The challenge:
The Department for Education, through the Education & Skills Funding Agency, needed a secure and scalable digital platform to support the Apprenticeship Service. The service had to connect employers, apprentices, training providers, citizens and assessors through integrated user journeys, while meeting accessibility requirements, complying with government standards, and operating reliably in a complex, high-profile delivery environment.
We provided end-to-end digital transformation delivery services across software design, engineering, testing, architecture and programme delivery. Working across multiple delivery themes, we applied Agile ways of working, strong engineering standards and continuous delivery practices to help the Department bring services to market faster while maintaining quality, security and resilience.
Built on Microsoft Azure, the solution was designed to be robust, scalable and secure. Delivery teams used modern engineering practices including test-driven development, behaviour-driven development and CI/CD, with security testing aligned to OWASP Top 10 and cloud controls aligned to NCSC principles. Front-end applications were developed using C#, MVC, Razor, HTML, JavaScript and CSS, with integrations delivered through REST APIs, NServiceBus and SQL.
To manage a broad stakeholder landscape, we coordinated delivery through cross-team planning, regular show-and-tells and close collaboration with departmental teams and industry stakeholders. Accessibility was embedded throughout delivery, with services developed to support WCAG 2.1 AA and designed to work for users with a wide range of needs.
This engagement demonstrates how effective digital transformation delivery services can help public sector organisations modernise complex services at scale. By combining delivery management, cloud engineering, secure software development and user-centred design, we helped create a service that was easier to use, faster to evolve and ready to support long-term transformation.
