Guidance

Futures toolkit for policymakers and analysts

The Futures Toolkit provides a set of tools to help you develop policies and strategies that are robust in the face of an uncertain future. 

Documents

Futures Toolkit: tools for strategic futures for policymakers and analysts

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email contact@go-science.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

The Futures Toolkit provides a set of tools to help embed long-term strategic thinking within the policy process, and explains how to ensure they have real impact. It is intended for policy officials and analysts across government. This is the updated 2024 version.

The toolkit summarises what futures thinking is, how it can be used in policymaking and describes a series of tools that can be used by policymakers to manage in uncertainty and identify future actions. It is intended to be accessible to people who have little or no experience using these tools, as well as those who are more experienced, and a guide for those commissioning futures projects.

Experts from government and industry have contributed to its development and have provided case studies to illustrate the tools. 

More detailed case studies can be found here, and resources to support each tool can be found here.  

The toolkit sits alongside other GO-Science futures resources, including our Brief Guide to Futures Thinking and Foresight, and our Trend Deck.

This is the 2024 version of the Futures Toolkit: we are continuing to test and improve it. We would welcome your feedback.

Updates to this page

Published 8 July 2014
Last updated 11 July 2024 + show all updates
  1. Uploaded an updated version of the Futures Toolkit in July 2024.

  2. Updated version of the toolkit published (edition 1.0).

  3. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page