Explore

iStandUK Recognised at the British Data Awards 2026: Privacy Initiative of the Year

by Shelley Heckman, Published 04 June 2026

⁠

We’re incredibly proud to share that

iStandUK⁠

was shortlisted as a finalist in the Privacy Initiative of the Year category at the 2026 British Data Awards.

While we didn’t take home the award, being named a finalist among such strong entries is a fantastic achievement and a meaningful recognition of the work behind

SAVVI ⁠

(Scalable Approach to Vulnerability via Interoperability). More importantly, it reflects a growing movement to put privacy, transparency and public trust at the centre of data-driven public services.

From Data Standards to Privacy Leadership

SAVVI began as a technical initiative: a data standards project designed to enable organisations to better identify and support vulnerable individuals through interoperable data sharing. But very quickly, it became clear that standards alone were not enough.

To unlock the potential to use personal data for preventative public services, information governance had to take centre stage. SAVVI evolved into something much more ambitious: a privacy-by-design framework that enables organisations to act confidently, lawfully and ethically.

Building a Framework That Enables Action

A core component of SAVVI is a comprehensive Information Governance (IG) Framework that supports councils step by step in the lawful reuse and sharing of personal data.

This framework provides: Clear guidance on lawful bases for data reuse, practical templates to accelerate adoption, and built-in checks for necessity, proportionality and transparency. Critically, it does more than ensure compliance; it empowers action. Councils can intervene earlier to prevent harm, while maintaining the highest standards of data protection and public accountability.

Real-World Impact: Turning Principles into Practice

Our motivation has always been grounded in real-world impact. We’re particularly pleased to see the SAVVI Information Governance Framework recognised not just in theory, but in the tangible difference it is making for councils and communities.

At Wigan Council, the framework has been instrumental in enabling earlier identification and support for vulnerable residents during emergencies. Reflecting on their experience, Jeanette Rycroft, Performance and Intelligence Unit Manager, said:

“The SAVVI framework has provided us at Wigan Council with a robust framework, a collaborative approach to our project since we started. It would in no way have been as robust and evidence-led, as we have been without the SAVVI framework, documentation and constructive challenge.

Having the outlet to get the expertise to challenge ourselves back and then to make sure that we are doing the right thing and that we can discuss with our own internal IG colleagues how we are going about it and to be using the right legal framework, right lawful basis and focusing on those IG principles, that’s really helped.”

This kind of feedback reinforces a core aim of SAVVI: not just to define best practice, but to enable organisations to apply it with confidence in complex, real-world scenarios.

Influencing a National Approach to Information Governance

The impact of SAVVI’s Information Governance work is already extending far beyond the programme itself. The SAVVI IG Framework has directly inspired the development of a National Data Sharing Playbook, currently being developed by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).

This work has emerged through the Cross-Government Working Group on Vulnerabilities, led by the Data Standards Authority, where SAVVI forms a foundational influence across multiple workstreams. In particular, the group’s third workstream, focused on enabling safe and effective data sharing and reuse to support vulnerable people, is developing national data standards for vulnerability data, based on and inspired by SAVVI standards.

This represents a significant step forward: what began as a programme to support local authorities is now helping to shape a consistent, national approach to both data standards and information governance. By translating local innovation into national infrastructure, SAVVI is helping ensure that: privacy considerations are built in from the outset; data sharing and reuse is both lawful and scalable; and organisations across government can act with confidence and consistency.

This influence underscores SAVVI’s role not just as a delivery programme, but as a catalyst for systemic change in how the UK approaches data, vulnerability and public trust.

Scaling What Works: The SAVVI IG Blueprints and Catalogue

A defining principle of SAVVI is that no organisation should have to solve the same privacy challenge in isolation. To make safe data use and reuse repeatable at scale, we creating vulnerability Blueprints and are building the content for a SAVVI Catalogue, which captures and shares best practice across the public sector, including:

Which datasets can be reused lawfully

Under what legal powers and safeguards

For what specific vulnerability-related purposes

Which data items and risk factors are appropriate

This turns local innovation into nationally reusable patterns, reducing risk, improving consistency, and accelerating adoption across the UK.

When Privacy Says “Stop” – And Why That Matters

One of the clearest demonstrations of SAVVI’s impact comes from our work on the Scottish Rural Child Poverty pilot. Partnering with the Improvement Service and local councils, SAVVI helped design lawful approaches to identify hidden child poverty. During this process, our methodology identified that certain datasets could not legally be accessed or reused for new purposes under current legislation. This provided much needed clarity, and rather than ambiguously keep working with the data, we did something different: we stopped. This decision reflects a core principle of SAVVI: privacy is not a barrier to overcome; it is a boundary to respect.

By protecting individuals’ rights and escalating these issues responsibly, the project not only maintained public trust but also helped catalyse wider change, leading to Scottish Government funding for a dedicated SAVVI team in Scotland.

Shaping the Future of Data Legislation

SAVVI’s work with Scottish colleagues in not being able to legally access data highlighted that some barriers to responsible data use are structural. To address this, we established a Legislation Group, which is working with the Office for the Chief Data Officer within Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), to identify where current legislation restricts lawful, preventative personal data use or reuse; and propose tightly scoped, privacy-respecting reforms.

The collaboration with DSIT on potential amendments to the Digital Economy Act, helping to create secure, tightly governed legal gateways to reuse essential datasets moves everyone forward together.

Setting a New Benchmark

Being recognised as a finalist for Privacy Initiative of the Year reflects more than a single project. It signals a broader shift in how the public sector approaches data.

The work that we’re doing with the SAVVI programme:

Has evolved from a technical programme into a national privacy-by-design model

Has delivered a groundbreaking IG framework

Has actively identified and prevented unlawful use of personal data

Is helping to shape national legislation

Is building public trust through transparency and integrity

This achievement belongs to everyone who has contributed to SAVVI: our partners across local government, central government, and the wider ecosystem. Together, we are proving that it is possible to use personal data to prevent harm while upholding the highest standards of privacy and ethics. That balance is not easy but it is essential.

Get Involved

SAVVI continues to grow through collaboration with councils and public‑sector partners who are committed to improving how vulnerability is identified and supported.

If your organisation is interested in learning more about SAVVI, joining future pilots, or exploring how common data standards could support your services, we’d love to hear from you. Visit our

website⁠

get in touch ⁠

to find out how you can be part of the next phase of SAVVI.

This embedded link can't be shown.

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ··· in the right corner or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.