Lancashire County Council

What Lancashire County Council does

Lancashire County Council is a statutory upper-tier local government authority headquartered at County Hall, Fishergate, Preston, Lancashire (PR1 8XJ), operating under UK local government legislation to serve the residents of the county of Lancashire in North West England. With 10,000+ employees, it delivers the full upper-tier local authority portfolio including education and school admissions, children's and adult social care, statutory SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) assessments and plans, highway maintenance, public transport coordination including concessionary travel and bus shelter upkeep, waste and recycling, library services, planning, and birth/death/marriage registrations. Funding is derived from council tax on Lancashire properties, central government grants, business rates, and modest service fees such as Blue Badge application processing under Department for Transport guidelines; most services are free at point of use.

The council's delivery model rests on a unified digital service delivery platform anchored at lancashire.gov.uk, supplemented by specialised functional portals including the Lancashire Service Finder (aggregating support services across the county), the SEND Local Offer (a dedicated resource for children and young people aged 0-25 with SEND and their families), the EHC Digital Portal for Education, Health and Care needs assessments and plan management, the Love Clean Streets mobile application for resident fault reporting, and the AnyBus smartcard enabling cross-operator bus travel. Physical access is delivered through County Hall offices, a network of libraries, and Family Hubs in Clitheroe, Lune Park Lancaster, Rawtenstall, Fleetwood, and Moor Nook Ribbleston.

Operationally, the council serves an entire county population as its mandated customer base, with the most strategically intensive engagement in SEND services, where it coordinates multi-agency delivery through the Lancashire SEND Partnership — bringing together NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, multiple NHS trusts, the Department for Education, NHS England, the Lancashire Parent Carer Forum, the POWAR youth forum, school leadership associations, and the Spring North charity consortium. Following a December 2024 joint Ofsted/CQC inspection that found SEND services had let down children and families, the council entered a formal improvement regime in June 2025 under a new SEND Improvement Board, driving significant reinvestment in EHC plan capacity, neurodiversity support hubs, staff training, and digital tooling.

Name

Lancashire County Council

Legal name

Lancashire County Council

Website

https://lancashire.gov.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Lancashire County Council is a statutory local authority in North West England delivering education, social care, highways, transport, and SEND services to county residents. It operates a unified digital service platform alongside Family Hubs, libraries, and multi-agency partnerships to discharge mandatory public duties.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Preston

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Council Tax: Primary source of funding from residents of Lancashire based on property values
2. Government Grants and Funding: Central government funding for local authority services including education, social care, and public health
3. Service Fees: Fees for specific services such as Blue Badge applications, concessionary travel passes, and other council services
4. NoWcard Concessionary Travel: NoWcard bus pass scheme with chip technology for journey recording and fare checking

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels10 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Lancashire County Council is a statutory local government authority delivering public services to residents of Lancashire, England. Its core offerings include education and special educational needs (SEND) support, school admissions and transport, adult and children's social care, highways and transport infrastructure, household waste disposal, libraries, public health, registration services, and concessionary travel and parking permits such as Blue Badges and NoWcards. The council also funds and coordinates family hubs, youth participation, and community-based services delivered through partnerships with the NHS, schools, and the voluntary sector.

Product overview

Lancashire County Council provides a broad portfolio of public sector digital services organized as a unified platform with multiple distinct service offerings. The core services include the SEND Local Offer portal for special educational needs support, Blue Badge scheme for disabled parking, NoWcard concessionary travel passes, school admissions management, school transport services, public transport information and ticketing (including AnyBus smartcard), the Lancashire Report It fault reporting system (powered by Love Clean Streets), and the Lancashire Service Finder directory. The council also provides privacy and data protection services under UK GDPR. These services operate as separate functional modules sharing the lancashire.gov.uk domain rather than a single integrated product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SEND Local Offer Online directory and information service listing the local services, support and provision available to children and young people with SEND and their families in Lancashire, as required by the Children and Families Act 2014.
• Blue Badge Scheme Local administration of the national Blue Badge parking permit scheme, allowing eligible disabled residents to park closer to their destinations. Includes application processing, eligibility assessment and ongoing permit management.
• NoWcard Concessionary Travel Pass Smartcard-based concessionary travel pass providing eligible older and disabled Lancashire residents with free off-peak bus travel on registered local services, administered by the council under statutory national scheme rules.
• School Admissions Service Statutory admissions service coordinating the allocation of school places across Lancashire for primary, secondary and specialist settings, including SEND placements, in line with the Schools Admissions Code.
• Home-to-School Transport Statutory home-to-school transport service for eligible school-age children in Lancashire, including transport for children with SEND attending their named school or setting, with eligibility assessed against distance and safety criteria.
• AnyBus Flexible Bus Service Demand-responsive flexible bus service providing local public transport connections in rural and underserved parts of Lancashire, accepting NoWcard concessionary passes.
• Family Hubs Network of physical Family Hub locations delivering integrated services for families, including early help, parenting support, early years services, health visitor drop-ins and SEND information and advice.
• Lancashire Libraries Service Statutory public library service operating library branches across Lancashire, providing book lending, digital resources, information services, community space and activities for residents of all ages.
• Lancashire Report It (Love Clean Streets) Online and app-based public reporting service that allows residents to report and track local environmental and highways issues such as fly-tipping, litter, potholes, street lighting faults and dog fouling across Lancashire.
• Lancashire Service Finder Online directory platform that helps Lancashire residents find community services, voluntary-sector groups, activities and support, with signposting to council and partner services.
• Adult Community Social Care Statutory adult social care service for older people, physically disabled adults, learning-disabled adults and people with mental health needs in Lancashire, including assessment, care planning, commissioned care packages and safeguarding.
• Children's Social Care Statutory children's social care service for children and families in Lancashire, including early help, child protection, looked-after children, fostering and adoption, and SEND-related social care input to EHC plans.

