Lambeth Council is set to overhaul its digital services, including the IEG4 digital customer platform, following a comprehensive review by its Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The committee has endorsed a series of recommendations aimed at improving the council's digital customer platform, with a two-year contract for the IEG4 platform valued at £1,013,704.
Digital Services to be Overhauled After Scrutiny
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on Thursday, October 1, 2026, to discuss the renewal of the IEG4 digital customer platform. While the committee resolved not to refer the IEG4 platform renewal decision back to the Cabinet Member, it did approve several recommendations for improvement.
Concerns were raised by Councillor Matthew Bryant regarding the adequacy of the existing IEG4 platform, citing issues with parking permits and the planning portal. However, Councillor Natalie Kane, Deputy Leader for Inclusion, Democracy and Culture, clarified that these specific issues related to different systems and not the IEG4 platform itself, which is a core component of the council's digital infrastructure supporting high-volume services like Council Tax and Benefits.
The committee's recommendations for the IEG4 platform include establishing a working group with councillor involvement to provide feedback on resident experience, developing a framework for residents to report issues with webpages and forms, clarifying responsibilities between IEG4 and the council's front-end interface, and creating an action plan to address non-software issues that impact user experience.
Beyond addressing current resident feedback mechanisms, the overhaul envisions smarter use of customer relationship management capabilities and further automation of routine processes.
The platform aims to consolidate what works today while allowing the Council to continue evolving its digital offer to meet the needs of residents and services.
Furthermore, it will support the Council's developing Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) model by providing lightweight customer and case context through its customer relationship management (CRM-lite) functionality, enabling more effective assisted digital support and smoother hand-offs between digital and contact centre channels.
The 'non-software issues' impacting user experience are described as things within our control
and relate to how we as services have designed those forms and have not thought through that process map.
Specific actions being considered include an action plan with a shorter timeframe to address non-software issues within the council's control to improve the user experience.
This action plan is envisioned to be for a shorter timeframe, such as six or 12 months,
to tackle immediate issues with forms and user experience.
Councillor Danial Adilypour, Chair of the committee, welcomed the review, highlighting the need for clarity on implementation timelines and a robust process for cabinet responses to recommendations. The committee agreed on a set of recommendations to be made to the Deputy Leader of the Council, aiming to enhance digital service delivery. The expected process for the Cabinet Member to respond is that scrutiny recommendations should be formally reported to the next cabinet meeting, with a requirement for cabinet to respond within two months confirming whether they're accepting partially sent or rejecting the recommendations given their reasons why.
The success of the digital service overhaul will be measured through various means. The contract includes provision for tracking service delivery through agreed key performance indicators (KPIs), which will cover system availability, incident response times, and completion of support and configuration tasks.
Officers also recognise the value of incorporating appropriate customer experience and service-quality measures
to complement existing KPIs. The broader customer services review and technology roadmap will also inform future requirements and will include appropriate engagement with residents and elected Members.
For more details on the meeting, refer to the Agenda frontsheet and the Public reports pack.