Better Public Services Awards 2026

Better Public Service Awards (2026)
An annual celebration honouring outstanding achievements in innovation, collaboration and delivery across the civil and public service.
formerly Civil Service Excellence and Innovation Awards

The Better Public Services Awards are an annual event that recognise excellence, best practice and innovation within the civil and public service. Established in 2015, the awards are an opportunity to highlight innovations in policy and service delivery across the civil and public service where effective strategies and lessons can be shared.

For the 2026 Awards, it has been decided to strengthen alignment with the Better Public Services policy by:
- opening up the Awards to all Public Service bodies
- requiring all applications to be joint applications – where a civil and public service bodies apply together
- updated name - Better Public Services Awards
- a re-alignment of categories to fit with Better Public Services policy and framework
- new criteria and approval for entry as well as an expansion of the evaluator panel to include volunteers from a wider selection of public service bodies

Public Service Bodies are now eligible to apply: Applications are now open to all public service bodies, rather than just civil service bodies in line with the Better Public Services policy.

Collaboration required: To encourage collaboration between civil and public service bodies, applications will require a minimum of two applicants (two bodies), of which at least one must be a government department. Single department applications will only be considered on an exceptional basis if the Department can demonstrate that the service/policy/project or programme was of an outstanding value in achieving Better Public Service vision and where collaboration (internally or with others) was at the heart of the service/policy/project or programme.

Number of applications: A new cap has been introduced, where each government department can submit no more than six applications in collaboration with the public service body/bodies of their choice.

Government departments can also choose to collaborate together, as well as with public service bodies. Government departments can collaborate with public service bodies not under their direct aegis.

Special Points of Contact (SPOC) are appointed in each Department/Organisation and are responsible for sending out information about the awards. These individuals can also receive project submissions and forward them to their Secretary General/Head of Organisation for consideration. Selected projects, within the quota limit, are then submitted to the Better Public Services Awards (BPSA) team for consideration by the Review Team.

The Review Team is made up of volunteers from across the Civil and Public Service, they review and assess the project submissions based on the selected awards category and propose a shortlist that is forwarded to the Selection Committee.

The Selection Committee assess the shortlisted projects, and confirm the three nominees in each category, with overall winners announced at the Awards Ceremony.

Civil and Public Service bodies are encouraged to run in-house award programmes in the run up to the opening for BPSA submissions. This provides an opportunity to promote recognition of innovative projects within Departments/Organisations. Some Departments/Organisations use this in-house award programme to decide on their submissions to the BPSA team.

Pillar 1 Digital and innovation at scale
Categories: Digital first, Joined up public services and Innovation at scale

Pillar 2 Workforce and organisation of the future
Categories: Leading through learning, Driving equality, diversity and inclusion and Shaping the workforce of the future

Pillar 3 Evidence informed policy and services designed for and with our public
Categories: Human-centred policy and service design, Strategic use of data to deliver efficiency in public services and Strategic use of data to guide improvements in policy development and implementation

Better Public Services: A vision for our future
Categories: Delivering in a dynamic environment, Climate action and sustainable government and World class civil and public Service

For more detailed information on each category please see the FAQ sheet below in the Resources section.

Nominations: there will be three nominees per category x 12 categories above. Thirty six projects will be nominated in total.

Nominations for the awards will be open from December 2025 to 27 February 2026. You will be asked to submit an online Application Form for your nomination(s), which will need to be agreed by your Secretary General/Head of Office and the Head of Public Service Organisation (s) who are collaborating.

• Opening date for submissions: December 2025
• Closing date for submissions: 27 February 2026
• Evaluation review meetings: March/April 2026
• Shortlist Announced: late April 2026
• Nominee Days: early May 2026
• Award ceremony will be held on Thursday 25 June 2026