Cost Savings

We collaborate to develop best-practice, open-source platforms that are freely available to all councils.

Our motivation is to help councils deliver a better digital experience for their citizens while saving money for vital frontline services.

Our products provide a modern, accessible, user-tested website out of the box — without the high cost or vendor lock-in of proprietary CMS platforms.

We reduce costs by working together to develop a shared pool of code, resources, research and expertise. The idea is that no one pays twice to solve the same problem.

Councils also receive functionality that has benefited from significant government investment.

Headline cost savings

• LGD reduces the cost of a website rebuild by 30%–50%, typically saving £30,000–£90,000, compared to a proprietary CMS.
• Ongoing costs for councils using our platform are 50% lower annually; councils avoid an average of £50k/year in license fees and proprietary upgrades.
• LGD rebuilds launch 6–12 months faster thanks to shared components.

Areas of cost-saving

Save £40,000–£100,000 on site rebuild costs

Most LocalGov Drupal implementations cost between £70k and £150k, compared with £150k and £400k for equivalent proprietary CMS rebuilds.

The time to launch a website is also quicker with commensurate savings.

These savings come from:

• Shared content patterns
• Reusable components
• Pre-built templates for council services
• Shared infrastructure (technical, design and governance)
• An open source product with no licensing fees

Save more with Microsites

Most councils have many microsites across different platforms, each with its own development, hosting and content admin overhead.

Using our Microsites Platform will bring significant cost savings. It will allow for multiple sites on the same instance and reduce the need for third-party involvement, giving web teams greater control.

Cut ongoing CMS costs by around 50%

LGD’s typical ongoing supplier cost is £20k–£30k per year.  Most commercial platforms used by councils cost £50k–£120k per year.

There is no vendor lock-in, so LGD dramatically reduces ongoing supplier spend while improving quality.

And because the codebase is shared, continuous improvements benefit every council — not just the one paying the bill.

Therefore, councils benefit from:

• Shared security updates
• Shared improvements
• A product roadmap shaped by councils, not vendors
• Fewer large-scale redevelopments -  LocalGov Drupal is designed to avoid costly ‘big bang’ launches every few years, keeping your site up to date with the latest standards and functionality.
• Councils often save 50% or more on support and hosting when switching to LGD.

Deliver faster, with reduced costs. Accelerating delivery and giving content teams a head start.

Councils consistently report that LGD rebuilds deliver websites 6–12 months faster than traditional procurement routes.

The most common page types, patterns, and templates are already user-tested; you don’t need to spend money on user research to create features that we already provide. Councils have saved up to £15,000 on user research for new site builds.

The base site already exists, Accessibility and WCAG work is already in place and councils share best practices and reduce duplication.

Improved quality and support from a dedicated community

When you join LocalGov Drupal, you’ll become part of a UK-wide network of expertise. We are a community of developers, content designers, and digital managers working in local government who collaborate to improve and enhance the product while maintaining its stability.  

It’s a public-sector collaboration involving:

• Over 60 councils
• Multiple digital agencies
• UX, content and accessibility specialists
• Open-source developers
• Product and service designers

Together, the LGD community:

• Reviews and improves each other’s work
• Shares upgrades and fixes
• Maintains accessibility standards
• Provides peer support
• Co-creates the roadmap
• Respond quickly to issues
• Works transparently

No licence fees. No lock-in. No waste.

The software we use is open source (non-proprietary) and, as such, doesn’t come with a fee. Proprietary CMS platforms charge licence fees, upgrade fees, and hosting mark-ups. Most web platforms under licence will also charge additional fees for changes, such as creating new page templates.

LocalGov Drupal has:

• No licence fees
• No vendor lock-in
• No proprietary upgrade paths
• No paywalls
• No hidden costs

Invest in public value, not private profit

Councils that use the product and join our community are asked to pay a voluntary subscription fee (based on their size and capped at £10k per year).

Every pound spent on LGD:

• Improves the shared platform
• Delivers value to all councils
• Supports open-source, public-sector-first infrastructure
• Strengthens digital skills across local government
• Strengthens public digital infrastructure
• Reduces duplication
• Benefits all councils

Reduced service demand

With pooled user research and best-practice accessibility as standard, LocalGov Drupal helps reduce demand on customer services, enabling citizens to more easily access and use online services. The ease of use comes from:

• Best practice page formats based on user research
• WCAG AA-rated accessibility
• Mobile responsive page templates

Alongside changes in content and an improved site structure, councils can provide a superior digital experience for citizens and reduce demand on customer services.

Cumbria council compared Liberty Create contact volumes for Births, Marriages and Deaths pre and post launch: They found:

• Contact volumes are down 21% of the total (was 404 calls and emails, now 334)
• Time spent 25% down (the average time was 5m12, now 3m55)
• Potential saving of £33,000 pa with LGD and content design approach