UK Overhauls data.gov.uk as Part of 1.9 Billion Pound Digital Push, Shifting National Open Data Portal From Volume to Value
The UK government is redesigning data.gov.uk after finding a quarter of its links broken, shifting from uncurated volume to a curated, AI-ready service as part of a 1.9 billion pound digital push.
The UK government is overhauling its national open data portal, data.gov.uk, after years of underinvestment left more than a quarter of its dataset links broken and search results cluttered with outdated or irrelevant entries. The redesign, announced on the Data in Government blog on March 25, signals a deliberate shift from aggregating large volumes of uncurated datasets toward a smaller, more intentional service that surfaces the most useful public data grouped around core national themes.
The portal, which has operated since 2010 as the central directory for UK public sector open data, had suffered from a lack of sustained investment since 2017. An internal review found that many datasets were last updated years ago by organizations that no longer exist, and that users searching for trustworthy, usable data were often left empty-handed. Under the new approach, a redesigned landing page now provides clearer navigation, while a new data manual consolidates authoritative guidance for public sector workers who manage and publish data.
Phased Roadmap
The team behind the changes has published a public roadmap organized into three phases. The current phase focuses on the redesigned portal experience, curated datasets, and the data manual. In coming months, the team plans to add curated data from key sectors, fix persistent directory issues such as broken links, and measure the impact of changes through analytics and user feedback. Longer-term exploration includes scaling the curated data model, supporting licensed and sensitive datasets, and improving discoverability through AI-powered tools.
The existing data.gov.uk directory remains available for public sector organizations to publish and access open data. The government has emphasized that the changes are iterative and evidence-led, with the team inviting feedback through the published roadmap and through the #datagovuk channel on UK Government Digital Slack.
National Data Library and Broader Investment
The data.gov.uk overhaul sits within a larger effort to modernize how the UK government manages and shares data. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is building a National Data Library backed by over 100 million pounds, part of a 1.9 billion pound total investment in digital priorities across the current spending review period. A January 2026 progress update announced five kickstarter projects designed to demonstrate the value of cross-government data sharing, including connecting household data to target energy bill support more efficiently, reducing administrative burdens for people with long-term health conditions, and making National Archives legal data AI-ready to provide cost-effective guidance to small businesses.
The government’s progress update described data as a “strategic asset for the UK” and stated that better use and management of data is “essential to radically transform people’s lives.” DSIT has said it will publish more detailed plans for the National Data Library in spring 2026.
Part of a Wider Digital Government Push
The data portal redesign and National Data Library are components of an ambitious roadmap for modern digital government published by the Government Digital Service in January 2026. That roadmap includes GOV.UK One Login, now used by over 13 million people across more than 120 government services, and GOV.UK Chat, an AI-powered assistant rolling out across the platform in early 2026. The government has also set a target for one in ten civil servants to work in technology and digital roles by 2030, and is pursuing a National Digital Exchange that it estimates could deliver 1.2 billion pounds in annual savings.
London’s Chief Digital Officer Theo Blackwell, commenting on the data.gov.uk changes, noted that the UK public sector sits on one of the most valuable data assets in the world but warned that local government data remains fragmented across hundreds of councils, held in incompatible systems, and governed by inconsistent standards.