{"id":408199,"date":"2026-02-04T22:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/408199\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T22:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:44:09","slug":"dwp-finds-copilot-saves-civil-servants-19-minutes-a-day-the-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/408199\/","title":{"rendered":"DWP finds Copilot saves civil servants 19 minutes a day \u2022 The Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Copilot saved civil servants 19 minutes daily on routine tasks, according to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) research comparing users to a control group of non-users.<\/p>\n

This finding is lower than the 26-minute saving<\/a> reported by participants in a Government Digital Service research study of 20,000 civil servants published in June 2025, though that research lacked a comparison group.<\/p>\n

A separate Department for Business and Trade trial published last September found Copilot made no discernible productivity gains<\/a>, speeding up some tasks while slowing others through poor-quality outputs.<\/p>\n

\"Microsoft
\nMicrosoft spends billions on AI, converts just 3.3% of Copilot Chat users
\nREAD MORE<\/a><\/p>\n

The DWP research<\/a>, examined how the paid licensed version of Copilot performed across eight routine tasks. It saved the most time – 26 minutes daily – when searching for existing information, followed by summarizing information, writing emails, and producing written material. It saved the least time (9 minutes daily) transcribing or summarizing meetings.<\/p>\n

Copilot users primarily redirected time saved toward completing other tasks, improving work quality, and planning.<\/p>\n

“It allows me to focus less on the mundane stuff. I can spend time doing my actual job,” said one participant quoted in the research.<\/p>\n

Beyond time savings, users reported Copilot improved their work quality, particularly for writing emails – although more for first drafts and suggestions than anything involving human judgement. Users also reported higher job satisfaction, with some calling the service a “comfort blanket” that reduced stress.<\/p>\n

The research drew on surveys of 1,716 Copilot users and 2,535 non-users, plus 19 in-depth interviews. As staff volunteered or were nominated rather than randomly selected, researchers applied statistical adjustments for demographics, job roles, and AI experience.<\/p>\n

DWP provided 3,549 staff in central office functions – rather than public-facing work such as in Jobcentres – with licenced Copilot between October 2024 and March 2025.<\/p>\n

In April 2025 the department made the free version of Copilot available to all its staff. \u00ae<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Microsoft Copilot saved civil servants 19 minutes daily on routine tasks, according to Department for Work and Pensions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-408199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}