Organisations need a clear way to understand where they are on their digital skills journey and what to do next. Without a shared language or consistent view of progress, it is difficult to build the business case, target investment, and scale action across the economy.

Our Benchmarking and Maturity workstream responds to this by embedding a common framework that defines how organisations typically progress. The Essential Digital Skills Organisational Maturity Framework sets out five stages, giving employers a practical way to understand their position and move forward with confidence.

2026 priorities

We are focused on turning the Organisational Maturity Framework into a practical, widely used tool that supports both individual organisations and the wider system:

  • For organisations
    Provide a clear methodology to self-assess their essential digital maturity, understand their current position, and benchmark progress against five defined stages.
  • For members
    Make maturity benchmarking the entry point to the FutureDotNow membership journey, enabling a more tailored and relevant experience based on organisational need.
  • For the wider economy
    Build a shared view of progress by aggregating anonymised data, creating a unique national perspective on how UK businesses are advancing on workforce digital skills.

How we're delivering the workstream

Led by the FutureDotNow team, our Benchmarking Maturity action plan will set out how we will develop, test and scale a self-assessment methodology that is simple, credible and valuable in real-world settings. Organisations will be able to assess their maturity, share insights back with FutureDotNow, and access curated resources aligned to where they are on the journey.

Over time, this will enable FutureDotNow to aggregate insights and establish national benchmarks, creating a powerful evidence base that supports members, informs policy, and drives wider adoption of the framework.

Get involved

The Benchmarking maturity workstream is being delivered by the FutureDotNow team. If you’d like to get involved and help us measure and supercharge the digital upskilling process, we’d love to hear from you.

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