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
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.
"The work by DJS Research was critical for filling a gap in our understanding of the population that we were designing policy to support and therefore building consensus around our approach. As well as providing valuable data on a wide range of experiences, DJS Research were able to collect and convey vital information about how experiences differed between people with different protected characteristics. This put us in the best possible position to complete our equalities impact assessment."
"Thank you so much for creating the video summarising the results of the Leicester Health and Wellbeing Survey 2024. It’s an outstanding and engaging summary that effectively highlights both the key positives and challenges identified in the survey. The video is now available on our City Council webpages and we’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback on this high-quality output. A big thank you to DJS Research and the creative team for their invaluable support in identifying the key takeaways, crafting the script, and producing such a vibrant and visually compelling video. The result is a clear and engaging presentation that makes complex data accessible and relatable to all.”
“Waltham Forest Council recently commissioned DJS Research to run our employee survey and it proved to be an excellent decision. DJS Research are fantastic to work with; from their partnership approach to working and their exceptional knowledge and expertise to their insightful reporting, we felt we were in the best of hands at each stage of the project. DJS Research are an excellent critical friend, whose main objective is to improve existing processes, to refine ideas and to ensure the best possible outcome for their clients."
"DJS Research exceeded our expectations throughout the project providing a flexible and genuinely efficient service. They clearly have expertise and were very happy to share it, always providing ideas about how we could meet our targets. In our view they provided value for money and needed virtually no management."
"DJS Research handled our project very professionally and produced research outputs of a high quality. They did exactly what they said they would. Very happy."
"An efficient professional service." (now part of West Suffolk Council)
"DJS Research were friendly and helpful throughout the course of the work. They turned around good quality research findings within an extremely tight timeframe."
"Working with DJS Research provided us with the independent, robust evidence we needed to evaluate a ground-breaking policy trial. The team demonstrated professionalism, methodological rigour, and the ability to deliver complex consultation and survey work to the highest standard. Their findings have given us the confidence to make informed decisions about the future of the four-day working week."
"I found the service we received from DJS Research second to none. From the time of our initial contact to the submission of their final report I found them professional, enthusiastic and well informed. They responded quickly to queries and suggested creative solutions to challenges during the lifetime of the project. They handled a very sensitive project respectfully and with a mature and understanding approach. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to another organisation and engaging their services again."
"DJS Research have been a pleasure to work with over the last five years. No issue was ever too much to overcome and the team were always professional and friendly. Timescales were always met and they were always flexible when we needed them to be. Reporting was always easy to follow, detailed, well-presented and any amends required to reports were completed quickly and without fuss. Even though we only met the team face-to-face once, our client/contractor relationship was always strong and successful."
“It has been a pleasure working with DJS Research on an active travel schemes research project. The team definitely nailed the brief – their care and expertise in ensuring it surfaces the evidence and insights needed to better understand and shape developments has been invaluable. We really appreciated the hard work and dedication to the project – thank you!”
"We selected DJS Research because of a competitive price coupled with an unbeaten result in quality tests. From the preliminary phase to the delivery of results, The team maintained a high level of interest and commitment to the project and the quality of research. Communication throughout the project was clear and timely and a genuinely two-way process. All in all, a faultless service."
"Very pleased with the service received from DJS Research. They were very knowledgeable and experienced. Communication was good and all deadlines were met. I would use this company again and am happy to recommend them to others."
"This is the second time we have used DJS Research and have experienced no problems at all with them!"
We build small, director-led, teams of sector experts who are with you from brief to debrief. As an employee-owned company, every one of us is invested in delivering quality, value, and long-term impact.
From agile testing to deep-dive strategic studies, we design research to meet your specific objectives. The agility of our in-house operations team and strength of our UK-wide recruiter network enable seamless execution at scale.
Our sector-focused teams have decades of experience understanding audiences and the complexities of the markets in which our clients operate. Working collaboratively we deliver actionable insight which drives positive change.
We build small, director-led, teams of sector experts who are with you from brief to debrief. As an employee-owned company, every one of us is invested in delivering quality, value, and long-term impact.
From agile testing to deep-dive strategic studies, we design research to meet your specific objectives. The agility of our in-house operations team and strength of our UK-wide recruiter network enable seamless execution at scale.
Our sector-focused teams have decades of experience understanding audiences and the complexities of the markets in which our clients operate. Working collaboratively we deliver actionable insight which drives positive change.
Contact us today to discuss your next market research project and discover how we could become a valuable extension of your team.
Contact us
Contact us today to discuss your next market research project and discover how we could become a valuable extension of your team.
Contact us 
