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The funds aim to “spark a step change in public sector cyber defences”, as well as “holding organisations to account for fixing vulnerabilities”
Today, the UK government has unveiled a new cybersecurity plan, introducing new measures aimed at making government departments and public services more secure.
The Government Cyber Action Plan, created by the Government Cyber Unit (GCU) and backed by £210 million, aims to achieve clearer visibility of cybersecurity risks across government units, more centralised and coordinated decision-making to meet those risks, and a faster response to emerging threats.
It will also increase and define new cyber resilience standards for commercial companies providing support for critical services such as health, energy or utilities.
“Cyber-attacks can take vital public services offline in minutes – disrupting our digital services and our very way of life. This plan sets a new bar to bolster the defences of our public sector, putting cyber-criminals on warning that we are going further and faster to protect the UK’s businesses and public services alike,” said Digital Government Minister Ian Murray. “This is how we keep people safe, services running, and build a government the public can trust in the digital age.”
The GCU itself was formally formed under the Labour government in July 2024, based out of the Government Cyber Coordination Centre that itself was formed two years earlier. It forms a central pillar of the Government Cyber Security Strategy 2022–2030, which emphasises the need for more a more unified cybersecurity approach (i.e., ‘Defend as One’) across government departments.
Initially operated by the Cabinet Office, operation of the GCU was transferred to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) in June 2025.
In tandem with this new plan, the government is also introducing a new Software Security Ambassador Scheme, which aims to promote cybersecurity best practices across the software market. This is one by the championing of the Software Security Code of Practice, a voluntary set of cybersecurity measures developed in collaboration by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and industry experts.
Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Sage, Santander, and NCC Group are among those joining the scheme as ambassadors.
The announcement notably coincides with the second reading of the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill in Parliament, legislation that would replace the aging NIS Regulations and give the government greater powers to regulate organisation in its digital supply chain.
All of these measures combined cannot come soon enough. The cybersecurity threat landscape is growing and evolving at an alarming rate, with public sector organisations increasingly in the firing line. According to the NCSC, between September 2024 and August 2025 the UK saw 204 ‘nationally significant’ cybersecurity incidents, up from 89 the previous year. Category 2 incidents, defined as those with serious impact on central government, essential services, or large portions of the population, rose by 50% year-on-year.
The public sector, long hamstrung by fragmented legacy systems and a widening skills gap is poorly equipped to defend itself in this environment. Updating these defences will require significant investment and collaboration with the private sector, both of which today’s measures begin to initiate.
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