Speeding up Local Land Charges delivery

Two years ago we launched the Local Land Charges (LLC) Register, to transform the fragmented local authority services into a single national register. Our goal is a simple one – transform and digitise more than 25 million data items from over 300 LLC registers across England and provide a single, simple to use digital service for homebuyers.

Improving the service for our customers

Customers are positive about our new service, which enables them to get details about restrictions on the use of land or property they are interested in quicker. Online access gives customers search results in seconds rather than days, in an easy-to-read format, for a fixed £15 fee.

We’ve been listening carefully to customers about how they use the service and what works for them. Over the coming weeks, some of these changes, including how we can make the searches simpler to read, will be implemented.

Understanding the data

We have learned much about the complexities of the data and nuances of local service, through the migration of a dozen local authorities and the 40 or so we are working with currently. We now have a better understanding of the issues we need to address when migrating service. As a result, we have refined the Data Analysis Dashboard tool and pre-migration service assessments. This is helping us plan with the local authorities the work we both need to do to clean up and transform and migrate the data and service. 

Increasing the pace of migrations

Based on our learning to date, we are starting to roll out a new delivery approach. After considering the different local authority needs, capability and business readiness to migrate, we will select one of 4 support packages with the local authority.

Each support package is designed to provide a collaborative experience that meet the needs of each local authority. For example, if the local authority has in-house resource and leadership capacity to conduct the transformation work, we will provide guidance and regular contact. If they require more support, we or one of our suppliers will be on hand to provide as much or as little help as they need.

Alongside this, we are keen to capitalise on the service of Local Authority Advocates, who have already been through the migration process. Their knowledge and expertise will play an important role in helping other local authorities on the same journey. We are also considering how best we can migrate local authorities in geographic clusters, to enable local synergies to be utilised through local experience.

Working during lockdown

Like many of you, the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown has presented us with some unique challenges and opportunities to find new ways of working. Our fully digital service meant we could operate throughout the period. Due to the constraints of remote working, we adapted our migration process and were delighted to bring 2 more local authorities onto the central register – Carlisle City Council went live on 21 April and East Lindsey District Council on 26 June. In addition, we continue to work with 12 local authorities across England to prepare their data for migration in the coming months.

We have also adapted our education and learning programme to suit the new environment and have created a suite of webinars for local authorities that focus on a range of LLC migration topics. These provide best practice advice and offer local authorities direct access to our experts. You can register for our Local Land Charges local authority technical data workshop webinar on 23 July.

If you would like more information about the LLC programme, or have a specific question or a training need, please contact us. Buying a property remains one of the biggest financial investment of people’s lives, so we are committed to making this process simpler, faster and cheaper for everyone.