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Somerset Digital Channel Roadmap
This roadmap is for anyone who needs to understand current and future developments of the Somerset Digital Channel
The Somerset Council digital transformation offer comprises various product groups.
This roadmap shows what we are working on and what we plan to do between October 2026 and February 2027
This is not a list of every item, and some things on the roadmap may change. We have an internal Planner board for more details on our plans and day-to-day activities.
Here are the overall objectives for somerset.gov.uk in 2026
Keep our websites running well
Regularly check and update our information to make sure it is correct, accessible, and easy to understand for users with varying levels of digital skills and additional needs
Ensure our forms and transactions are working well, are easy to find, and are accessible across devices, assistive technologies, and user capabilities
Make our website better
Reduce old documents and convert them into accessible, user-friendly formats
Improve the advice and help we give online so it is inclusive and easy to understand
Make our website easier to use and find important pages, ensuring navigation works for users with a range of abilities.
Work more efficiently
Make our back-office CRM easier to update so that changes can happen faster
Make our website easier to use and help users find important pages, ensuring navigation works for people with a range of abilities.
Use AI and automation to assist us with content, forms, and building new features while ensuring outputs remainaccurate, inclusive, and accessible
Support important projects
Help our services align, and make sure this is updated online
Help improve the services that people need in Somerset, ensuring improvements are inclusive and do not exclude those with limited digital access or skills
This roadmap is underpinned by Somerset Council’s commitment to Digital Inclusion and Accessibility, ensuring that all residents can access, understand, and benefit from digital services, regardless of their skills, access, or circumstances.
Information, advice and guidance
Helping people understand what the Somerset Council offers and how to use those services in an accessible, inclusive, and user-centred way.Products include our websites, online forms, and the information used by Customer Services.
The goals are to:
Keep information, advice and guidance up to date
Improve the most important areas of existing content to meet accessibility standards and user needs
Remove anything that is no longer useful or relevant
Support services through change by creating and improving content that is accessible and inclusive by design
These are the specific things we are working on.
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Recently completed
Improved readability, spelling, grammar and broken links on more than 1500 pages
Our Silktide content quality score has stayed consistent at 89% since July 2026
Developed and designed content for new microsites and subsites, including:
Reviewed and actioned over 169 pieces of customer feedback to improve website content and user journeys
Improved the structure and usability of Housing, Insurance, Local Offer and Early Years and childcare content
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Working on now
Continuing to align content with changing services, including the removal of district pickers where services have been devolved or aligned
Improving the information, advice and guidance of the highest-traffic services
Carrying out content checks across our Evergreen Microsites
Creating content for the Taunton Water Park overview pages
Creating content for the Social Value Opportunities Directory
Refreshing the Somerset Prepared and Somerset Trends microsites
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Exploring or working on next
Supporting the review and redesign of our frontend service content
Supporting the redesign of the Somerset Road Safety microsite
Supporting the ongoing review and improvement of the Healthy Somerset microsite
Refreshing plans and strategies on the Local Transport Plan and Minerals and Waste Planning Policy pages
Finding and navigating services
Helping people find and use services or information, including those with low digital confidence or limited access. It includes tools like service finders, directories, contact options, and ways to access places like libraries and car parks.
The goals are to:
Give people useful and relevant information about the services available to them
Signpost to other organisations and services, including community-based digital support and assisted digital services
Improve the quality and access to our data to understand and respond to digital exclusion
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Refreshed the library events directory.
Created templates and tools to help with customer engagement on key pages, such as crisis support, Climate, water and nature, and Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
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Working on now
Further work to improve the accessibility of our digital channels
Continuing to move unstructured and overly complicated information, advice, guidance and data into better formats
Developing or decommissioning form user journeys and district pickers to reflect alignment work
Improving signposting to local digital skills, device, connectivity and assisted digital support so residents who need help can find it more easily.
