In the Spotlight: Cumberland Council’s digital approach to local government reorganisation
Background
Local government reorganisation is creating significant operational and technology challenges for councils across the UK. As authorities merge services, systems and organisational structures, CIOs are under pressure to maintain frontline services while preparing for long-term transformation.
Cumberland Council emerged in April 2023 following the reorganisation of Cumbria’s seven councils into two new unitary authorities. The transition required the council to consolidate services and technology environments while continuing to deliver uninterrupted public services to residents.
At the same time, the council inherited a highly complex IT environment shaped by years of incremental system development, legacy applications and departmental processes.
Challenge
The scale of the operational challenge was considerable. During the transition period, Cumberland’s ICT teams were:
- Managing more than 90 concurrent projects
- Handling approximately 22,000 service incidents annually
- Supporting more than 9,000 users across three operating organisations
- Delivering a £1 million datacentre refresh
- Responding to thousands of cyber defence events
Alongside these operational pressures, residents still expected core services such as waste collection, planning applications and benefits processing to continue without disruption.
The council also faced significant uncertainty about the future operating model, system landscape and organisational structure that would eventually emerge from reorganisation.
Solution
Working with Netcall, the council used the company’s Liberty Create low-code platform and Citizen Hub technology to support digital services and resident engagement during the transition.
The council implemented:
- Structured digital case management
- Automated workflows and digital forms
- Process mapping and service visibility tools
- A unified digital front door for residents
- Postcode-based routing to direct enquiries to the correct authority
- Shared workflows operating across multiple council brands and datasets
This approach allowed Cumberland to maintain separate branding and operational data structures while simplifying service delivery behind the scenes.
As Craig Barker, senior manager for digital and customer experience at Cumberland Council, explained: “One form, two brands, two data sets. Residents saw the right logo and experience, but behind the scenes it was one intelligent form.”
The technology also enabled the council to sit new digital services across existing systems, reducing the need for immediate back-end replacement while maintaining continuity for staff and residents.
Result
Cumberland’s approach helped maintain continuity across a highly complex organisational transition while improving visibility and control across services.
Key outcomes included:
- Continued delivery of frontline services during reorganisation
- Improved oversight of workflows and operational demand
- Reduced manual effort and duplicated processes
- A more consistent citizen experience through a single digital front door
- Greater resilience across shared systems and services
- Improved ability to manage organisational complexity without large-scale disruption.
By introducing shared workflows and low-code automation early in the transition, the council also reduced the complexity inherited by the new authority and created stronger foundations for future transformation.