Laying the foundations for better local public services
Collaboration and baselining
Baselining is the process of establishing a clear, shared view of the systems, contracts, data and capabilities that exist across the councils involved in reorganisation. Collaboration is essential because no single team or function holds all of the required information.
Effective baselining supports safe day one delivery and helps inform future decisions about how services are joined up, separated or funded.
Early collaboration and agreed baselines lead to smoother day one transitions and faster transformation. Most reorganisation challenges are caused by organisational disconnects and lack of visibility across departments.
Recommended approach
Start meeting with your counterparts across your local government reorganisation (LGR) early, even before final unitary decisions. Meeting sooner facilitates critical discussions that strengthen your position for transformation.
Baselining should be carried out collaboratively. Consider involving the following roles from the outset:
digital, technology and cyber leads
service owners for statutory and high-risk services
finance and Section 151 officers
procurement and contract management
legal services
information governance and data protection
resilience and emergency planning
HR (where systems affect workforce management)
programme and PMO leads
Involving these roles early helps avoid gaps, duplication and wrong assumptions.
“In the year prior to the new unitary, we established a digital network inviting all the councils in the area and key partners such as the NHS. This helped build awareness of good work happening in the area, enabled discussion on various topics and the ability to make new connections. All this led to shared digital training initiatives and maturity assessments, paving the way for digital in the new unitary.”
Lisa Trickey, former Head of Digital Strategy and Design, Dorset Council
Send out a meeting agenda and prioritisation criteria in advance
Establish shared understanding of day one essentials versus long-term goals
Councils at all levels – county, districts and boroughs – should also update contract and application registers. It’s helpful if there is a standard template approach for this across councils in the area. Share these documents with joint technology, procurement and data workstreams. This data is essential for building evidence-based proposals for new unitary councils.
Information gathered and shared should include as a minimum the:
name of system (the actual name used by the supplier as well as any local names the system is referred to)
name of the supplier
what version of the software is used
where the application is hosted (on premise, by the supplier, in the cloud)
if on premise, any hosting dependencies the system has, such as server requirements, and so on
when the system was first purchased
when the current contract expires
the notice period for ending the contract
what support arrangements exist for the system (days from the supplier, internal support, any third-party support arrangements)
Details of any ongoing relevant procurements or implementations should also be shared amongst the group.
Baselining should be proportionate and focused on supporting decisions. Councils should prioritise:
statutory and safety-critical services
systems required for day one operation
shared services and shared systems
systems with upcoming contract renewals or break points
bespoke or heavily customised systems
data sets containing personal or sensitive data
known areas of operational or workforce risk
Avoid attempting to baseline every system in detail at the start.
“One thing I really underestimated was supplier capability. Many of our systems were 20 years old and heavily customised. Sometimes the expertise sits with your own staff, not the supplier. If you’re losing people at the same time, that’s a real risk. A clear roadmap helps people feel secure and stay.”
Madeline Hoskin, Assistant Director for Technology, North Yorkshire Council
Common challenges
DDaT doesn’t have visibility of all software contracts
Finance doesn’t know what systems underpin the budget
Services assume their system will “just continue to work”
Project teams underestimate cyber or data risks
Leadership assumes integration will be easy
On top of this, is the uncertainty that council staff face around their ongoing employment, which can create significant challenges in forming collaborative teams.
“If I were doing it again, I’d create a propositional architecture early – not perfect, just good enough. Eighty percent is fine. Decide which big services are joining or splitting and move on. Spending years debating the “best” process just delays delivery, especially when you’re likely to replace systems anyway.”
Madeline Hoskin, Assistant Director for Technology, North Yorkshire Council
Common risks identified through baselining
Baselining often reveals risks that are not shown in organisational charts or programme plans. Identifying these early allows councils to manage them deliberately rather than discovering them close to vesting day or during live service delivery.
Baselining frequently identifies systems that are no longer supported by suppliers or are running on outdated infrastructure. Councils should understand which services rely on these systems and whether backup arrangements or interim extensions are required.
Many councils discover systems are more interconnected than expected, often through bespoke or undocumented integrations. Baselining should capture known integrations and highlight areas where technical knowledge is limited or held by a small number of individuals.
Contracts for systems and services are not always clearly owned, particularly where services have been shared or managed collaboratively. Failure to identify these can result in unplanned cost or rushed procurement.
Reorganisation often brings high demand on the same suppliers across multiple councils. Baselining can highlight where a small number of suppliers are supporting critical systems, or where suppliers lack experience of migration or separation at scale. Councils should consider whether they have enough internal knowledge to handle this risk.
Shared systems often contain data from multiple councils or service areas that is difficult to separate. Baselining should identify where data is shared, the legal basis for its continued use, and whether data-sharing agreements are required to support transitional arrangements.
Baselining regularly highlights the reliance on individual staff members who hold critical system or integration knowledge. This creates delivery and resilience risks, particularly during periods of organisational change.
Different councils may operate to different cyber and resilience standards. Baselining can reveal gaps in areas such as access controls, patching, monitoring or backup arrangements.
Baselining often challenges long-held assumptions about processes, data quality or system capability. Differences in how services operate across councils can have significant implications for mergers or standardisation. Highlighting these differences helps avoid unrealistic timelines and expectations.
UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) 