The challenge
Cumberland Council was established as a new unitary council on the 1 April 2023, the new council replaced the three district councils of Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland. Each of the three districts have been using Locata HPA2 since the Homelessness Reduction Act was enacted in April 2018 and had made various changes to their workflows to reflect local working practices within their district.
With the transition to a unitary council, the three former districts (now referred to as “Localities”) needed to consolidate their separate HPA2 systems into a single, unified system. This was essential for enhancing service provision and standardising working practices across the entire authority area. There are medium-to-long term plans for case officers to eventually work across the whole authority, however for now, the locality teams also had a need to continue to manage cases within their respective localities – so the new unified system had to support both these short and longer term requirements.
Our approach
To ensure we fully captured the service requirements and delivered a tailored solution, we prioritised face-to-face meetings with service managers. These strategic discussions not only helped us understand their current processes and challenges but also provided valuable insights into their future goals and essential needs. By conducting thorough internal discussions with locality teams beforehand, we were able to structure these meetings for maximum efficiency, ensuring that we aligned on the most critical requirements and set a clear path forward for success
For each locality to retain their existing data without having to access two separate systems the decision was taken to take a data cut from each system and merge the data into the new Cumberland council system over the weekend in order to minimise service disruption for both customers and officers.
In developing the solution, we leveraged:
- Over 20 years of expertise in delivering homelessness service provision and case management.
- Insights gained from previous consultancy engagements.
- Established industry best practices.
This all allowed us to create a new case workflow structure to simplify and standardise processes to facilitate a shift in service provision across the entire authority area.
We streamlined the process by configuring a new PHP solution designed to significantly reduce the time officers spend manually entering or duplicating information already captured in the system. By automating a large portion of the process, we ensured that when the PHP was generated, it seamlessly pulled in relevant data from the existing workflows, enabling officers to work more efficiently and focus on higher-priority tasks.
Part of the requirement was that new cases would be allocated to case officers that worked in a particular locality based upon the postcode of the customers current or last settled address. When a new online referral was made by a customer, public body or other organisation the system would allocate to the relevant locality. For forms received from outside the Cumberland area the system would automatically allocate fairly across the localities utilising a “round-robin” approach.
Throughout the process we actively sought and encouraged testing and feedback from the teams to ensure that it fully met their specific needs and allowed them to move seamlessly to the new combined system.
Why It Matters
Our approach is collaborative, never prescriptive. We work alongside your teams to build on strengths, remove inefficiencies, and create sustainable improvements that last.
Whether you’re integrating legacy systems, training new staff, or evolving your housing strategy, our consultancy ensures that your Locata system supports your goals – not just technically, but operationally and strategically.
In a time of growing pressure and limited resources, that’s not just an upgrade – it’s a transformation.
