Sector:
Local & regional government
The diverse landscape of the UK’s local and regional government is experiencing a period of significant change. The Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme, which aims to streamline local authorities nationwide (replacing the existing two-tier system with new, single-tier, unitary councils), remains underway with an operational target of April 2028 for newly formed councils. In the meantime, split functions and services – across county and district councils governing one area – remain the reality for millions of people.
Through our work with communities across the UK, we’ve seen first-hand how differences in the quality, availability, and efficiency of local services (both perceived and evidenced), and the speed of council decision-making, have a direct impact on residents and local businesses. Our public sector team has decades of experience delivering tailored and highly localised government research projects, and public consultations, on a local, regional, and national scale. These projects are crafted to capture the reality of public experience – across counties, districts, authorities and combined authority lines – on a granular level, providing meaningful outputs and actionable insight.
Working with uniquely structured local authorities, and councils of many different sizes, we have developed a deep appreciation of the nuances of local and regional government; this awareness and depth of knowledge ensures we deliver bespoke projects which are tailored to the specific needs of our clients and their communities. As a full-service market research agency, we have the expertise, flexibility and resources to deliver the support you need – from end-to-end solutions to specific field and data only services. Whether we are onboard from the beginning (helping design research materials, conducting fieldwork and taking responsibility for all analysis, reporting and outputs) or we are analysing data from consultations conducted by local authorities themselves, we always work in partnership with our clients to deliver the result you need.
Our teams are confident and well-versed in exploring topical, and often sensitive, themes through their work including satisfaction with council services and local areas, public health, transport, experiences of crime and anti-social behaviour, and financial and personal wellbeing. Recent examples of large-scale resident surveys we have managed and delivered include projects in Lambeth, Southwark, Surrey, Suffolk, Nottinghamshire, North Warwickshire, Reading, North Tyneside, Oxfordshire, Croydon and Herefordshire – and many more. We’ve also recently completed a series of surveys with businesses across different local authorities including, Wigan Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.
To achieve samples that are representative of local populations — residents and/or businesses — we often use a mixed-mode approach to maximise accessibility and inclusivity. For example, we may recommend a combined CATI (telephone) and CAPI (face-to-face) approach for a particular residents’ survey to ensure sufficient inclusion of audiences who are harder to reach by telephone (particularly younger people).
Many of our surveys are used to benchmark against LGA indicators and other national/regional indicators. As such, we have significant experience in designing questionnaires and sampling approaches with these metrics in mind, as well as producing clear, insightful, accessible and engaging reports which depict trends over time, and performance against LGA benchmarks. Many of the surveys we conduct are published openly in the public domain, including resident surveys and reports containing comparisons with LGA benchmarks – examples can be found in our published reports library.
As well as documenting our research findings in high-quality reports, with format and style tailored to the needs of both internal and external stakeholders, our Creative Services team can transform your insights into impactful infographics and engaging video outputs. A recent example of how this can bring research to life includes our work with Leicester City Council.
You can find out more about the range of research methodologies we used in some of our most recent surveys for a range of local and combined authorities below. You can also discover more detailed examples of our work in our case studies gallery.
DJS Research project snapshots for local government and combined authorities
Reading Borough Council: In Autumn 2024 we conducted just over 1,000 interviews with residents of Reading, using a mix of telephone (CATI) and face-to-face interviewing (CAPI). To achieve a representative sample of residents, quotas were set by age, gender, disability, ethnicity, working status and ward, using the latest population statistics available. The questionnaire included a range of LGA benchmarks, which were a particularly important element of the survey, as well as other key topics, such as priorities for improvement in their local area and community cohesion.
Lambeth Council: We have conducted nine separate projects for Lambeth since 2020, including their annual residents’ surveys and quarterly tracker, interviewing 12,000+ residents by telephone or face-to-face. Projects have combined the standard LGA questions, alongside other themes. Our successful work with Lambeth demonstrates our ability to conduct research in areas of high ethnic diversity – we achieve more than 50% of interviews with the non-White population of the borough each survey. The long-running nature of this contract is a testament to our successful delivery.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA): Since 2019, we have tracked residents’ views regarding policing and community safety. Every quarter, we survey 3,250 residents, representative by age and gender across each of the ten districts. Interviews are conducted by telephone, online and in-person. Survey data are accessible, via a bespoke portal, to over 100 stakeholders.
North Tyneside Council: We have recently been commissioned to take over the management and delivery of the council’s residents’ survey. For the 2024 survey, which incorporated LGA indicators, as well as questions on issues such as cost of living, health and climate change, a sample of over 1,100 was achieved, with a response rate of 23%, via a ‘push to web’ approach. We are due to repeat the survey in 2026.
Croydon Council: DJS Research was commissioned in 2023 to deliver a three-year contract of annual resident surveys for Croydon Council to help inform the progress of the Mayor’s Plan and performance of the council over time and in comparison with LGA benchmarks. The first of the annual surveys was conducted in Autumn/Winter 2023, with 1,700 interviews collected face-to-face, with quotas set by age, gender, ethnicity, economic status and disability within each of the borough’s neighbourhood clusters. Following this, DJS Research embarked on a qualitative stage of engagement with residents, running six deliberative workshops to explore the drivers behind resident perceptions of the council.
Oxfordshire County Council: Since 2020, we have conducted twelve separate projects, including the 2024 Communications Channels and Public Health survey among 1,000 residents. In 2024, we also supported OCC with the analysis, comprehensive open text coding and reporting of their Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) consultation.
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA): We have worked on a number of research studies for SYMCA including a series of qualitative focus groups, community workshops and in-depth interviews among residents of South Yorkshire to help develop plans and understand barriers towards Active Travel. We also conducted a survey with a representative sample of over 1,200 South Yorkshire residents to understand the extent to which they use public transport, and their experiences with each mode. The findings from the survey are being used by the combined authority to inform transport plans and priorities across the region.
To find out more about our public sector expertise and discuss how we can provide the actionable insight you need to meet your business objectives, contact our team today.
Explore our experience 
