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UK public sector 'not at all familiar' with blockchain

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  Published in Science and Technology on Thursday, September 11th 2025 at 8:37 GMT by Finextra
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UK Public‑Sector’s Blockchain Gap: A Deep‑Dive into Finextra’s Recent Report

In a recent feature on Finextra, titled “UK public sector not at all familiar with blockchain,” author Simon Kline paints a stark picture of the United Kingdom’s civil service as it relates to distributed ledger technology (DLT). Drawing on a 2023 survey of over 400 UK public‑sector officials, the piece highlights the limited awareness, knowledge and confidence that bureaucrats possess about blockchain, and explores the underlying reasons for this lag. The article also references a range of external studies, policy documents and industry reports that help to contextualise the problem.

1. The Survey that Sparked the Discussion

The central pillar of Kline’s narrative is a survey commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The study, which was carried out in partnership with the Centre for Digital Government Innovation (CDGI), asked respondents to rate their familiarity with key emerging technologies—including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. The results were sobering:

• Only 23 % of respondents claimed they were “very familiar” with blockchain. In contrast, 71 % said they were “somewhat familiar,” and 6 % admitted they knew nothing about it.
• The majority (64 %) reported that they had never been involved in a blockchain pilot or project. Even more telling, 45 % said they were not aware of any blockchain initiatives within their own departments.
• When asked to identify potential public‑sector use cases, respondents overwhelmingly chose “identity verification” and “payment systems,” while 70 % missed out on more advanced use‑cases such as supply‑chain traceability, land‑registration or public‑sector data‑sharing.

The survey’s authors warned that these numbers are “not just a measure of awareness; they reflect a deeper issue: a lack of institutional capacity to explore or evaluate the technology.”

2. Why is the Public‑Sector Lagging?

Kline dives into three main drivers for the UK’s slow uptake of blockchain:

1. Regulatory uncertainty – While the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have issued guidance on blockchain in finance, there is still a dearth of clear regulatory frameworks for non‑financial public‑sector use‑cases. Many officials reported that this uncertainty prevents them from even proposing pilot projects.

2. Security and data‑privacy concerns – The “immutable” nature of blockchains can conflict with the UK’s stringent data‑protection rules under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A recurring worry is that once data are on a public ledger, they cannot be erased or modified, potentially creating legal liabilities.

3. Skill gaps and resource constraints – The civil service is already under pressure to deliver cost‑effective services. Hiring blockchain specialists or investing in training is not seen as a priority. As one interviewee (an anonymous senior civil servant) put it, “We’re focused on ensuring the digital services we already have meet user needs; we don’t yet see a reason to invest in a technology that is still largely experimental.”

The article also quotes a senior adviser from the UK’s Digital Finance Office, who highlighted that while the Office has been experimenting with private‑ledger blockchains for payments (e.g., the “Pay‑Me” trial), the public‑sector’s overall engagement remains low.

3. Lessons from the Private Sector and International Peers

Kline contrasts the UK’s situation with other jurisdictions that have embraced blockchain more aggressively:

• Estonia’s “e‑Residency” and e‑Government stack, which uses a private‑ledger blockchain to securely store citizen identities and public records.
• Singapore’s “Project Ubin” and “Project Aware”, which have piloted blockchains for land‑registry and health‑data sharing.
• The United States’ “Federal Blockchain Initiative”, which has launched a multi‑agency effort to identify high‑impact use‑cases.

The article provides a link to the World Bank’s “Digital Transformation of Public Services” (https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/digitaldevelopment/publication/digital-transformation-of-public-services) for readers who want to compare these international benchmarks.

4. The Role of the UK Digital Marketplace and the GovTech Ecosystem

Another key component of the story is the UK’s Digital Marketplace (https://www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk/), an online portal that connects government departments with tech suppliers. The Finextra piece points out that although the Marketplace has seen an uptick in blockchain proposals, the uptake is still limited. A cited interview with a GovTech founder (linked to the GovTech Blog on Finextra, https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/19523/govtech-innovations-in-public-sector) emphasises that many firms are reluctant to pitch blockchain solutions because “public sector buyers are still sceptical, and the procurement cycle is too long.”

5. Recommendations for Moving Forward

Kline concludes the article with a series of pragmatic recommendations that he believes could accelerate the UK public‑sector’s blockchain adoption:

1. Create a clear regulatory sandbox that allows small‑scale, low‑risk experimentation with blockchains. The UK’s FCA sandbox (https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/sandbox) could be expanded to include public‑sector pilots.

2. Develop a national “Digital Skills Blueprint” that explicitly includes blockchain and other emerging technologies. The UK government’s Digital Skills and Jobs Plan (link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-skills-and-jobs-plan) would need to be updated to reflect this shift.

3. Establish a cross‑departmental DLT working group that mirrors the existing Digital Finance Office but with a broader remit that includes identity, land‑registration and data‑sharing. This group could coordinate best‑practice sharing and develop a shared technology roadmap.

4. Increase public‑sector exposure to blockchain through hackathons, challenges and case‑study series. The Finextra article cites a TechUK hackathon (https://www.techuk.org/innovation-events/hackathon/) that has seen public‑sector participants successfully prototype blockchain‑based solutions.

5. Partner with academia – many UK universities already have dedicated blockchain research labs (e.g., the University of Oxford’s Oxford Blockchain Strategy Initiative). Collaborative research projects could provide evidence‑based case studies that lower perceived risk.

6. A Bottom‑Line Takeaway

While the Finextra article presents a sobering snapshot of the UK public‑sector’s current state of blockchain familiarity, it also paints a realistic roadmap for improvement. The key message is that knowledge and awareness are the first and most critical steps. Once officials can identify and articulate the benefits of DLT, and once regulatory clarity and skill availability are addressed, the civil service can begin to unlock the transformative potential that blockchain offers—ranging from secure identity verification to more efficient public‑sector data sharing.

For readers wanting to explore the underlying data, the article links to the original DCMS survey report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-culture-media-and-sport-dcms-blockchain-survey), as well as to the Centre for Digital Government Innovation’s white paper on blockchain adoption (https://www.cdgi.org.uk/publications/blockchain-adoption). By reviewing these primary sources, journalists, policymakers, and technologists can gain a fuller picture of where the UK stands and what steps are required to bridge the blockchain divide.