1.
People-powered
policy innovation

2.
We use people-centred
approaches and experimentation
to transform policymaking.
Policy Lab X Disability Unit (Cabinet
Office) ethnographic fieldwork to explore
the lived experiences of disabled people
(2019-20).

3.
Policy Lab is a multidisciplinary team working
openly and collaboratively across government,
bringing expertise in policy, ethnography, systems
thinking, futures, art and design.
We sit on the edge of government, drawing
diverse professions, communities and
experiences into our work.
Policy Lab
think tanks, academics, design
agencies and government bodies.

4.
We support the public sector to achieve
better policy outcomes by partnering on
innovative projects, leading and
demonstrating best practice, and
delivering training. Policy Lab X Department for Transport
using virtual reality to allow policymakers
and stakeholders to experience different
street designs around the world (2018).

5.
Why we do what we do:
system-level culture change in policymaking
is more important than ever

6.
Our world is increasingly complex and
ambiguous, full of interrelations and
uncertainties.
Our methods help policymakers
understand and untangle complexity.
Policy Lab X Department for Business
Energy and Industrial Strategy project using
system mapping to understand carbon
emissions from industrial clusters (2019).

7.
Our approach enables policymakers to
challenge assumptions about how people
interact with policies and test different
solutions to understand what works.
Policy Lab X HM Courts and Tribunal
Services project using speculative
design to challenge and test citizens’
ideas about ‘open justice’ - the principle
that justice should be done openly and
transparently.

8.
In the UK, there are over 23,000
policymakers1
working to support
ministers to develop policy.
Our purpose is to inspire the policy
community by demonstrating next
practice and growing a network of
innovators across government.
1
Civil Service Statistics 2019
Policy Lab X Geospatial Commission
project to open a discussion around the
evidence for the National Geospatial
Strategy between the policy team and their
partner bodies. (2018).

9.
Since 2014, we have partnered
with policy teams on over 100
projects, working with 7,000
public servants across central
and local government
departments and agencies, as
well as internationally.
Policy Lab is now multi-award
winning, and one of the world’s
longest-standing government
Labs dedicated to policy
innovation. British Embassy
Zagreb
British Embassy
Buenos Aires

10.
Our projects test new approaches
which bring lived experience and
experimentation into policymaking.
We share our new tools and techniques
openly on our blog and the Open Policy
Making Toolkit to encourage
system-wide transformation.
Policy Lab X British Embassy Zagreb
running an ‘Open Climate Policy Lab’ with
15-30 year olds to develop solutions to
climate change using the ‘Government as a
System’ framework (2020).

11.
A design approach to policy:
valuing diversity of evidence and perspectives
to reduce bias and risk when developing policy

12.
Discover Define Develop Deliver
Challenge
Setting
Outcome
Co-design
User research
Ethnography
Systems mapping
Participatory making
Speculative design
In-depth
Interviews
Prototyping
Gamification
Stress testing
Foresight
Public engagement
Let’sexplore
som
ething
Let’sreflectand
learn
Let’sexplore
m
ore
Let’sm
ake
a
decision
User testing
Policy Lab has developed a range of methods within the
Design Council’s ‘Double Diamond’ framework. Together they
bring an evidence-based, iterative approach to projects, from
challenge setting to delivering outcomes. This reduces risk,
first by avoiding jumping to solutions, and then by enabling
rapid prototyping and testing of ideas.

13.
Policy design
Our policy design projects have included supporting
policy teams to research and develop:
● A new regulatory framework for autonomous
ships (Maritime and Coastguard Agency, 2020)
● The Social Housing Green Paper (Ministry of
Housing, Communities and Local Government,
2018)
● Involved: a platform to increase youth
involvement in government consultation
(Department for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport, 2019)
● Online crime reporting services in England and
Wales (Home Office, 2015)
Policy Lab X Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
project using co-design with young people to
develop a new online platform, bringing young people’s voices
into policymaking - Involved launched summer 2020.

14.
Policy challenge and
reflection
Our methods have been used to inform:
● Windrush Lessons Learnt Review by Wendy
Williams (Home Office, 2018-20)
● Landscapes Review by Julian Glover (Defra, 2018)
● Independent Review of Prevent (Home Office,
ongoing)
● National Food Strategy by Henry Dimbleby (Defra,
ongoing)
Policy Lab X Home Office collaboration to bring the voices of
the Windrush generation into Wendy Williams’ Windrush
Lessons Learnt Review, using film ethnography (2018-2020).

15.
Advice and training
We advise government departments and
multinational institutions to develop their own
innovation capabilities. We’ve recently supported
the Civil Service Faststream, Ashridge Global
Business School, the United Nations and the UK
Mission in Croatia.
We have trained thousands of officials at UK
government policy schools, from new graduates to
senior leaders - as well as internationally for
governments in the UAE, South Korea, New
Zealand, Argentina, and Canada. Policy Lab X United Nations co-designing tools for
collaborative policy development, to enable
representation from diverse staff in the UN’s
geographically distributed organisation (2019).

16.
Adapting to a changing world

17.
source: design Council
Distributed
teamwork and
collaboration
We’re now working as a distributed
team, embracing new methods and
technology to continue bringing
lived experience, experimentation
and collaboration into policymaking.

18.
source: design Council
Remote ethnographic
research
We have adapted our qualitative ethnographic
research methods to social distancing
restrictions, using a mix of remote video
diaries and interviews. This approach allows
us to gather insights over time and is already
being used by the Cabinet Office Disability
Unit and the Race Disparity Unit.

19.
source: design Council
Virtually co-designing
futures
We co-created a range of possible 2030
post-Covid futures to inform and support
challenge around future investment decisions.
We brought the future scenarios to life
through written and graphic storytelling
techniques, alongside the creation of
‘speculative artefacts’ to help policymakers
situate themselves in the future.
We then used a turn-based gameplay
approach, deployed in remote workshops, to
both enable quieter voices to be heard, and
diversify the types of insight generated.

20.
source: design Council
Diversity and Inclusion
In 2019 Policy Lab teamed up with the Civil Service
Inclusion Team to understand how civil servants
working across the country experience both inclusion
and exclusion in their jobs, particularly those working
remotely.
Our user research drew insight from more than 800
civil servants. A further 15 then participated in a fully
remote co-design workshop, where we used our
research insights to develop the ‘Little Book of
Remote Working’.
Since launching during the first Covid lockdown, the
Little Book of Remote Working has been shared via
word-of-mouth and as a flagship piece of
communication during the Civil Service National
Inclusion Week, helping colleagues across
government to adapt during the pandemic.

21.
Work with us
We are a small cost-recovering team,
always on the lookout for exciting new
projects and motivated partners to work
with. The criteria we use to decide on
projects include budget, our capacity,
strategic importance and opportunities
to experiment.
How to commission us?
Send your project ideas and timescales to us at
team@policylab.gov.uk.
source: design Council

22.
team@policylab.gov.uk
@PolicyLabUK
openpolicy.blog.gov.uk
slideshare.net/openpolicymaking
gov.uk/guidance/open-policy-making-toolkit