According to the Government Actuary's Department's published client feedback for April 2025 to March 2026, the department again received 4.8 stars out of 5 for being highly valued. GAD also said that, for the first time, every respondent awarded four stars or more on that measure. Although the release is not a policy decision, it provides a useful indicator of how a specialist public-sector advisory body is viewed by the organisations that commission its work.
GAD said it contacted 168 client contacts and received 81 replies from 40 organisations. The department presents the exercise as an independent assessment of its performance and of its working relationships with clients. In administrative terms, that makes the survey more than a reputational update. It gives a published, comparable signal on whether technical advice is seen as reliable, usable and worth returning to across government and the wider public sector.
On the service measures, GAD reported improvement in three of the five areas it tracks. The two exceptions were 'delivery to budget', which stayed at 96%, and work being 'within scope', which edged down from 100% to 99%. Those figures remain high, but the value of publishing them is that they show where the department is testing itself against delivery discipline rather than relying only on overall satisfaction. For commissioners of specialist advice, budget control and scope management are basic indicators of whether work is being commissioned well and delivered well.
The department also disclosed the qualitative side of the exercise. Fifty-two of the 81 respondents provided written comments, which GAD said are important for explaining the headline scores, identifying where improvement is needed and shaping future plans. That matters because quantitative ratings can confirm consistency, but written feedback usually says more about whether advice arrived at the right point in the policy or delivery cycle and whether it answered the brief in a form clients could use.
The survey period coincided with the end of the first year of GAD's 2030 Strategy. On that question, 97% of respondents said the department is succeeding in its aim to unlock more value in its main work, while 94% agreed it is having more effect on policy. Taken at face value, those results suggest clients can see a link between the strategy and day-to-day delivery. They are still perception measures rather than direct tests of policy outcomes, but they are relevant as an indication of client confidence in the department's direction of travel.
From a public administration perspective, the release is a small but useful case study in how specialist functions try to evidence quality. Instead of publishing only a headline approval rating, GAD has also put out data on scope, budget discipline and perceived strategic contribution. For departments and public bodies that depend on external or internal advisory support, those are the practical tests that often matter most. High technical quality has limited administrative value if work arrives late, drifts beyond the brief or fails to connect with the policy question being asked.
Joanne Ghosh, GAD's Engagement Lead, said the results reflect the expertise of staff across the department, the strength of client relationships and a continuing commitment to high-quality actuarial advice. She also said the department would use the feedback as it enters the second year of its 2030 Strategy, with an aim to partner more effectively and continue to innovate. The overall message of the publication is therefore fairly clear. GAD is using the survey not simply to report client satisfaction, but to show that technical actuarial support is being treated as a valued part of policy support and public administration.