Corporate report

GAD 2030 Strategy

Published 17 June 2025

Foreword from the Government Actuary

GAD has a proud history of providing expert advice and analysis across the public sector, navigating risk and cutting through complexity for our clients. Our advice impacts some of the government’s most significant financial commitments and our biggest societal challenges. 

I am delighted to present our 2030 Strategy, which builds on this heritage to support the delivery of the government’s growth mission and policy objectives. Our strategy will develop the organisation we need for the future: embracing innovation and modern technology and nurturing a diverse workforce with the skills to meet an even wider range of government challenges. 

We have set a clear vision: to be bold and trusted partners in risk and finance, enhancing decision making for lasting benefits to society. The impact we have on issues that affect outcomes for UK citizens is one of the reasons I joined GAD and is a key part of what makes GAD a great place to work.

We have developed robust plans to achieve this vision, which are detailed below. I look forward to working with our team and clients to deliver on these ambitions. 

Fiona Dunsire, Government Actuary

Who we are

GAD is a shared service supplier to the government, devolved administrations and public bodies. We employ more than 200 people across 2 offices (London and Edinburgh), including around 175 actuaries and analysts. Our team brings deep expertise in financial risk and uncertainty, supporting the public sector across a wide range of contemporary issues.

To find out more about the department, watch this introduction to GAD. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qmuuOrE6tk)

What we do

We deliver impartial, high-quality actuarial analysis and modelling. Our work helps government and public sector clients manage risk, make informed decisions and navigate complex financial challenges. This supports some of the UK’s most significant financial commitments and policy priorities.

To find out more about our service, go to our About our services page.

Strategic Vision

We are problem solvers and strategic thinkers with a deep understanding of financial systems. We aspire to be the public sector’s first port-of-call when faced with complex and uncertain financial challenges.

Our vision is to be bold and trusted partners in risk and finance, enhancing decision making for lasting benefits to society.

Achieving this vision will take significant investment and effort from everyone. To guide us over the 5 years strategic period and secure our vision for the future, we have set out 2 strategic goals:

1. Unlock value in our core work
2. Make more impact on policy

GAD’s strategic goals

Goal: Unlock value in our core work

We want to ensure our advice enables success and delivers value for money by working more efficiently, using modern techniques. This will free up our time to tackle other challenges that our client’s face.

To achieve this, we will:

• Adopt efficient processes and technology to reduce the costs of routine work. This will include innovative approaches to data analytics and modelling, integrating AI and machine learning and strengthening centres of expertise.
• Work with clients to address their strategic challenges and deliver tailored, innovative solutions, supported by on-site working, secondments and regular communication.

A successful approach will lead to:

• improved understanding of the value of pensions
• better insights into on the cost drivers of provisions
• increased use of data and analytics for policy development
• continued high quality pensions administration

Goal:  Make more impact on policy

This strategic goal positions GAD as a go-to partner in government, helping to frame initial policy discussions and contributing from the outset to solution development. It will help clients engage with GAD earlier in the commissioning and support process.

To achieve this, we will:

• Identify critical challenges facing the UK, focusing on the impact of demographic change on public services, pension adequacy and sustainability, climate risk, health and social care, workforce productivity, and the use of investments to enhance economic growth.
• Work with partners and clients to develop integrated solutions, designing offerings that best fit client needs and adopting innovative approaches to delivering our advice.

A successful approach will enable us to:

• influence policy on health and social care
• improve risk planning on policy implementation
• support UK growth through contingent financing
• enhance public sector workforce planning

Our values

Our values provide the framework for how we approach our work and our clients:

• Expert - we provide high quality professional advice that our clients can rely on, leveraging our knowledge and commitment to excellence.
• Collaborative - We partner with our clients to co-create solutions that address their business needs, building strong and lasting relationships.
• Inclusive - We value and develop all our people, creating a diverse and supportive environment where everyone feels they belong.
• Innovative - We are forward thinking, taking measured risks to develop creative solutions, continually improving to meet client needs.

Monitoring our performance

We will monitor our progress in delivering our planned priorities and our strategy through our Executive Committee, with regular reports to the Board, using a balanced scorecard approach. We have set 6 targets to measure our progress:

1. New revenue growth: increase our work in novel areas.
2. Expansion: grow our income in policy, risk and assurance.
3. Client impact: achieve strong scores from our clients
4. Service optimisation: reduce the cost of repeatable work.
5. Operational efficiency: limit growth in our workforce.
6. People and culture: achieve strong engagement scores among our staff.