Evaluation the APS Reform program 2022 – 2025

This report has detailed findings on evaluation of the APS Reform program 2022-2025. This follows the publication of the final APS Reform Progress Report in December 2025, confirming 92% of initiatives are complete or largely complete. This report provides an evaluative assessment of the program in terms of:

• Progress in delivery: To what extent has the Reform program been delivered as intended?
• Achievements: What have individual initiatives achieved and how have they contributed to Reform outcomes?
• Outcomes and early impacts of the Reform program: How have initiatives worked together to benefit Australian communities and business more broadly?

In this report, the object of evaluation is the APS Reform program 2022-2025 , which comprises: 4 strategic pillars; 59 initiatives; 8 reform outcomes; and a delivery timeframe of 2022-2025. The evaluation reference period – i.e., the time-period of activities being evaluated against the key evaluation questions - is October 2022 to March 2025 and limited to secondary data produced during this period.

An evaluation of the Program from October 2022 to March 2025 found it has successfully embedded foundations for ongoing reform and delivered tangible results. Many initiatives will sustain over the longer term through the use of institutional levers such as legislation and whole-of-service governance mechanisms. Furthermore, the program of reform initiatives is resulting in positive changes across domains such as integrity, public satisfaction with services, the APS as an attractive and competitive employer, strengthening the diversity of the APS, and public service capability.

The evaluation findings are supported by the 2025 APS Agency Survey, which found the impacts of reform are being felt across the Australian Public Service, particularly in enhanced integrity, stronger partnership capabilities, and greater investment in staff development. The 2025 APS Employee Census Innovation scores are also the highest they have ever been.

Additionally, trend analysis of the APS Reform performance metrics data indicates an overall positive direction in achieving the targets set for 2025 with 33 out of 39 (84.6%) performance metrics meeting their desired target.