Copilot in Excel: the adoption gap in the UK's own numbers
Four UK government reviews of Microsoft 365 Copilot looked at more than 28,000 licences. They used different methods and reached different conclusions about value. They agreed on one thing: people are using Copilot, but not in Excel.
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What the briefing covers
Two pages, written for finance and operations leads whose organisation already pays for Copilot licences. Evidence only. There are no prices in it and nothing is being sold on either page.
- The pattern in the evidence. What each of the four evaluations measured, at what scale, and what it found. The figures are the ones the reports themselves publish.
- Why the gap exists. Text work in Word, Outlook and Teams rewards a one-line instruction. Spreadsheet work does not, because the answer depends on how the workbook is built.
- The security question. 46% of the HMRC non-users gave data and security concerns as their main reason. In a finance team that instinct is reasonable.
- What closes the gap. Four things, none of them expensive, and none of them involve buying different software.
The finding that should give any finance lead pause
In the Department for Business and Trade's observed testing, staff using Copilot completed a data analysis task more slowly (25:01 against 20:33) and less accurately (1.5 against 2.7) than staff without it. Their own diaries recorded that it had helped.
In that test, untrained use cost time and accuracy, and the people involved did not notice.
The sample was small, three against three, and DBT itself says treat the result with caution. It is a warning sign, not a verdict. It points at the same thing everything else in the note points at: the skill, not the software.
Where the figures come from
Every figure in the briefing is taken from a published report. All four evaluations are on gov.uk in full.
- Government Digital Service, 2 June 2025. Microsoft 365 Copilot Experiment: Cross-Government Findings Report. 12 organisations, 20,000 licences. Read it on gov.uk
- HM Revenue & Customs, 9 July 2026. Evaluation report - phase 3 trial of Microsoft Copilot. 3,500 licences. Read it on gov.uk
- Department for Business and Trade, 28 August 2025. Microsoft 365 Copilot pilot: DBT evaluation report. 1,000 licences. Read it on gov.uk
- Department for Work and Pensions, 29 January 2026. An Evaluation of DWP's Microsoft Copilot 365 Trial. 3,549 licences. Read it on gov.uk
- Microsoft 365 Blog, 25 June 2026. "Copilot in Excel: built for the era of Frontier Finance". The counterpoint in the briefing: capability aimed at finance teams is arriving quickly.
Download the briefing
Two pages. No form, no sign-up and no personal information required.
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