The Impact of Branding on Levels of Awareness about Local Authority Services

Since 2021, the LGMA has been responsible for an annual local government customer service research programme. The LGMA engage with the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) each year to agree a ‘special topic’ relating to customer service delivery that needs to be explored in some detail.

In 2025, it was agreed to look at the impact of branding on low levels of awareness about key services provided by local authorities. 

The first objective of the research was to identify the reasons why people didn’t know that local authorities were responsible for delivering services, who they thought were delivering these services, and whether they recognised any of the logos used across the sector.

The second objective was to explore how to address the issues raised through identification of challenges and possible solutions with staff and elected members.

Combined, these provide a comprehensive overview of the current status in the sector and a road map of possible actions that could be taken to improve service awareness levels.