Future Networks for Government (FN4G)

The Public Services Network (PSN) is a legacy network which is increasingly hard to secure. Organisations should migrate to modern network solutions, which offer more competitive commercial terms, greater flexibility and scalability.

When you choose modern solutions they should be appropriately secure and follow:

• the Technology Code of Practice (TCoP)

• government security guidance

• cloud guidance

• legal, regulatory and policy obligations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Phases of the FN4G programme

The FN4G programme is now in year 4. Our scope for this year is to:

• coordinate and report on organisations’ plans to migrate off the PSN

• capture technical risks, commercial risks and opportunities for local authorities’ PSN migrations

• publish case studies and technical designs to provide options for migration from the PSN (for example, by adopting ‘PSN-as-a-Service’ architecture)

• help organisations remove blockers and enable them to implement security by design in their services

• assess and make recommendations to ensure the network is fit for purpose for any organisations remaining on the PSN after 2023, until they can migrate off

• make recommendations on the future of assurance

In years 1 and 2 we carried out a number of discovery exercises including a comprehensive survey of organisations and applications on the PSN. This allowed us to create a list of applications and services on the PSN and, where possible, migration dates.

In year 3 we looked at central government departments as the main service suppliers using the PSN. We estimated that approximately 70% of all public sector organisations, mainly local authorities, could be off the PSN by 2023.

Publication of migration dates

We have published dates when organisations are planning to migrate off the PSN. This information should help local authorities and other organisations plan their own migrations.

For more help with migration you can read about what other organisations have done in our PSN migration case studies.

PSN exit timelines for applications and services used by local authorities

If you’re a local authority, this table shows you when applications and services you use will be migrated off the PSN.

The information is given by the organisations that provide the applications and services. Some applications and services in the table are dependent on other services before they can migrate off PSN and we’ve flagged these as ‘dependency’.

We’ll update the information as necessary. All dates might change.

For more information on the programme to exit the PSN, email FN4G@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk.