Public Digital Report On Challenges Facing Local Services

Public Digital has published a new report exploring how local public services can move beyond crisis management towards more preventative, collaborative and user-centred models of delivery.

Drawing on a Public Digital session held in November 2025, the report brings together perspectives from local government practitioners and experts on the pressures facing councils, including rising demand, constrained funding and growing public dissatisfaction. It argues that without a decisive shift from managing demand to actively reducing it, many authorities risk becoming unable to sustain core services.

The report highlights the need for councils to look beyond “safe and legal” approaches and adopt more ambitious, test-and-learn methods, supported by stronger collaboration across places and with suppliers. Contributors also point to the role of central government and regulators in creating the conditions for change, including longer-term funding certainty and greater freedom to invest in prevention.

Public Digital concludes that while the challenges are significant, 2026 could represent a turning point if local and national partners work together to support bold, locally led transformation in public services.

Read the full report here

RSN members may also be interested in our upcoming Member Exclusive Seminar, which will explore rural connectivity and consider how digital infrastructure underpins service delivery, access and inclusion in rural areas. See our events schedule and book here.