Supporting Local Government with Creating Improvements and Efficiencies

How can local governments identify and prioritise areas for improvement and efficiency to deliver better outcomes for residents?

To deliver better outcomes for residents, local governments would benefit from taking a structured, evidence-based approach to identifying and prioritising areas for improvement and efficiency. Southampton City Council’s transformation journey, supported by Civiteq as its business change partner, offers a compelling blueprint for how this can be done effectively, even under significant financial constrain.

In 2023, facing a £39 million funding gap and the looming threat of a Section 114 Notice, Southampton launched a comprehensive transformation programme: Adapt | Grow | Thrive. The council acknowledged that its transformation needed to be council-wide, aligned to executive leadership, and deeply integrated with financial recovery plans. Seven portfolios with 28 individual programmes ensured broad organisational coverage while maintaining local accountability.

Southampton’s programme results

The results of Southampton’s transformation programme so far speak for themselves;

Consequently, the council is going into 25/36 with a balanced budget and MTFS set. It has reduced its requirement on EFS, and the structural deficit has been removed by the transformation Adapt I Grow I Thrive programme.

Key programme success factors

A critical enabler of success was the use of strategic partnerships. Newton Europe supported the overall transformation strategy and Civiteq provided vital expertise in business change, as well as digital strategy, service design, and architecture. This specialist input helped the council move beyond firefighting towards sustainable, long-term change.

Civiteq’s digital maturity assessment and discovery work enabled the council to prioritise projects with the greatest operational and financial impact, like consolidating legacy systems and enhancing compliance tools.

With its 6 week piece of work, Civiteq identified over £3million of revenue generating activities.

Six key takeways for successful transformation

For other councils, the experience gained from Southampton’s work suggests a clear pathway to identifying and prioritising improvement areas:

Conclusion

Transformation is about doing things differently, it’s not about doing more with less. Southampton’s success was built on clarity of purpose, collaborative delivery, and a willingness to invest in digital and people capability. With the right partners and a disciplined approach, councils can turn financial pressure into a platform for sustained improvement.

Local Public Services Programme activities

Our Local Public Services Programme helps techUK members to navigate local government. We champion innovation that can create truly digital local public services helping to create thriving, productive and safer places for all. Visit the programme page here