Service Patterns: Part 3 - working across government

This is an abridged version of a blog originally published at https://services.blog.gov.uk on March 19, 2025.

Over the past year a working group has developed a service pattern that could be applied across all UK government departments. It contains recommendations on how to build a user-focused service that involves ‘applying’ for something.

What are service patterns?

Part 1 of this series explains what we mean by service patterns, but as a brief reminder: service patterns describe replicable pieces of services that can be combined to build or shape end-to-end services. For example patterns for ‘apply for something’ and ‘book an appointment’ could be used to create services to receive a new benefits payment, get a new passport, and many others. A library of service patterns would act as design guides to build services in repeatable and consistent ways.

Service patterns across government

Designers from Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), had all been thinking about service patterns. A working group was formed to share experiences. Whilst slightly different approaches were being taken, it was apparent that the names of the patterns themselves (things like ‘apply for something’ and ‘book an appointment’) were largely consistent across departments.

In order to validate this a workshop was held to compare and contrast our pattern names which included representatives from 5 departments. The workshop proved that most departments shared the same pattern needs. We also agreed that the type of content we expected to find in a service pattern library was largely similar. Five patterns stood out as having the greatest potential for shared needs — ‘apply’, ‘appointments’, ‘get a decision’, ‘pay’ and ‘evaluate’.

A second workshop was held to identify what type of content could be reusable across departments, using ‘apply’ as a test case for a service pattern. Participants mapped their service pattern needs against each other’s to identify similarities and variations. The outcome of that workshop is now available as a prototype for review and feedback. The prototype includes user needs, internal business needs, journey stages and steps, and typical user scenarios. We expect a full pattern library to contain other types of information such as recommended digital components and patterns, case studies, and any relevant accessibility concerns.

We do not believe service patterns replace the need for design. Different departments and services will have their own unique challenges and opportunities to address. However by providing a shared starting point, we hope they can enable more efficient, consistent, and scalable designs.

What next?

We’d love your feedback on our prototype to inform the next stages of our work. You can do that by completing the apply pattern prototype survey by the end of April 2025. You can also email questions or comments to servicepatterns@justice.gov.uk