Local Digital Cyber

Improving cyber health and resilience in local government

The MHCLG Local Digital team is working to reduce the likelihood and impact of cyber attacks, and support ongoing cyber risk management. This work supports our commitment to continuously improve cyber security practice.

On this page, you can read about our current cyber programmes and past work.

Our approach

Our cyber work helps councils to understand their risks, take practical action to reduce them, and work together to improve cyber resilience across the sector.

We focus on three priorities:

Understanding risk: helping councils identify and assess cyber risks to their organisation, systems and data, while building a clearer picture of common challenges across the sector
Managing risk: supporting councils to strengthen cyber resilience, address vulnerabilities and reduce the impact of cyber incidents through practical tools, guidance and support
Strengthening partnerships: working across local and central government and the wider public sector to share knowledge, expertise and resources and help the sector to respond collectively to cyber challenges

These priorities shape our work to assess cyber resilience, support improvement activity and strengthen the sector’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to cyber threats.

How we’re supporting the sector

Cyber Assessment Framework for local government

We’re supporting councils in England to improve their cyber resilience and meet the objectives of the Government Cyber Action Plan.

Local Digital has developed the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for local government to give councils a clear and consistent approach to assessing and improving their cyber resilience.

Working with councils and cyber security experts, we have adapted the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) CAF to help you assess your cyber resilience and identify vulnerabilities that could disrupt critical services.

Learn more about what this means for councils and how to begin the CAF

Direct support

Since 2020, the cyber programme has provided councils with more than £28 million in funding to address serious cyber security vulnerabilities.

Through this support, councils have received:

bespoke technical remediation plans agreed with each council
effective backup arrangements to help reduce potential disruption in the event of a ransomware attack
regular network scanning to monitor progress and identify new vulnerabilities

In January 2026, we launched CAF Support, a £6 million fund for 52 councils that have completed a CAF assessment. The fund helps these councils accelerate cyber resilience improvements and strengthen resilience across the sector.

Defend as One

Cyber threats to local government are real and continue to evolve. To help councils respond, we are accelerating our ‘Defend as One’ approach, bringing together cyber security data, expertise and capabilities from across the sector.

This includes a range of operational services for councils, including vulnerability alerts and a cyber incident response service.

Learn more about our work to support councils detect and respond to cyber threats

Cyber timeline

2026

In January, we launched CAF Support, a £6 million fund for 52 councils that have completed a CAF assessment, helping them accelerate improvements in key areas of cyber resilience and strengthen resilience across the sector.

2025

In November, we launched the Cyber Incident Response Service to support English councils experiencing severe cyber incidents. The service gives councils access to an NCSC-assured provider to help contain and eradicate threats and support the recovery of critical systems and public services.

2024

In February, we launched an alpha project to develop the CAF service and test it with 20 councils. Updates have been shared on the CAF for local government page.

In October, we launched the early stages of the CAF for local government on the new UK Government Security website.

2023

From May 2023 to February 2024, we tested the CAF through the Future Councils pilot. This included testing documentation, guidance and templates that support councils through a CAF assessment.

2022

The Government Cyber Security Strategy, published in 2022, shaped the team’s approach to improving cyber resilience in local government through the NCSC’s CAF.

We conducted a pilot with 10 councils in England to explore how the NCSC’s CAF could be used to help assess and manage cyber risks.

Read the CAF for local government pilot report

2021

We completed two alpha projects to help councils reduce the likelihood and impact of cyber attacks and improve cyber health, which were the:

Cyber Health alpha explored the development of a tool and framework to help councils achieve a recommended level of cyber security. Read about the Cyber Health alpha project
Cyber Support alpha: provided councils with expert support to identify issues and gaps. The project offered guidance, tools and good practice, and helped councils to develop plans to improve their cyber resilience. Read about the Cyber Support alpha project

In the Autumn 2021 Budget, Local Digital was awarded £37.8 million of additional funding to help councils address cyber security challenges and strengthen cyber resilience, helping to protect vital services and data.

2020

In May 2020, we completed a pre-discovery and discovery to explore how MHCLG could help councils to reduce the impact of cyber attacks and strengthen cyber resilience.

The discovery identified a cyber health framework as a key area to progress into an alpha project. It aimed to help council staff navigate the multiple, and sometimes overlapping, standards

Read the key findings and recommendations from the discovery

Follow our progress

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