Local Digital

What Local Digital does

Local Digital is a team within the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), headquartered in London, that provides digital and cyber support to local government councils in England. Founded through the launch of the Local Digital Fund in December 2018 by then-local-government minister Rishi Sunak, the team coordinates cross-council collaboration on digital transformation, cyber resilience, and open data standards rather than operating as a commercial vendor.

Its core portfolio comprises the Local Digital Fund (over £16 million distributed across 61 council-led projects since 2018 across six funding rounds plus a C-19 Challenge and a Continuous Funding Model introduced in February 2021), the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for local government (adapted from NCSC's framework and launched on the UK Government Security website in October 2024), the £19.9 million Cyber Support programme (since 2020) supplemented by £37.8 million from the Autumn 2021 Budget, the Future Councils programme (8 pilot councils, March–November 2023, £750k each) with its published Playbook, and the Local Digital Declaration signed by 300+ local authorities and supporting organisations. Notable funded project outputs include the Open Referral UK Data Standard (endorsed by the UK Government Data Standards Authority), the Housing Repairs Service (open-source, with Lincoln City Council), the Family Context Tool for children's services, the Back Office Planning System (BOPS), the Quality Data for Children in Care Tool, and the Digital Inclusion Toolkit.

Local Digital's business model is government grant funding: it is appropriation-funded by MHCLG and re-grants funds to councils through periodic funding rounds and a Continuous Funding Model, provides expert advisory support (product ownership, agile delivery, user research, cyber), and produces reusable open-source digital tools, data standards, and playbooks for the sector. The team uses a community-led GTM motion through newsletters, UKAuthority Live events, GDS spotlight webinars, Medium blog posts, and fortnightly show-and-tell sessions. It has trained over 3,000 council staff in digital and cyber skills.

Name

Local Digital

Legal name

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) - Local Digital

Website

https://localdigital.gov.uk

Company type

Public

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Local Digital is a team within the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) that funds and supports English local government councils with digital transformation, cyber resilience, data standards, and open-source tooling through the Local Digital Fund, Cyber Assessment Framework, and Future Councils programme.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Digital Transformation Services

NAICS

Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (9251), Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development (92512), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAIAAAE

Government Digital Service & eGovernment (Service Delivery, IDs, Portals)

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Central/Federal Government Administration

SECONDARYBPADAEAL

Digital Development & ICT4D / GovTech Technical Assistance

Business & Public Services/International Organizations & Development/International Development & Technical Assistance

SECONDARYBPAEAIAN

Workplace Accessibility, Adoption & Change Management (Digital Adoption, training, comms)

Business & Public Services/IT & Digital Services (Managed Services, Systems Integration)/Digital Workplace & End-User Computing Services

SECONDARYBPAGALAK

Digital Inclusion & Civic Tech (Connectivity, GovTech for Social Good)

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Social Enterprises & Impact Organizations

Keywords

• Local government digital
• Cyber resilience services
• Government grant funding
• Data standards
• Digital transformation

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Grant Funding: Local Digital is a team within MHCLG funded by the UK government. The program provides grant funding to councils through the Local Digital Fund for digital transformation projects. Funding rounds have included over £16 million provided to 61 council-led projects since 2018.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Local Digital is a government team within the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) that funds, supports, and coordinates digital and cyber transformation across local councils in England. It provides grant funding (the Local Digital Fund), cyber security frameworks and remediation support (CAF for Local Government, Cyber Support Programme), data and API standards, training and learning resources, and transformation toolkits (Future Councils Playbook) for local authorities. The programme's outputs include reusable open-source digital tools and data standards built collaboratively with councils.

Product overview

Local Digital is a team within the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) that provides digital and cyber support to local government. The portfolio includes the Local Digital Fund (providing over £16 million to 61 council-led projects), the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for local government, the Future Councils Programme with its playbook of transformation tools, the Local Digital Declaration (with 300+ signatories), Data and API Standards programme, and Learning Resources covering Agile, user research, service design, and content design. Notable funded project outputs include the Open Referral UK data standard, Family Context Tool for children's services, Housing Repairs Service (open-source), Quality Data for Children in Care Tool, Back Office Planning System (BOPS), Revs and Bens open-source revenue and benefits system, and Digital Inclusion Toolkit.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Local Digital Declaration: A declaration that over 300 local authorities and supporting organisations have committed to improving local public services.
• Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for Local Government
• Local Digital Fund
• Future Councils

Products and services

• Local Digital Fund
• Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for Local Government
• Cyber Support Programme
• Future Councils Programme
• Future Councils Playbook
• Local Digital Declaration
• Data and API Standards Programme
• Open Referral UK Data Standard
• Housing Repairs Service
• Back Office Planning System (BOPS)
• Family Context Tool
• Quality Data for Children in Care Tool
• Revs and Bens
• Digital Inclusion Toolkit
• Learning Resources

