Assessment (11.48m returns, 97.25% online), PAYE & Tax Codes (~33m employees), Child Benefit (millions of households), Marriage Allowance, VAT Registration (10 working days), Student Loan Repayments. Tax Credits closed April 2025 — legacy migration to UC. HMRC app: 7.18m users, 136m+ logins.
Known priorities
Making Tax Digital for ITSA launching April 2026 (income >£50k). Transformation Roadmap (July 2025). Target: 90% digital by 2029-30 (currently 79.6%). £886m efficiency savings target by 2028-29. Requesting separate deep dive session in April. 76% of calls are avoidable failure demand (~28m calls, est. £140-196m waste). 5.6m taxpayers overpaid £3.5bn through PAYE errors.
Why they care
£875.9bn revenue collected at 0.5p per pound. But 76% of 37m annual calls are avoidable — that's ~28m unnecessary calls costing £140-196m/year. An agent could eliminate failure demand by guiding citizens through Self Assessment, explaining tax codes, and handling routine queries. 475k people file SA on deadline day — an agent could proactively prompt them earlier. MTD readiness is amber with 1/5 APIs untested — legible services would accelerate this.
Persona focus
Awaiting brief from Leanne

4 Department for Education

Perm Sec
Susan Acland-Hood (since December 2020). Previously CE of HM Courts & Tribunals Service; HM Treasury; 10 Downing Street; Home Office. Priorities: Skills England, AI in education (safety-by-design), SEND reform (2029-2035), ESFA integration.
Key services
Free School Meals (2.1m children eligible), Student Finance (~400k+ new entrants/year), 30 Hours Childcare (expanded Sept 2025), Tax-Free Childcare (via HMRC), School Admissions (98.3% primary top 3), Teacher Training (secondary shortfall), School Place Appeals (8,999 primary + 29,640 secondary heard), EHCPs for SEND (638,700 children, up 10.8% YoY)
Known priorities
EHCP crisis: only 46.4% meet 20-week deadline; 250% demand increase since 2014; 13,700 tribunal appeals (all-time high). Childcare expansion: only 46% of LAs have sufficient under-2 places; 84,500 more places needed; spending forecast £1bn over budget. Free school meals: data-sharing barriers with DWP; digital divide. DfE Connect personalised dashboard launched 2025. Cross-dept dependencies with HMRC (Tax-Free Childcare) and DWP (benefits-based eligibility).
Why they care
DfE services are uniquely cross-departmental: free school meals depend on DWP benefit data, Tax-Free Childcare runs through HMRC, EHCPs need NHS health assessments. An agent could bridge these gaps — automatically checking benefit eligibility for free school meals via DWP data, linking childcare entitlements across DfE/HMRC, and coordinating EHCP assessments. The EHCP tribunal crisis (13,700 appeals) suggests initial assessments need improvement — an agent could ensure completeness before submission.
Persona focus
Awaiting brief from Leanne

5 Home Office

Perm Sec
Acting: Simon Ridley CB (Second PS, Migration and Borders). Previously COVID-19 Taskforce head; Brexit DG roles; Planning Inspectorate CE; HM Treasury. Previous PS: Dame Antonia Romeo (April 2025–Feb 2026, now Cabinet Secretary). Priorities: secure borders, Immigration White Paper, eVisa rollout, illegal working enforcement.
Key services
Passports (2.4m+ applications, 99.7% within 3 weeks), Visa Applications (study: 411k, skilled worker: 54.9k), EU Settlement Scheme (8.78m applications total), Right to Work Checks (all job hires), DBS Checks (7.27m certificates), Asylum (82.1k applications, 166.3k pending), Citizenship (269k+ granted), Travel Documents (digital from Feb 2026)
Known priorities
eVisa transition live Feb 2026 — all new visas digital-only. ETA required for non-visa nationals. Asylum backlog: 166,300 pending, 68% waiting >6 months, costing £4bn/year (hotels: £2.1bn for 32k people at £119/night — 6x costlier than alternatives). Visa processing exceeds 12-week target. Citizenship surge: 44% increase Q4 2025 due to Earned Settlement speculation. Skilled Worker visa costs £12,500 over 5 years (1,000% higher than comparable countries).
Why they care
£27.8bn department, £7.3bn in fee income. The eVisa transition is the biggest digital change in HO history — but cross-departmental friction persists: settled status ↔ DWP benefit eligibility, right to work ↔ employer compliance, auto-upgrades depend on HMRC/DWP data quality. An agent could bridge these gaps — helping citizens check visa status, understand right to work requirements, navigate the BRP-to-eVisa transition, and coordinate between HO and DWP/HMRC for status verification. PAC found immigration enforcement decisions based on 'anecdote and prejudice' — legible services would bring transparency.
Persona focus
Awaiting brief from Leanne
2

