The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), has significantly increased its IT spending, investing over £3.6 million in laptops, mobiles and iPads over the past three years as part of its ongoing remote working drive.
This spike in investment came ahead of the Spending Review 2025 announcement made earlier this year, in which the UK government committed up to £10 billion by 2028-2029 to modernise NHS and social care by strengthening the workforce and accelerating digital transformation.
The data was obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and analysed by the Parliament think tank, observing the number of laptops, tablets and mobile phones purchased by the department over the past three years.
The DHSC invested a total of £3.6 million in electronic devices to support staff across the health and social care system. The bulk of this amount coming to £3.1 million was allocated to laptops, mobile devices accounted for£380,467.90, while iPads made up £91,115.49 of the total.
Sachin Agrawal, Managing Director for Zoho UK, commented: “As the UK continues to advance its leadership in digital transformation and technology-driven public services, it is encouraging to see DHSC make a strategic and long-term investment that equips their workforce with scalable tools. Empowering employees with modern technology is essential not only for collaboration and agility, but also for building lasting resilience across the sector.”
“Any business, including public sector organisations should look to align workforce enablement with innovation goals within their digital strategy to drive up productivity. By prioritising digital infrastructure, organisations can also strengthen operational effectiveness and contribute to the UK’s broader ambitions in digital transformation and responsible AI adoption.”
Between 2022 and 2025, the DHSC significantly increased its investment in staff technology with a spend rising from £530,443 in 2022-2023 to a peak of £2,849,015 in 2023-2024 and dropping back down to £248,029.25 in 2024-2025.
This surge was driven by a major uplift in laptop purchases, which jumped from £500,414.08 to £2.63 million year on year.
