Expanding our offer (again) as FutureGov joins The Panoply

It seems like every new blog post begins with the phrase “a lot has happened since…”. And today is no different.

Last year we started our biggest work to date with Homes England, eight months ago we expanded the FutureGov family, seven months ago we moved to a bigger studio, six months ago we finished celebrating ten years, five months ago we began publicly sharing our impact, three months ago we began working with the NHS on our biggest health work to date, and today, we take another big step towards accelerated growth and delivering on our mission to design public services fit for the 21st Century with the highest quality, citizen-centred services that have a lasting impact for all.

Today, I’m proud to announce that FutureGov has joined The Panoply, a digitally native technology and design company. Growing into this new family of like-minded and purpose-driven organisations, who share our values, ways of working and mission, we will have the breadth of skills and scale to transform public services in the UK and abroad at speed. As a result, we will be the first scaled 21st Century organisation that can truly challenge the big four market.

Making an even bigger impact

You all know by now, I’m an ambitious person and we’re an ambitious change company. We’ve always been looking to grow for the sole purpose of having the scale and breadth of skills to support the total transformation of public services.

We’re proud of our track record of achievement and results, with over a decade of experience working in the public sector and health, which has led to the rapid growth of our team. With this growth came the ability for FutureGov to do more for our clients and our team. Not just bigger projects, but ones that were profoundly different in scope and scale to anything we’d done before.

We’re keen to keep this momentum going.

In The Panoply Group, we’ve found a conscious company with a deep-rooted purpose. With a deep respect for The Panoply’s ambition and a strong cultural fit, we believe that their leadership team is doing business in the same way that we do business - fast-moving, highly aligned companies with no overbearing top-down command and control, addressing the challenges of today with integrity and focus on the long term.

We’re proud to be a trusted partner to the sector and want to keep it that way. Matched with The Panoply’s commercial strategy, capability and mission, together we will access new opportunities that would not otherwise be possible. Joining the likes of Manifesto, Notbinary​, GreenShootLabs, Questers​ and Bene Agere, we’ll help build the future, while retaining what makes us unique.

What will change?

As with anything, some things will change, but we’re fortunate much will remain the same as we grow into our new family. We’ll continue working closely with our existing clients and nothing will change on a day-to-day delivery basis. We’ll continue to approach each new opportunity with the same militant optimism and commitment to working together because we believe everyone has value to contribute.

I will continue my role as CEO of FutureGov and take on the additional role of Managing Director, Health and Public Services for The Panoply. I’m excited about my extended role in the Group, which will allow me to work closely with our partners to offer more and different skills, breadth and depth, particularly around tech.

FutureGov will remain largely autonomous within the Group, with Chairman Peter Martin, Managing Director Matt Skinner, Chief Operating Officer Susan Murphy and myself continuing to serve on the board, with the addition of Sarah Vickers, Chief of Staff from The Panoply, joining as a non-executive director.

As part of the move, as they move off our board we’re proud to have repaid the faith and investment that our key investors, Surrey County Council and Nesta, have shown in us over the past five years, delivering a significant return on their investment for further public service delivery and social impact.

And as many of you will know, I can’t thank Carrie enough for her support along the journey. While no longer on the FutureGov Board, I’m so pleased Carrie will be coming with us, now as a shareholder of The Panoply as a sign of her continued commitment to our mission.

What’s next?

How we do things is as important to us and our partners as what we do. Our aim continues to be making a real difference; designing public services for the 21st century and transforming organisations to make an even bigger impact. We’ll continue investing in becoming a model for what we believe 21st-century organisations should be by developing our FutureGov Experience offer.

We’ll continue to invest in our culture and our team, who will have new opportunities to collaborate with a wider group of organisations and disciplines. Broadening our scope will have a real benefit for our team who want to learn and do more, with long-term career development and succession opportunities.

An opportunity like this to accelerate our impact is very rare. Every day, I am astounded at how far this company has come, in the incredible people we have and the amazing work we’re doing. Accessing new skills, experience and knowledge from the wider group will immediately propel us into a stronger position. One where we can support our clients across health and government at a scale we’ve not yet been able to.

I’m excited to embark on this next chapter of FutureGov.