Benefits management for UK public sector programmes

From forecast to outturn.

Civic Gains helps programmes identify their benefits, value them to the Green Book and see them realised. We work inside your team, train your people on the live work and hand over a benefits function that runs without us.

Now booking work from January 2027

Benefits profileIllustrative
0 25 50 75 100 26-27 27-28 28-29 29-30 30-31 31-32 32-33 33-34 £m, cumulative Review flags
a shortfall
Latest: 94%
of forecast
Illustrative benefits profile. Cumulative benefits forecast in the business case rise to £96m by 2033-34, with a tolerance of plus or minus 10%. Measured outturn falls below tolerance in 2028-29 and 2029-30, when a benefits review flags the shortfall. By 2031-32 outturn is back within tolerance at 94% of forecast. An example, not client data.

Why now

Departments now carry the benefits work, with fewer people to do it.

The National Audit Office found that government focuses more on listing benefits to make the case for investment than on making sure projects achieve their intended value. Since April 2026, most of that work sits with departments.

  • 34%

    of major projects had a good-quality evaluation plan in April 2025. The other two-thirds carry £456bn of whole-life cost.

    Evaluation Task Force, May 2026

  • ~80

    projects stay in the central major projects portfolio from 1 April 2026, down from over 200. Departmental teams now assure the rest.

    NISTA, March 2026

  • 16%

    cut to departmental administration budgets by 2029-30, so fewer people are left to do the work.

    Civil Service World, January 2026

  • £603.6bn

    of monetised benefits reported by 189 major projects, against £924.2bn of whole-life cost. Every one of those benefits needs an owner, a measure and a baseline.

    NISTA Major Projects Annual Report, July 2026

We give departments the specialist capacity to close that gap now, and leave the skills behind to keep it closed.

How we work

We work alongside your team, train them and hand over.

Every engagement has a fixed term and a planned exit. Each month your people lead more of the work, until they run it without us.

  1. Co-work

    We do the live benefits work on your programme, with your people alongside.

  2. Train

    Your team learns on that work, backed by training and coaching.

  3. Build your team

    We help you set up the roles a benefits function needs.

  4. Hand off

    You keep the method, models and register, and a skills check confirms you can run them.

See how an engagement runs

Packages

Three ways to start.

Fixed prices and short timescales, sized to buy below threshold. Prices are indicative and exclude VAT.

  • Benefits Health Check

    An independent review of your benefits before a gate or approval.

    2–3 weeks£12k–£18k

  • Benefits Discovery Sprint

    A benefits map, owners, measures and baselines for your programme.

    4–6 weeks£30k–£45k

  • Co-working team

    Specialists who join your team for a fixed term, train your people and hand over.

    3–12 months£650–£1,000 a day

All seven packages, with prices

The Civic Gains Platform

One record of your benefits, from the first map to the exit review.

We are building it alongside our client work, with design-partner programmes shaping what comes first.

In development About the Platform

Contact

Start with a 30-minute conversation.

Tell us where your programme is and what is due next. We will tell you plainly whether we can help.

Get in touch