Quantifiable outcome

• EHC plan quality improved 9% since March 2025 through SEND Academy training
• +3 more outcomes

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership for joint commissioning and delivery of SEND services across Lancashire. The ICB and Lancashire County Council work together through the SEND Partnership Board and SEND Improvement Board, with shared accountability for health, education, and social care services for children and young people with SEND.
• Lancashire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-chairs Michelle Pye and Miranda Hyman represent parent carers as a strategic partner in the SEND Partnership. The forum engages with families, hosts webinars, runs round table support groups, and provides feedback that shapes service improvements through the You Said...We Did format.
• POWAR (Participation Organisation for Wirings and Rights) SEND Youth ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYouth participation forum representing the voice of children and young people with SEND in Lancashire. Led by SEND Young Advisor Oliver Moores, POWAR runs weekly groups in Preston and Burnley, workshops, and training sessions to ensure young people's voices inform service development.
• Department for Education (DfE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDfE SEND Case Lead Deanne Brownley and appointed SEND Advisor Cath Hitchen participate in the SEND Improvement Board. The DfE provides oversight and guidance following the 2024 SEND inspection, with a monitoring visit expected in 12 months and full inspection in 3 years.
• NHS EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHSE Advisor Lindsey Marlton participates in the SEND Improvement Board. NHS England provides oversight and support for the transformation programme, particularly for the neurodevelopmental pathway and health service improvements.
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS TrustsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS trust represented on the SEND Improvement Board by Victoria Hampson, contributing to the delivery of health services for children and young people with SEND.
• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals TrustsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS trust represented on the SEND Improvement Board by Louise Swarbrick, providing hospital-based health services for SEND children and young people.
• Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation TrustsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerMental health and community services provider represented by Paul Jebb on the SEND Improvement Board, contributing to emotional wellbeing and mental health support for children with SEND.
• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals TrustsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS trust represented by Diane Booth on the SEND Improvement Board, serving the Blackpool area which is within the Lancashire SEND Partnership footprint.
• University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay TrustsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS trust represented by Rachel Lomax on the SEND Improvement Board, serving the Morecambe Bay area.
• District Councils (12 councils)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with 12 district councils across Lancashire for local service delivery including bus shelter maintenance (shared responsibility), planning applications, and local services.
• Local Bus OperatorssecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorking relationship through Enhanced Partnership agreement to improve bus services in Lancashire. Partners include multiple bus operators with AnyBus smartcard enabling cross-operator travel.
• Spring North Charity ConsortiumsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharity consortium led by Martin Hartley-Smith managing funding bids for neurodiversity support hubs. Member organizations include Child Action North West (Family Autism Service), Triple A (north Lancashire), Communicate SLT (Fylde and Wyre), Key (central Lancashire), and Lancashire Mind (West Lancashire).
• NHSsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerInformation sharing partnership for health and social care coordination, including duty to improve health of the population, shared data systems, and integrated service delivery.
• Police, Fire Service, HMRC, DWPsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organisations for information sharing and coordinated service delivery as outlined in the council's privacy notice.
• Early Years and Childcare Provider AssociationsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly years sector representation on SEND Improvement Board through Chair Philippa Perks, contributing to early identification and support for children with SEND.
• Lancashire Association of Secondary Headteachers (LASSH)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerSecondary school leadership representation through Chris Beard and Helen Dunbavin on the SEND Improvement Board.
• Lancashire Special School Headteacher Association (LSSHTA)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpecial school representation through Fran Clayton on the SEND Improvement Board.
• Colleges and Further Education ProviderssecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with FE colleges including Preston College represented by Marie Haworth for supported internships and preparation for adulthood services.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/LancashireCC
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/lancashirecc
• Facebookfacebook.com/lancashirecc
• Instagraminstagram.com/lancashirecc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lancashire County Council