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Exploring or working on next
Improving how customers navigate somerset.gov.uk via the homepage design, and menus
Transactional services
Help users do things like report an issue, apply for something, make a payment, or book something, with accessible and supported digital pathways
The goals for these products are to:
Keep our digital services running smoothly
Offer more services online without compromising the needs of those who do not have digital access
Make our transactional services easier to use, accessible, and up to standard
Phase out old systems by rebuilding or redesigning services to fit our current platforms
Develop reusable and sustainable digital services that integrate effectively with back-office systems and reduce unnecessary manual processing.
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Supported the Revenues and Benefits team in the consolidation of their systems
Redesigned the Somerset Emergency Community Contacts journey and form ready for go-live
Completed a substantial discovery and assessment exercise across Somerset forms, categorising hundreds of forms into rebuild, consolidate, decommission, keep, or further review categories
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Working on now
Forms consolidation programme – Migrating, retiring and consolidating forms onto a single platform
Developing integrations between online forms, APIs and back-office systems to improve end-to-end customer journeys and reduce manual processing.
Reviewing priority transactions from a digital inclusion perspective, considering accessibility, readability, digital confidence and whether appropriate support or alternative routes exist.
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Exploring or working on next
Ensure forms and digital transactions adhere to consistent design, accessibility, validation, error handling, security and data management standards.
Improve the accessibility of our transactions by updating any that do not meet WCAG guidelines
Revisit the development of in-house Blue Badge processing
Explore opportunities to automate transactional processes using APIs, Power Automate and other Microsoft tools.
Platform
Products that support how we publish content and how users access and use services. It covers things like our content management system, online services, navigation design, and search tools.
The goals for these products are to:
Make the Somerset Digital Channel easier to manage and reuse, while embedding accessibility into all components and patterns (e.g. content system, design patterns, components) so future updates are quicker and more efficient
Phase out old systems by rebuilding or redesigning services to fit accessible, modern platforms
Look into modern technologies that support accessibility, inclusion, and long-term sustainability
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Decommissioned legacy microsites such as Fit For Our Future and Professional Choices websites
Decommissioned legacy page builder components, removed deprecated layouts, migrated suitable pages to the new Content Designer template and reduced future technical debt.
Refreshed certain microsite components so we can adjust the look and feel according to audience (e.g., curved edges, addition of icons, or colour)
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Working on now
Hosting and security improvements have been introduced and will continue to be explored, including monitoring, automatic updates and release management improvements
Creation of a new component that can handle long digital documents, which were previously added as PDF’s
Exploring ways to improve the speed and performance of our Core website
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Exploring or working on next
Conducting proof-of-concept work to build a closer relationship between our customer frontend and our back office systems using Power Automate and other Microsoft tools
Create a new component that can handle long digital documents, which were previously added as PDF’s
Other websites and initiatives
Major transformation projects and digital services that are designed to reach and support all users, including those who are harder to engage or digitally excluded. These include campaign sites, services aimed at changing behaviour, and tools designed to reach people who are harder to engage.
The goals for these products are to:
Design and build better digital experiences that are inclusive, accessible, and user-centred
Cut down on outdated systems, save money and reduce long-term costs by removing parts of our digital channel that are no longer needed
These are the specific things we are working on:
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Recently completed
Launched Discover Wild Somerset, a new Microsite for Natural Tourism in Somerset (previously ex-district “Visit” and Climate websites)
Launched Somerset Growth Hub, a new microsite offer to replace a third-party-run offer
Exploring opportunities through WeChangeAI and the provision of data to create capacity, efficiencies and cost savings
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Working on now
Designing, developing or decommissioning digital services in response to service alignment and devolution.
Supporting Building Control website and forms move in readiness for server decommissioning
Continuing to co-produce our Local Offer with the Somerset Parent Carer Forum and the SEND Service
Applying our Digital Inclusion Principles to new and redesigned digital services so consideration is given to user needs, accessibility, digital skills, access and alternative routes from the outset.
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Exploring or working on next
Rebuilding or retiring more of our legacy web estate
