UK Government Evaluation Services Unit launched 2024

You often hear ministers say they want to know what works. On 15 December 2025, the UK government’s Open Innovation Team set out, on GOV.UK, how its Evaluation Services Unit helps do exactly that. Launched in 2024, the unit’s job is to make high‑quality evaluation quicker, easier and more affordable for civil servants.

The unit runs like an in‑house consultancy. It supports the full evaluation cycle, from early scoping and design through to delivery, covering both process evaluation and impact evaluation for programmes and pilots.

You can see the range from the first wave of projects: trials to tackle organised exploitation for the Home Office, a randomised controlled trial of a police video‑call pilot for the College of Policing, and evaluations of Sanctuary Schemes for the housing ministry.

If you’re new to the methods, here’s a plain‑English guide. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) splits people or places into groups by chance, offers the new programme to one group, and compares outcomes with the other. Because the groups start out similar, differences at the end are more likely to be caused by the programme rather than other factors.

Process and impact evaluations answer different questions. Process asks whether a policy was delivered as intended and what obstacles cropped up. Impact asks what changed because of the policy and by how much. Most serious evaluations use both: process to understand delivery, impact to understand effects.

When reading case examples, look for three things: fairness, timing and outcomes. Fairness means the comparison is like‑for‑like. Timing means measuring long enough to see real effects, not just a quick bump. Outcomes should be meaningful (for example, safety, trust, or cost per result) and clearly defined before the work starts.

The unit works with all central departments and arm’s‑length bodies, and it partners with the Cabinet Office’s Evaluation Task Force so efforts join up across government and add value. That keeps methods consistent and avoids duplicated studies.

Access is straightforward. Teams in policy, analysis or delivery can get support without a long procurement, and scoping can be agreed in as little as a week. GOV.UK lists an ‘About ESU’ deck and a contact email: enquiries@evaluationservices.gov.uk.

For students and teachers, these examples are ready‑made classroom prompts. Start with the evaluation question, sketch how you’d assign groups fairly, decide what counts as success, and think about risks and ethics. Then compare your plan with what an RCT or a process study would require in practice.

If you want to go deeper, read the ‘About ESU’ deck for a simple overview and discuss how the methods fit issues you care about-from policing to housing. If you’re in public service, use the contact details to ask for advice early; early scoping often saves time and money later.