Demo Scenarios

5 persona/user journey briefs from Leanne. Each needs: department focus, persona type, situation context, nightmare scenario (today), and agent solution (future). These drive the handout content and prototype data.

Scenario 1 — Department & persona TBC

Department
Awaiting Leanne's brief
Persona type
Who is this person? Age, situation, context
Life event
What happened to trigger this journey?
Services touched
Which services across which departments?

Today's nightmare

What goes wrong for this citizen today? How many forms, calls, departments, weeks does it take?

Agent solution

How does the agent handle this? What's different? How long does it take? What's the citizen experience?

Scenario 2 — TBC

Department
Awaiting brief
Persona type
TBC
Life event
TBC
Services touched
TBC

Today's nightmare

TBC

Agent solution

TBC

Scenario 3 — TBC

Department
Awaiting brief
Persona type
TBC
Life event
TBC
Services touched
TBC

Today's nightmare

TBC

Agent solution

TBC

Scenario 4 — TBC

Department
Awaiting brief
Persona type
TBC
Life event
TBC
Services touched
TBC

Today's nightmare

TBC

Agent solution

TBC

Scenario 5 — TBC

Department
Awaiting brief
Persona type
TBC
Life event
TBC
Services touched
TBC

Today's nightmare

TBC

Agent solution

TBC

3

Service Artefact Requirements

For each new service needed in the demo, what artefacts must be authored? Map from the data requirements spreadsheet. This table will be populated once scenarios are confirmed.

Service Dept Manifest Policy State Model Consent Instructions
Apply Universal Credit DWP ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Check State Pension DWP ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Renew Driving Licence DVLA ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
4

Physical Handout Design

Physical handouts, not screen presentations. This is the proven approach. Each department gets a tailored set. Coordinate with Alonzo's pitch deck to avoid duplication.

Page 1 — The Citizen Problem

Department-specific nightmare scenario. Real numbers: how many forms, how many departments, how many weeks. Make the pain tangible. Include cost figures (X envelopes + X stamps = Y cost).

Page 2 — The Agent Experience

Screenshots of the citizen-dept prototype showing the journey. Annotated: what the agent does at each step, what data it uses, what the citizen sees. Before/after contrast.

Page 3 — What We Need From You

The legibility requirements: which artefacts your department needs to publish (manifest, policy, state model, consent). What exists today vs what's needed. Gap analysis from the studio.

Page 4 — The Cost-Benefit Case

Interactive examples made static: processing costs saved, call centre volume reduction, faster outcomes for citizens. Department-specific numbers where possible.

5

Demo Narrative Structure

The two-act structure: "this is what citizens get" then "this is what we need from you." The handout walks through this — the conversation follows the same arc.

  1. The citizen's problem

    Open with the nightmare scenario. Make it personal, specific to this department. "Sarah just lost her husband. Here's what she has to do right now, across your department and four others."

  2. Show the agent experience

    Walk through the handout screenshots. "Here's what Sarah sees instead. One conversation. The agent handles the complexity." Point out: consent, transparency, audit trail.

  3. The legibility studio reveal

    "Here's what happened under the hood." Show the evidence trail, the artefact structure, the gap analysis. "Your department's services need these artefacts to be legible to agents."

  4. The cost-benefit case

    Hard numbers. Processing costs, call volumes, citizen time saved. "This isn't just better for citizens — it's cheaper for you."

  5. The ask

    "Here's specifically what we need from your department. These are the artefacts. This is the work. Here's how we help you get there." Leave the handout. Follow up in a week.

6

Success Criteria

What does "this went well" look like for each meeting?

7

Open Questions

Things to resolve before building.