Homes England Digital Transformation | Apprilis Housing & Local Government Services

Housing & Local Government

Enabling housing delivery through responsive, data-driven digital services

Homes England – Digital Transformation

Homes England is the government’s housing accelerator, working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) to deliver affordable housing, Help to Buy, cladding remediation in response to Grenfell, and funding schemes addressing homelessness. To meet its ambitious objectives, Homes England embarked on a wide-ranging digital transformation programme focused on improving service delivery, regulatory compliance, and data-driven decision making.

Challenge

Homes England needed to quickly evolve its digital capability to address both long-standing housing challenges and urgent requirements arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Key challenges included:

Ensuring GDPR compliance and data protection across a wide portfolio of projects.
Responding to emergency measures with rapid software procurement and deployment.
Embedding user-centred design, accessibility, and research governance within project teams.
Delivering critical projects on the GDS spend control pipeline, often under tight deadlines.
Supporting diverse users, including local authorities, developers, and citizens, many of whom had limited digital confidence or faced barriers such as neurodiversity in planning consultations.

Our Approach

Apprilis worked with the Homes England digital directorate to support a portfolio of shorter, responsive projects, while building long-term digital capability. Activities included:

Data & Compliance: Led GDPR compliance work and ensured data protection protocols across multiple services.
Technology Enablement: Supported rapid software procurement and adoption of common components for more efficient development.
Capability Building: Developed governance models for user research, accessibility strategies, and conducted accessibility audits. Authored compliant accessibility statements and coached staff on UCD, accessibility, and GDS service standards.
Content & Information Management: Improved search and document management services and introduced cloud hosting strategies.
Inclusive Design: Conducted research into neurodiversity in planning, ensuring digital consultations considered accessibility beyond standard compliance.
Project Delivery: Delivered discovery and alpha phases for multiple initiatives, including user interviews, card sorting, diary studies, usability testing, surveys, and analytics-driven insights.

The largest and most business-critical programme focused on monitoring housing development and infrastructure projects funded through the Housing Infrastructure Fund. This work required in-depth engagement with local authorities, developers, and third parties, ensuring monitoring aligned with contractual obligations while simplifying processes for delivery teams.

Impact

Established digital capability and governance structures within Homes England, supporting long-term transformation.
Strengthened GDPR compliance and accessibility standards across multiple services.
Developed reusable common components that accelerated delivery while reducing costs.
Increased organisational maturity in user research and accessibility, including embedding a governance framework for future projects.
Delivered critical COVID-19 response projects under compressed timelines without compromising quality.
Created the foundations for a sustainable digital culture, ensuring that services are inclusive, accessible, and responsive to both citizens and delivery partners.

Key Outcomes

Delivery of multiple discovery and alpha projects on time, despite pandemic restrictions.
Improved monitoring and reporting of housing development and infrastructure projects, providing greater transparency and efficiency.
Increased organisational competence in user-centred design and accessibility, supported by staff training and coaching.

Adoption of inclusive practices, including neurodiverse-friendly planning consultation approaches.

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