You’ll have the option of joining a community of developers, content designers and digital leaders from 45 (and counting) local councils, from across the UK and Ireland.
We share code, user research and ideas to help each other build incredible sites. There isn't another platform for local authorities built purely for councils, by councils.
Ultimately, by using LocalGov Drupal you’ll deliver a much better digital experience for your users while saving money.
Stop reinventing the wheel
398 UK councils rebuild their main websites every 3-5 years.
The user needs are largely the same, but councils don’t swap notes or collaborate, instead creating expensive standalone solutions to shared problems. LocalGov Drupal is the antidote to this. It's not just for a particular 'type' of council. See our case studies of how councils with different resources and needs use LocalGov Drupal.
It's great that councils and suppliers are building together. It stops us reinventing the wheel and reduces costs for our council and other councils.
Our work is incredibly useful to councils that are using the platform now and to new councils that come onboard in the future.
Lowering costs
Our community understands the need to deliver high-quality, user-friendly services for the public while managing tight budgets. We estimate that using LocalGov Drupal will reduce the cost of building a new council website by up to 80% (depending on the extras a council wishes to add).
Councils spend an average of £120k on building a new website, while LocalGov Drupal councils typically spend £20k to £60k.
Councils also receive functionality benefiting from £500k worth of DLUHC investment.
As more councils participate, its value increases. This extends beyond the platform into our shared user research and expertise pool.
Improving the experience for council teams
Greater autonomy, faster deployments, a collaborative community to solve problems and better, user-led websites – what’s not to love?
Our free products are built and maintained by a thriving community of developers, content designers and digital leaders from local councils across the UK and Ireland.
Reducing risks
We always think long-term and create council websites on a platform that will stand the test of time.
Being part of a group of sector-leading developers means you’ll never get left behind.
We also regularly update the platform with the latest security updates.
Control over your digital estate
Members of our community have complete control over their websites. The code is generic enough for councils to use with ease and adaptable enough to create unique websites.
This means that content designers and managers can easily make content changes and quickly react to the needs of the public and elected representatives.
For developers, this means they can add functionality as needed and gain features that have been worked on collectively.
Most councils also have many sites outside their main website for services, places, tourism, etc. Our Microsites Platform provides a simple way to build and manage these additional websites at a vastly reduced cost.
Improving Service Delivery
Council websites built on our platform follow best practice guidelines on all pages, giving service users a fantastic digital experience.
Our content formats and patterns are based on Government Digital Service standards. Everything we’ve built is based on user research and tried and tested by the public sector. For example, our step-by-step pages use GOV.UK concepts and styles.
The LocalGov Drupal base theme is lightweight, WCAG AA accessible and responsive, reducing the need for citizens to call council operatives by making what they need easy to find and use.
In addition, our participating councils constantly swap ideas and best practice tips. Collaboration helps us do a better job for our citizens.
This is a really good example of a tool where, it's easy to implement, it's low cost, low code, and it works! And really, that's what they should be doing, so that the money giving to councils is invested in the right ways to really transform people's lives.
Improving the experience for end users
LocalGov Drupal can take your council site to another level.
With LocalGov Drupal, you get more than a free CMS to develop best-practice websites.
You’ll have the option of joining a community of developers, content designers and digital leaders from 45 (and counting) local councils across the UK and Ireland who share code, user research and ideas to help each other build incredible sites.
There isn't another platform for local authorities built purely for councils, by councils.
Ultimately as part of LocalGov Drupal, you'll deliver a much better digital experience for your citizens while saving money.
Discover more about our user-focused, collaboratively built products.
How it works
LocalGov Drupal is not a supplier; we do not conduct development work for councils. Several great suppliers have worked on LGD and are available to hire, or you can bring in an agency or supplier.
Adding new functionality is often a collaborative effort. Participating councils work together to develop new features and functionality.
Councils jointly decide on a product roadmap for new functionality based on user research and data. Councils can also create features outside of the roadmap that may be brought into the main platform for all to use.
Choose your level of commitment
The LGD platform's code is available to take and use as you wish, but the greatest benefits are to be had from participating.
There are many ways that councils can engage with and contribute to the project.