- Defra’s Windows 10 upgrade comes after Microsoft’s operating system ends its life
- Thousands of remaining devices struggle to meet even the most basic performance expectations.
- Defra estate still carries significant technical debt after years of delay
The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has completed a major technology overhaul that upgrades tens of thousands of aging devices to Windows 10.
This is despite Microsoft ending official support for the Windows 10 operating system in October 2025.
The timing of the upgrade means the department has moved from an aging platform to one that is already in its final stages.
Moving from Windows 7 to…Windows 10
Defra’s overall investment amounted to £312m during the current spending review cycle and was aimed at removing obsolete platforms, removing Windows 7 hardware and supporting essential national services including flood systems and border operations.
According to Defra’s presentation to Parliament, the program has disposed of more than 31,000 old laptops, resolved a significant backlog of vulnerabilities and even closed a data center, with several more expected to be decommissioned over the coming years.
Defra has not confirmed whether it intends to pay Microsoft for extended support, leaving open the possibility that the department’s refreshed fleet will soon lag behind again.
The scale of the remaining backlog is hard to ignore, with 24,000 devices still classified as end-of-life and another 26,000 smartphones and network components awaiting replacement.
Many of these devices appear unable to meet the performance expectations of Windows 10, let alone perform as viable candidates for Windows 11.
This suggests that the upgrade may have been a temporary measure rather than a lasting solution.
The next phase of Defra’s program focuses on migrating critical applications to cloud environments and reducing long-term technical debt through coordinated remediation plans.
The ministry linked these changes to broader efforts to improve efficiency by transforming public-facing services, phasing out paper-based processes and expanding its use of automation and AI.
These changes are seen as essential to achieving future savings, even though large-scale migrations often exceed budgets and schedules.
However, modernizing services will improve reliability and enable greater use of office software.
It will also streamline tasks with better productivity tools and reduce operational friction between front-line systems.
Defra maintains that benefits will emerge in the next round of spending reviews, but previous government technology programs show that intentions often run into practical limits.
The department risks repeating previous cycles of delay unless cloud migration and broader renewal efforts progress more quickly than before.
For now, the upgrade offers near-term stability, aided in part by emerging AI tools, but the strategy’s sustainability will depend on how quickly its plans are executed.
Via The register
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