NETCALL SUCESS STORY / NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL

Rising expectations, shrinking budgets & fragmented systems

Bringing all systems together to reduce costs and make everyday operations easier,  all while delivering a better experience for citizens.

Netcall-Newcastle-Council
IMPACT & OUTCOMES

1.

£1m saved in licence fees over 5 years

2.

100+ apps replaced to create better digital services



3.

98% time saving each year in manual housing verification

Brief

Newcastle City Council faced a challenge: citizens wanted improved digital services, but budgets were tight. Over time, as the council modernised its services, different departments adopted various new tools and software. This led to over 100 separate business applications being managed across the council, driving up costs and creating disconnected, siloed systems.

This situation is common in many organisations. Older legacy systems are hard to change and integrate, so new SaaS applications are often added to fill in the gaps. As people’s needs change, more tools are introduced, causing the number of applications to grow even further.

Each application brings extra costs – licensing, support, training, and integration. Managing so many different systems is also more complex and can lead to security risks.

Newcastle realised that this growing number of systems and rising costs were slowing down their ability to deliver digital services and provide a smooth experience for citizens. With information locked in separate systems, it was also impossible to see the whole picture of citizen interactions.

 
About Newcastle City Council
  • Services 293,700 residents
  • A young city where 20.3% of the population are aged 15-24 years old
  • 53rd (out of 326) most deprived local authority area in the country

Real impact, where it matters

Newcastle chose Netcall's Liberty Create with Citizen Hub to streamline its public services. This complete, full-stack, low-code solution is built for councils, making it easy to manage cases, automate workflows, and connect information across all services. With this platform, Newcastle can see a single view of citizens and cases, and quickly build new applications using low-code and RPA (robotic process automation).

 

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“The real power is having low-code development and RPA working together seamlessly within the Liberty platform. The RPA doesn’t run in isolation: It feeds data back into Citizen Hub’s case management system, maintains audit trails and integrates with our workflows. When everything’s built on one platform, the automation becomes part of the service delivery ecosystem, not a bolt-on solution.”

Paul Doney

Service Manager – Digital Solutions, Newcastle City Council

Solution

Strategic application rationalisation

Citizen Hub was introduced as part of Newcastle’s wider effort to simplify and consolidate their application landscape. By creating a single view of citizens, cases, and users, Citizen Hub helped reduce the number of overlapping apps.

The team audited existing systems to spot areas of waste, then mapped out citizen journeys to pinpoint key service interactions. Focusing on opportunities with the most impact, they began moving services onto Citizen Hub.

Phasing out legacy systems led to £1 million in license savings over five years, with even more benefits from improved productivity and better experiences. Each step brought clear value, saving costs and building a stronger platform for efficient, unified service delivery.

 

Housing rent verification transformation

Each year, verifying housing rent claims meant manually checking over 10,000 cases – a process that could take up to 10 weeks and put significant pressure on staff. To improve this, Newcastle reviewed their in-house tools like Microsoft Power Automate, and compared them with Liberty RPA. Liberty RPA stood out for its user-friendly interface and ability to process twice as many cases in the same period. Based on these results, Newcastle chose Liberty RPA to build an automated solution that links directly to the housing management system and DWP portal, automatically verifies tenant information, and keeps detailed audit records through Citizen Hub.

The new solution was delivered in just 12 weeks and had an immediate impact: manual processing dropped by 98%, slashing yearly work hours from 840 to just 21. Accuracy improved with less human error, and staff could focus on more strategic tasks, boosting job satisfaction. This project is a clear example of how automation is driving lasting, scalable change at Newcastle City Council.

The numbers tell the story

Newcastle’s transformation delivered remarkable results. By verifying Universal Credit for housing, the council saved more than £1 million in license costs over five years. They also avoided up to £25,000 in extra procurement fees and cut over £5,000 in annual maintenance costs for each automated process.

By consolidating over 100 business applications into a streamlined system, Newcastle improved integration, ensured data consistency, and made it easier to spot further savings. This has boosted productivity, increased agility, and enhanced experiences for both citizens and staff.

Beyond the financial gains, the impact is clear in daily operations. Citizens now enjoy faster, more accurate service at every council touchpoint, without having to repeat information. Automated processes speed up response times and improve case handling. Staff are now free from repetitive tasks and no longer need to juggle multiple, disconnected systems – making training simpler and work more satisfying. Teams are more confident and empowered to deliver quality service.

 

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“It was a lightbulb moment seeing housing rent verification go from 840 hours to 21 hours in just 12 weeks. Staff saw immediately that this wasn’t about replacing them – it was freeing them to do the work that really matters. Now departments come to us asking ‘What can we automate next?’.”

Paul Doney

Service Manager – Digital Solutions, Newcastle City Council

Results

Money-savings

£1m in license cost savings

through strategic application consolidation

Remove-data-silos

98% reduction in manual processing

for housing rent verification

Portfolio-streamlined

Application portfolio streamlined

from 100+ business applications into one integrated system

Fees-avoided

£25,000 fees avoided

from procurement, plus £5,000+ in yearly maintenance savings for every automated process

Citizen-experience

Improved citizen experience

delivering faster, more consistent responses across every council touchpoint

License-fees

Enhanced staff productivity

so your teams can spend more time on high-value, strategic work while routine tasks are automated

Instant-reporting

Better data accuracy

by integrating systems directly and removing manual processing errors

Digital-Innovation

Cultural transformation

seeing increased staff confidence and a proactive search for new automation opportunities

Live-sync

Complete audit trails

maintained through an integrated case management system

increase-caseload

Scalable framework

for continued process improvement

The bottom line

Newcastle’s use of Citizen Hub shows how choosing the right platform and working together can transform public services and create lasting savings. By focusing on integration, efficiency, and citizen needs, Newcastle improved the customer experience and set a strong example for digital transformation in local government.

With an integrated, rapid application development solution, the council became more efficient, responsive, and centred on citizens – speeding up change across the organisation. Newcastle remains committed to ongoing innovation and better value for money, always putting citizens first.

Looking ahead, the team plans to automate routine tasks, expand self-service options, and connect with new technologies like AI and machine learning to deliver even smarter services.

Enhance your citizens’ experiences