Independent report

SME Digital Adoption Taskforce: 2026 update

Published 26 June 2026

Ministerial foreword

Last summer, the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Digital Adoption Taskforce set out 10 recommendations, looking towards a bold ambition:

• for the UK to seize its already leading global position in the tech and artificial intelligence (AI) sector
• for the UK’s SMEs to be the most digitally capable and AI confident in the G7

In ‘Backing your business: our plan for small and medium-sized businesses’, we accepted the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce’s recommendations to remove the barriers that have held businesses back and make the UK the best place to start and grow a business.

We are delivering on that commitment, and I am delighted to share progress, from the rollout of the Business Growth Service (BGS) to the launch of pilots, and work with industry on future support.

Blair McDougall MP

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Small Business and Economic Transformation)

Foreword by the chair

The taskforce’s stretching recommendations were ambitious, timely and evidence-based. I am delighted to see that government has begun work to deliver across all 10 areas in an attempt to meet the taskforce’s objective of making the UK the most digitally capable and AI confident in the G7 by 2035.

The level of interest in this policy space is exciting to see, and the work towards these recommendations sits alongside other initiatives like the AI Skills Boost, Made Smarter and Essential Digital Skills Standards.

This will help the UK reach the taskforce’s bold ambition, harnessing the productive potential of SMEs and kickstarting productivity and economic growth across all regions of the country.

Phil Smith CBE

Chair of Skills England

Introduction

The SME Digital Adoption Taskforce was set up in April 2024 to explore how SMEs can be supported to better adopt digital technology to improve their productivity.

The taskforce’s final report set out 10 recommendations, published alongside the government’s response in the plan for SMEs on 31 July 2025. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) committed to an update on work to address these recommendations, provisionally scheduled for Spring 2026.

Update on the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce’s recommendations

1. No.10 Downing Street should lead an effort to co-create a new public-private initiative to drive up SME digital and AI adoption

We agreed on the need to co-create a new public-private initiative, and since then have taken the following actions to meet this recommendation.

Actions

We have established a series of roundtables in collaboration with No.10 Downing Street to convene major industry leaders to develop a new support package to be announced later this year to boost SME uptake of productivity-enhancing digital technology.

These roundtables are focussed on the important barriers businesses face, as set out by the taskforce – capability, cost and awareness.

Already, this group has begun providing upskilling roadshows across the country and a further package will be announced by the end of the year. This work complements that of the AI Upskilling Fund established by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

2. Appoint a minister accountable for SME digital and AI adoption

We agreed that a single point of accountability would help strengthen digital adoption policy across government – a recommendation also noted by the Technology Adoption Review.

Actions

We will feed into the next opportunity to design ministerial portfolios to ensure clear accountability for digital adoption, skills and inclusion. This can help to enable co-ordinated and cross-government of digital adoption support in a way that strengthens progress and increases SME uptake of digital technologies.

3. Develop a scalable online Chief Technical Officer (CTO) as a service, providing AI-powered guidance and support to SMEs

We agreed that AI-powered support can offer tailored adoption guidance to SME leaders in a way that is scalable and accessible.

Actions

We conducted an 8-week discovery to understand how DBT could help SMEs adopt digital technology, including using a scalable online CTO function.

We are integrating services into the BGS and Business.gov.uk.

4. Launch a cross-departmental evidence gathering exercise on firm-level financial support for SME digital and AI adoption

We agreed that launching a cross-departmental evidence gathering exercise could build evidence to further inform and develop the digital support to SMEs.

Actions

We are completing a cross-government evidence review by analysing UK and international financial support schemes and defining what effective, targeted and scalable funding models may look like.

5. Ensure the government’s Business Growth Service (BGS) is explicit in its design to enable digital technology adoption

The BGS, launched in July 2025, has been designed as a central entry point for SME support, with a clear emphasis on enabling digital adoption.

Actions

We are launching the BGS as a central support platform, including the Business Academy’s digital skills series, with video content now available on demand, and signposting to services which can help support digital adoption (including Made Smarter and the Help to Grow management programme).

We are providing expert advisor support via Growth Hubs who can advise businesses of the benefits of digital tools.

The BGS ensures a streamlined and coherent access point for SMEs.

6. Launch a targeted awareness programme for digital and AI adoption

We agreed with the need to raise awareness of the benefits of digital tools in a way that resonates with SMEs and encourages them to take action. A targeted awareness programme has been introduced to increase SME engagement with digital tools and AI technologies.

This includes national campaigns, practical resources, and localised pilots to refine messaging.

Actions

By successfully launching the Backing Your Business campaign, we have been providing webinars and practical tools with Enterprise Nation. This has included daily events helping small business owners with digital skills, sharing industry best practices and more.

We are testing messaging to see what works to encourage SMEs to access digital adoption support with Leeds City Council.

7. Commission new behavioural insights and gather data equivalent to the European Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) to improve policy design and track progress

We agreed with the need for data and evidence to bolster effective decision-making on digital adoption and monitor progress against our ambitions.

Actions

We have strengthened the evidence base through enhanced data collection and behavioural insights by adding questions on SME cloud computing usage through the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Business Insights and Conditions Survey.

There is ongoing work to strengthen credible international benchmarking and comparison against competitors to drive accountability and progress of digital adoption support for SMEs.

8. Implement economy-wide reforms

We recognised the need to act across the economy to help set the right environment for SMEs to adopt digital technology.

Actions

Actions include:

• connectivity: accelerating nationwide gigabit broadband rollout
• digital identity: expanding a trusted and secure ID framework
• e-invoicing: mandatory from April 2029, with a clear implementation roadmap due in the 2026 Budget
• Making Tax Digital: phased and expanded rollout through 2028
• regulation: simplifying through the Regulation Action Plan
• smart data: strategy published to unlock data driven growth opportunities
• systems integration: strategic call for evidence launched (March to June 2026)

9. Partner with trusted local and industry stakeholders

We agreed with the need to partner with trusted local and industry stakeholders, and are doing this in various ways, including through the industry roundtable series with No.10 and local level pilots.

Actions

No.10 industry roundtables are ongoing to secure commitments to improve digital adoption support offer.

We have launched place-based pilots in Leeds and the West of England. We have so far supported 806 businesses in Leeds and 223 applications on the recruitment trial in the West of England.

We are testing innovative approaches to recruitment, skills delivery and adoption models. An independent evaluation framework is in place to ensure pilot insights inform scalable, evidence-led policy development.

10. Embed a ‘test and learn’ approach to digital adoption

We agreed that a ‘test and learn’ approach helps ensure effectiveness and value for money, and we have been taking this forward with local-level SME Digital Adoption pilots.

Actions

Pilots are generating early insights on how best to target support, address barriers and increase SME adoption of digital technologies.

Next steps

The government will continue work on these 10 recommendations, to drive adoption of digital technologies by SMEs in the UK. If you have any questions or would like to get in touch, contact digital.adoption@businessandtrade.gov.uk.