Guidance
The Commonwealth Service Standard
The fourteen points every Commonwealth public service is assessed against before it launches, and every three years after that.
What the standard is for
The Service Standard exists so that a person using a Commonwealth service can expect the same thing of it regardless of which department built it: that it works, that it is understandable, that it does not exclude them, and that someone is accountable when it fails.
It is deliberately short. Fourteen points is few enough that a team can hold all of them in mind while working, which matters more than covering every conceivable requirement.
The fourteen points
A service is assessed against all fourteen points at every stage. What changes between alpha, beta, and live is the evidence a panel expects, not the points themselves.
- Understand the people who will use the service, including those who will struggle with it
- Solve a whole problem, not the part of it your department is responsible for
- Provide a route through for people who cannot use the service online
- Make the service simple enough that people succeed first time
- Make sure everyone can use the service, tested with assistive technology
- Have a multidisciplinary team with the authority to change the service
- Work in the open and iterate after launch, not only before it
- Choose the right tools, and prefer the shared platforms where they fit
- Use and contribute to open standards and common components
- Operate a secure service that protects the information people give you
- Collect only the data the service actually needs to work
- Define what success looks like and publish how the service performs
- Test the service end to end, in the environment it will run in
- Plan how the service will be retired, and who inherits its records
What changed in version 3.0
Version 3.0 replaced the eleven points published in 2018. Three points are new: providing an offline route, collecting only necessary data, and planning for retirement.
Services assessed before 14 July 2026 were assessed against version 2.2 and remain valid until their next scheduled reassessment. You do not need to reassess early.
How the standard is applied
An independent panel of four assessors applies the standard. At least one assessor comes from outside the Office, and every panel includes an accessibility specialist.
A panel returns one of three outcomes: met, met with conditions, or not met. Conditions carry a date. A service that has not met the standard cannot launch to the public, but it can return as soon as the team is ready.
Related guidance
Preparing for a service assessment
What an assessment panel will ask, what evidence to bring, and the reasons teams are most often asked to return.
Meeting accessibility requirements
What a Commonwealth public service must do to be usable by disabled people, how it is tested, and what to publish when something is not yet fixed.
Services this guidance applies to
Book a service assessment
Book the independent panel review that every Commonwealth public service must pass before it launches to the public.