Research and analysis

GAD client feedback - April 2024 to March 2025

Published 25 April 2025

Government Actuary’s introduction

I am delighted to introduce the results of our latest client survey for the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD). This year, results show that 99% of respondents have awarded us 4 or more stars for being highly valued, underscoring the high value they place on our work; this is an improvement on last year’s score of 98%.

Valuable insights

Client feedback is integral to reflecting on our achievements, identifying areas for improvement and informing our priorities. We sincerely appreciate our clients’ participation. The survey evaluates overall satisfaction, service levels, performance against our strategic goals and value for money perception. Along with the survey, GAD conducted in-depth interviews with a subset of clients to gather more specific feedback. Detailed results are available in this report.

Key responses

With a response rate of 61% from 165 people across 49 organisations, our annual survey provides valuable insights on how GAD should respond to our client needs and emerging issues.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, showing improvements in 6 of the 8 areas evaluated compared to last year, with one area maintaining a 100% score. There was a slight fall in our value for money rating, but the score remained strong at 95%.

Overall, these results highlight the professionalism and dedication of our team, and the continuous effort to bring innovation, challenge and efficiency improvements to our work.

Looking forward

These results mark the conclusion of our previous corporate strategy, positioning us strongly as we embark on a new 5-year strategy. Looking ahead to this financial year, our new 2030 strategy and refreshed outlook will help us position ourselves as bold and trusted partners on risk and finance, enhancing decision-making for lasting benefits to society. Our goals are to make more impact on policy and unlock value in our core work.

We look forward to continuing to work with our clients to take forward the government’s objectives. For enquiries or further information about our services, please contact us at enquiries@gad.gov.uk.

Fiona Dunsire, Government Actuary

Overview

The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) is committed to providing high-quality, cost-effective advice to clients across government and the public sector. This year 99% of our clients rated us 4 or more stars for being highly valued, with an average score of 4.8 stars out of a maximum of 5. This represents an increase from last year (average 4.7 out of 5 rating), with higher scores across the majority of the categories.

The annual client feedback survey offers us a snapshot of how clients perceive our work and achievements over the past financial year. We asked 165 people from 49 organisations what they thought of GAD, receiving 100 responses – a response rate of 61%.

Client work

GAD collaborates with clients in several ways, such as providing actuarial analysis and advice, offering secondments and on-site working. Our actuaries and analysts provide technical expertise across a wide area of activities including:

• public service pensions
• investment, funding and credit risk
• modelling and quality assurance
• data insights

This is all supplemented by our in-house specialists on climate risk, investment and pensions administration.

Clients also had the opportunity to provide qualitative feedback, to complement the quantitative ratings. In this instance 62 out of 100 respondents offered comments. These further insights are crucial for providing context to the overall results and informing our future plans.

The infographic below provides a visual summary of the feedback discussed throughout this report. The percentage ratings are for scores of ‘mostly’ or ‘always’ for the relevant area.

Our service

We consistently strive to improve both the quality and value of our professional services, and to enhance those services through new ideas and innovation. We are committed to providing a high‑quality service that is delivered on time, within budget, within scope, is clearly communicated and offers value for money:

We asked clients how they rated our service, and the scores below refer to results from respondents who replied, ‘always’ or ‘mostly’.

Category	Ratings: 2024-25	Ratings: 2023-24
Timely delivery	97%	96%
Adherence to budget	96%	94%
Within scope	100%	100%
Clearly communicated	98%	96%
Overall value for money	95%	99%
Collaboration	99%	97%
Innovation	93%	88%
Thought leadership	89%	84%

We also received comments on these key metrics. Below are some client observations on our services and the way we work:

Timeliness

• “Always very helpful and efficient and always meet our timeline.”
• “The service we receive from GAD is consistently excellent - clear, helpful and timely.”

Clearly communicated

• “Ensure that detailed complex advice is reflected in plain language and relevant to the subject matter.”
• “I really appreciate the ability to ask questions or for clarification and get quick and clear responses.”

Value for money:

• “Strong for what you know. Valuable as government. Excellent value for money.”
• “Compared to other service providers that we have used, GAD provided excellent value for money.”

Feedback against our 2020-25 strategy objectives

We received comments from clients regarding our strategic objectives. Most clients recognise and appreciate the significance of our work with them. We are grateful for their observations around challenge and strategic thinking, as these are key behaviours we aim to foster.

These results come at the conclusion of the GAD 2025 Strategy where the objectives were listed as:

• collaborative - partnering effectively with clients to understand and address their needs
• innovative - continually developing and improving the service we provide
• thought leaders - introducing ideas, hosting events and publishing relevant articles

Collaboration

• “GAD colleagues are readily approachable and a team player in our pensions area. They recognise the challenges we face with stakeholders and are supportive to the team on resolving or addressing the issues raised.”
• “We really value our working relationship with GAD, who have been instrumental in assisting us with some highly technical and detailed pensions policy work across a variety of topics/issues.”

Innovation

• “GAD are supporting us to develop and innovate in the way that we look at the risk attached to the service, using data and industry insight to inform this work which will be crucial in setting a long-term strategy.”
• “Always find ways of developing creative solutions to issues and the level of partnership working is really excellent.”

Thought leadership

• “GAD’s credibility has been instrumental in helping us maintain strong relationships with key partners and stakeholders.”
• “I like how I can commission GAD for thoughts, get back some expert advice and then have the opportunity to talk through the complex areas, caveats and open questions.”

Listening to clients

Detailed feedback revealed some clients expressed a desire for GAD to demonstrate more strategic thought leadership and a more proactive use of data for operational management. While some clients found the service was excellent value, others suggested certain costs were high for specific tasks.

In other feedback, clients value clear communication, especially when explaining complex actuarial matters, and appreciate GAD’s willingness to challenge thinking and propose innovative solutions.

We are grateful too for clients’ observations on areas for improvement including:

• better management of team changes to ensure continuity and stability
• more proactive updates on work progress
• having the confidence to be a ‘critical friend’ and continue to seek opportunities to add value

Overall, clients appreciate the thoroughness, professionalism, and responsiveness of the GAD team, with several individuals commended for their exceptional service.