FourNet’s digital channel map uncovers crucial demographic trends and analyses tech usage across every council area in England, Wales and Scotland

Councils across England, Wales and Scotland are being offered a simple way to establish how and where to invest in digital technology to maximise engagement with local residents, now and in the future.   

Many local authorities face change under government reorganisation plans for mergers into single-tier authorities, while others face budget cuts or shared services. UK councils are the backbone of local governance, managing £121.7 billion in budgets, supporting over 1.3m employees and providing services to nearly 60 million people.   

Today, the first-ever Local Authority Digital Transformation Index (LADiT) has been unveiled by customer experience and digital transformation specialists, FourNet and it will help many of those councils facing change.    

The LADiT Index analyses census information across every local authority area in England, Wales and Scotland and, combined with expert customer experience (CX) analysis from FourNet, charts a detailed course for councils embarking on future digital transformation journeys.     

 The LADiT Index plots the channels which residents are more likely to want to use in each council area – whether landline, mobile phone, chatbot, email or social media – and ranks them with a score for each demographic which will help councils plan for future generations.      

 

Alan Linter, FourNet's Group Consulting Director of Customer Experience, said:

"What we've designed is a go-to-map for every local authority which is considering next steps in their digital transformation journey. Crucially it comes at a time of council reorganisation, in England.    

"What our analysis reveals is the make-up of local populations with data which will be critical for councils to take into account when deciding how to invest in tech and designing their services for the future, particularly as some councils are joining forces to save money, while others are likely to become single tier authorities.      

"There is a huge difference in the way the majority of people interact with council services from the top of our index to the bottom – and how they will do so in future, and councils ignore that data at their peril."    

 

The Index reveals that the top three most digital-savvy populations in the UK, ranked as a percentage of the UK average, are City of London (133%), Tower Hamlets (127%) and Lambeth (123%). These council areas have the fewest elderly residents and the highest ratio of so-called "Digital Natives" – those who are comfortable using digital channels – including Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z.     

Mapped with FourNet's expert CX analysis, the Index shows that those three local authorities will need to keep ahead of the digital game when it comes to communicating with residents – investing in the latest communications tech and considering newer social media platforms like TikTok to engage in future.  

At the other end of the Index sits North Norfolk, which has the least digital savvy population in the country (77.7%) with more residents from the Greatest Generation, Silent Generation and Baby Boomers than anywhere else in Britain – less likely to use TikTok, Snapchat, or want to engage with chatbots and more likely to use the postal service or in person appointments.  

Using the LADiT Index, more than 350 councils will be able to measure the "Digital Maturity" of the local population with the percentage of Digital Natives compared to the UK average – enabling better local and regional investment decisions to be taken.    

 

• The Greatest Generation and Silent Generation show a clear preference for more traditional communication methods like landline telephones, postal mail, and in-person visits.  

• Baby Boomers are transitioning into digital communication but still retain a strong preference for email and telephone.  

• Generation X is comfortable with both traditional and digital methods, with a significant presence on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.  

• Millennials and Generation Z are highly digital, with strong preferences for instant messaging apps, social media, and chatbots.  

• Gen Alpha, still very young, is growing up in a world dominated by AI and voice assistants, making them likely to rely heavily on these technologies as they mature.   

 Understanding the needs of citizens and optimising their customer journey when accessing local services is crucial to local authorities – and FourNet's new LADiT Index provides key data for that purpose which will furnish digital transformation plans for the future.