As local authority CFOs navigate local government reorganisation (LGR), measuring current performance and setting clear KPIs with a single source of truth are essential to be able to spot when integrations are working and - most importantly - when they aren’t working.
Worryingly, our findings show that while councils talk about transformation success, almost none of them measure where they start from, which means they can’t evidence what they’ve improved.
Every council we spoke to that had been through LGR was measuring improvement against a starting point they had never recorded. They were comparing ‘now’ to’then’, but ‘then’ was a guess.
In a series of content exploring the digital transformation at the heart of LGR, Access PaySuite has compiled new research, expert industry insights, focus groups and unitary authority case studies to help guide local authorities through the programme.
What constitutes success?
Our survey of 100 finance leaders in local authorities revealed a range of views on the ultimate metric for LGR success, but cross-authority and cross-departmental financial visibility was a recurring theme.
- 42% wanted to achieve a single, unified view of critical debt across all legacy councils and departments.
- 38% said maintaining statutory service delivery like social care and waste management was a top priority.
- 25% reported that improving resident satisfaction would be a key measure of success.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, one in three (34%) stated that visibility and improvement of income collection rates and reducing revenue leakage would constitute success.
Whatever your LGR success metrics are, it’s vital to define them early and set clear benchmarks and KPIs for your programme.
In our focus groups with unitary authorities which have already navigated the LGR process, none had established meaningful baselines from formation. This means that they were measuring improvements against an unmeasured reference point, making it almost impossible to know if things were getting better or worse, or prove ROI.
The savings from getting a digital transformation project right are real and measurable, but often invisible until someone looks.
What can we learn from LGR experiences?
The focus groups revealed significant clear and measurable impacts which took the abstract benefits of reorganisation to real savings and improvements to services.
One authority we spoke to was able to transform its bank reconciliation from requiring three full-time staff to being near-automated and merchant acquiring contract consolidation delivered savings of hundreds of thousands per year.
Cost savings is abstract. Bank rec going from 3 FTE to 4 hours a week - that’s real.
However, these advantages were discovered through the transformation work itself and without benchmarking and pre-defined KPIs, the impact could easily be missed.
Many councils will be losing income to failed direct debits, abandoned journeys, and paper-based processes. This is just funding a problem that they do not measure.
Revenue leakage from failed direct debits and abandoned digital journeys is a live problem at every council we spoke to. Measurement failure is a structural issue, not a resource problem.
As the LGR process progresses and teams can plan based on more certain outcomes, close relationships with suppliers will be key to tackle day one obstacles and future-proofing interoperability, as well as benchmarking and reporting.
You can’t predict what isn’t on your plan. But you can build the capability to discover it early and you can work with someone who has already seen it.
How to create a citizen-first LGR programme?
Payment is the moment of truth between a council and its community. Everything else you build - your structure, your culture, your digital services - is tested at the moment a resident tries to pay you. That moment either works, or it doesn’t.
LGR is a huge opportunity to create more efficient unitary authorities which deliver better services for citizens. As we move towards April 2028, leadership, delivery teams, and suppliers will need to unite around a shared vision to make this vision a reality.
This is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to think about things differently. It’s radically rethinking reorganisations - rather than a cost service and keeping the lights on - to take advantage of what we can do differently with digital technologies.
Before your programme goes live, can you answer this question: what does success look like in numbers, and what are those numbers today?
Why is measuring performance important during Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)?
Measuring performance provides a clear baseline against which improvements can be tracked. Without established benchmarks, councils struggle to demonstrate ROI, identify inefficiencies, or prove that transformation initiatives have delivered meaningful outcomes.
What KPIs should councils measure during LGR?
KPIs will vary by authority but commonly include income collection rates, revenue leakage reduction, bank reconciliation efficiency, resident satisfaction, debt visibility across departments, digital payment adoption, and service delivery performance.
How can councils reduce revenue leakage during LGR?
Revenue leakage can be reduced by improving payment processes, reducing failed direct debits, digitising manual workflows, consolidating systems, and implementing regular reporting and monitoring to identify points where income is being lost.
What practical benefits have councils achieved through digital transformation during LGR?
Authorities participating in our focus groups reported significant improvements, including near-automated bank reconciliations, reduced manual workloads, lower operational costs, and substantial savings through supplier and merchant acquiring contract consolidation.
What does successful LGR look like?
Successful LGR combines operational efficiency, financial visibility, improved resident experiences, reduced revenue leakage, and measurable cost savings. Most importantly, success should be defined through clear metrics established before transformation begins.