Background

In March 2025, the Evaluation Task Force (ETF) announced Phase 4 of its Evaluation Accelerator Fund (EAF). The EAF is a competitive grant fund and supports research and evaluation projects that:

create actionable evidence in government priority areas that informs public spending or policy decisions;

tackle evidence gaps in government priority areas; or

provide robust evidence of financial or efficiency savings from new policies, interventions, or innovative approaches to service delivery

Phase 4 had up to £3.5 million available in the 2025/26 financial year. The government priority areas in scope for Phase 4 were:

missions

priority areas for public sector reform outlined at the Autumn Budget 2024

use of technology, including AI, in the public sector (in order to digitis

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