Quantifiable outcome

• 61 council-led projects funded with over £16 million
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

AI capability4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Teignbridge District CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2022Lead council for Revs and Bens project exploring open source revenue and benefits systems, working with Sedgemoor's in-house system.
• National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Local Digital adapted NCSC's Cyber Assessment Framework for use in local government to assess and improve council cyber resilience.
• Lincoln City CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2021Lead council for Housing Repairs Service beta project building a new application form for social housing residents to report repairs and developing a common API for appointment scheduling software.
• MadeTechcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 June 2021Technology supplier engaged for Housing Repairs Service beta development, building the user interface and integrating with scheduling systems.
• Wigan CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2021Lead council for Quality Data for Children in Care beta project building error checking and validation tools for children's services data.
• Data to InsightcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 February 2021Technical delivery partner for Quality Data for Children in Care project, developing Python-based error coding tools and online learning hub.
• Leeds City CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2020Lead council for Digital Inclusion Toolkit project tackling digital capability challenges in communities, with partners including Birmingham City Council and Dorset Council.
• Adur & Worthing CouncilscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2020Lead council partner for Open Referral UK beta project defining data standards for community services directories, later endorsed by UK Government Data Standards Authority.
• Essex County CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2020Partner in Open Referral UK beta project working on data standard for community services.
• SnookcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 March 2020Design and delivery partner for Open Referral UK beta project, ran prioritisation sessions and developed website and tools.
• Stockport Metropolitan Borough CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2018Lead council partner for Family Context in Children's Services project. Collaborated on discovery, alpha and beta phases to develop a tool giving frontline workers access to information about services engaged with a child's family.
• Leeds City CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2018Partner in Family Context in Children's Services project, contributing to user research and development of the tool for children's social care services.
• Oxford City CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2018Lead council for Chatbots and AI discovery project exploring common, open source platform for local government chatbot/AI solutions across 13 collaborating councils.
• London Borough of SouthwarkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2018Lead council for Back Office Planning System (BOPS) project exploring solutions for back office planning system across multiple councils.
• Government Digital Service (GDS)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 July 2018Partner in various projects including Income Management System and Revs and Bens, exploring GOV.UK Pay integration for local government payments.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• UKAuthority: A media and events organisation focused on UK public sector digital transformation, hosting 'UKAuthority Live' events where Local Digital presents. It is an adjacent ecosystem player that amplifies Local Digital's message and convenes the local government digital community.
• iNetwork: A UK membership network for public sector innovation that has awarded Local Digital's Open Community project (iNetwork Innovation Awards). It is a peer ecosystem player that supports local government digital transformation and capability building.

Emerging players

• MadeTech: A UK GovTech consultancy that has been an implementation partner for Local Digital-funded projects (e.g., Housing Repairs Service). They build open-source digital services for local government, overlapping with Local Digital's funded project outputs in housing, planning, and revenue systems.
• Snook: A service design and delivery consultancy that has been a Local Digital implementation partner (Open Referral UK beta). They overlap with Local Digital's human-centred design and standards work, and compete for council digital transformation budgets.

Direct peers

• Government Digital Service (GDS): GDS is the UK central government unit for digital transformation, operating inside the Cabinet Office. It is the most direct peer to Local Digital — both are government digital service teams that set standards, fund projects, and provide expertise across public sector digital delivery, with GDS operating at the central-government level and Local Digital focused on local government.
• Digital Planning (within MHCLG): Digital Planning is Local Digital's counterpart team within MHCLG, focused on the digital land and proptech space. It shares the same parent department, mandate structure, and council-engagement model, working on parallel digital transformation themes for local government.

Regional players

• Welsh Government Digital: The Welsh Government's digital function supporting Welsh local authorities. Like Local Digital, it provides standards, funding, and capability support to councils, but operates in a devolved context with a smaller council base.
• Scottish Government Digital Directorate: Scotland's equivalent digital transformation function for its 32 councils. Comparable in mission (council digital support) and funding model (government budget), but operating under a different devolved administration and serving a separate geographic market.

Broad incumbents

• NHS England Digital: The digital function for NHS England, which provides digital standards, infrastructure, and transformation support across the health sector. It is a comparable internal government digital unit serving a different sector vertical with similar mandates around standards, cyber resilience, and shared services.
• National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC): The UK's national cyber authority and the source of the Cyber Assessment Framework that Local Digital has adapted for local government. NCSC is a strategic partnership peer — it sets the upstream standards and works jointly with Local Digital on cyber resilience for the public sector.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/LDgovUK
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCXoDA_N1xDFanzRb332aBqQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/local-digital-dluhc

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments1 record

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Frequently asked questions about Local Digital