Nigel Features in the Government's Smart Data Challenge Prize Report

The government has published its Smart Data Challenge Prize report, and Nigel, our joint runner-up entry, has a six-page section in it.

The report, Smart Data Challenge Prize: significant insights and outcomes, was published by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade on 7 September 2026.

It sets out what the finalists built and learned, as evidence to help shape the standards and secondary legislation for Smart Data under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

Nigel was named a runner-up in the prize in December 2025. The report now sets out the use case in detail, alongside the other finalists.

What the Report Says About Nigel

One Secure Place for Life Admin

The report describes Nigel, short for "Now I've Got Everything Labelled", as a personal administration tool with two parts.

The first is a secure digital vault for documents and information. The second is an AI-enabled assistant that works only with the user's explicit permission and helps turn that information into practical actions.

It notes that a person's information can be spread across more than 100 online accounts, while bank statements, utility bills, insurance policies, and pension correspondence may still arrive on paper.

Permission That Works in Practice

Nigel is based on permissioned data sharing. Users decide what is held in their vault and what Nigel is allowed to do with it.

The report puts particular emphasis on people who need support. A user could let a trusted family member, carer, or adviser help with defined tasks, with access that is time-limited, task-specific, logged, and auditable.

Clear About What Comes Next

The prototype ran in a controlled testing environment. The report is clear that it did not resolve all the live data access, regulatory, consent, or interoperability issues Nigel would need to work at scale across sectors.

It names the key dependencies: cross-sector Smart Data schemes, access to regulated data sources, and common data standards, with consistent identifiers and a clear consent mechanism.

"The report is useful because it is candid about the scope of the challenge and the possibility for a solution like Nigel. It shows what a tool like Nigel can do for households today, and it is just as clear about the shared standards and consent rules still needed to make it work at scale."

Paul Holland, Founder and CEO, Beyond Encryption (Mailock)

The full report is on GOV.UK, with Nigel's section on pages 22 to 27. As the report explains, the figures and views in each finalist's section come from that finalist rather than the government.

References

Smart Data Challenge Prize: Significant Insights and Outcomes, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, 2026

Reviewed by

Sam Kendall, 02.10.26