Your council is responsible for public assets worth hundreds of thousands — even millions. Managed on spreadsheets.
The gap between what councils need to do and what they actually can do is staggering. Manual systems fail. Staff leave. Insurance companies ask questions nobody can answer. It doesn't have to be this way.
95% of councils still rely on manual systems
Based on over 200 conversations with councils. These aren't horror stories — they're what council teams tell us in every meeting.
From spreadsheets and paper to smart management
Before Civic.ly
- Asset information split across paper logbooks and spreadsheets
- Inspection schedules exist only in someone's calendar
- Contractors send photos via email or USB stick
- Nobody knows the condition of most assets
- Hours spent reading 100-page reports and extracting action items
- Compliance deadlines are a scramble every year
- Insurance claims become much harder to defend
- Knowledge walks out the door when staff leave
With Civic.ly
- One digital asset register, always current, accessible everywhere
- Inspections automatically scheduled and assigned
- Photo evidence captured in-app with GPS, timestamp, and condition
- Real-time visibility into the condition of every asset
- Upload reports and AI extracts action items into prioritised tasks
- Compliance deadlines tracked automatically
- Full audit trail provides evidence of duty of care
- Knowledge lives in the system, not in people's heads
We've heard all the arguments
Spreadsheets & Paper
- Data scattered across sheets, folders, and filing cabinets
- Manual updates — often out of date before they're finished
- No photo evidence or GPS locations
- No mobile access for field teams
- No compliance tracking or audit trail
- AI-powered asset detection
- Contractor visibility
- Insurance-ready reporting
Civic.ly
- Single source of truth for all assets
- Real-time data from field teams via mobile app
- Photo evidence with GPS and timestamp on every asset
- Mobile app for Android and iOS — built for outdoor use
- Compliance engine auto-links UK safety standards
- AI identifies assets from photos — type, condition, description
- Full visibility into contractor and volunteer work
- Complete audit trail for inspectors, insurers, and AGAR
The Real Cost
- Spreadsheets are free — but staff time isn't
- Hours lost to manual data entry every week
- Hidden compliance risk with no evidence trail
- 30–40% admin time could be recovered
- Insurance claims are harder to defend
- When key staff leave, knowledge goes with them
- AGAR season becomes a scramble every year
- No way to prove duty of care
Facility Management Software
- Designed for large enterprises — hospitals, universities, corporates
- Complex workflows built for dedicated FM teams
- Expensive implementation (£50k–£500k+)
- Requires dedicated IT resource to configure and run
- 6–12 month deployment timelines
- No council-specific regulations or checklists
- No community asset focus
- Not affordable for parish or town councils
Civic.ly
- Built specifically for parish, town, and community councils
- Simple workflows designed for clerks and grounds teams
- Affordable monthly subscription — no implementation fees
- No IT expertise needed — if you can use a phone, you're set
- Up and running in hours, not months
- 85+ pre-built checklists for council assets
- UK safety standards auto-linked to your assets
- Priced for councils with small budgets
The Bottom Line
- Enterprise FM software is built for a different world
- Implementation cost alone can exceed a council's annual budget
- Training and support are beyond most councils' capacity
- Simplicity for non-technical users
- Affordability at parish council scale
- Council-specific compliance built in
- Quick time to value
- Purpose-built for community assets
Existing Council-Specific Tools
- Often focused on mapping or land registration
- Good for seeing where your land and boundaries are
- May include basic asset listing capabilities
- No full asset lifecycle management
- No inspection scheduling or checklists
- No compliance engine or regulation linking
- No mobile app for field teams
- No maintenance planning or defect tracking
Civic.ly
- Interactive mapping (points, lines, polygons on multiple layers)
- Plus: full asset management across the entire lifecycle
- Inspection scheduling, execution, and evidence capture
- Compliance engine with UK safety standards auto-linked
- Mobile app for grounds teams, contractors, and volunteers
- Maintenance planning, defect tracking, and task management
- AI-powered document analysis for reports and surveys
- Insurance-ready audit trail with full evidence chain
The Difference
- Knowing where your assets are is step one
- Managing, inspecting, and maintaining them is the real work
- Many councils use mapping tools alongside Civic.ly
- The tools are often complementary, not competing
- Full operational management
- Compliance and duty of care
- Evidence for insurance claims
- Contractor accountability
Keep Doing It Manually
- No upfront cost
- Familiar process
- No change management needed
- Staff time wasted (30–40% admin reduction possible)
- Compliance risk (duty of care exposure)
- Insurance vulnerability
- Asset life managed poorly
- Institutional knowledge loss when people leave
Civic.ly
- Small monthly fee (ROI in 3–6 months from time savings)
- Streamlined workflows (modern, mobile-first)
- Managed migration (we help you switch)
- 30–40% fewer admin hours (SOCITM industry benchmark)
- Compliance evidence built in (audit trail, photos, timestamps)
- Audit trail strengthens your duty of care position
- 10–15% longer asset lifespan through planned maintenance
- Knowledge preserved in the system, not in people
The Math
- 1 FTE @ 30% time savings = £6–8k/year saved
- Civic.ly typical cost = £2–5k/year
- Payback = 3–6 months
- Plus: reduced insurance claims, longer asset life
- Unmeasured risk
- Staff frustration
- Audit scrambles
- Legal exposure
The cost of not having visibility
When councils don't have a system, bad things happen. Some are obvious. Some are financial. All are preventable.
A child is injured on uninspected equipment
The playground equipment hasn't been formally inspected in 18 months. When a child is injured, the insurance company asks for proof of your duty of care. You have none. Claim denied. The council pays.
A headstone collapses because nobody checked it
The cemetery policy says headstones need checking annually. Nobody did. One falls over. Someone could have been killed. Your insurance doesn't cover negligence. Your council is liable.
An AGAR audit turns into a nightmare
The auditor asks: when was the last playground inspection? When was the path resurfaced? What's the condition of the sports pavilion? You scramble for answers, find conflicting information, and look like you're not managing your assets. Trust erodes.
The key person retires, and everything stops
The groundskeeper or clerk has been here 20 years. They know what needs doing, when, and how. When they leave, nobody else does. Asset management grinds to a halt. The council scrambles to figure out what you actually own.
Measurable returns, from day one
This isn't about nice-to-have features. It's about saving time, protecting the council, and making work easier. Industry research shows what councils can expect when they move to digital asset management.
From councils using Civic.ly today
It's doing what we're doing at the moment, but making it a lot easier in terms of reporting, uploading things, doing a lot of the stuff that we're doing manually. It does it instantly for you.
I love the product, and the buildability, I love your dedication to the sector. There's not many software vendors focusing on local councils.
It deals with a number of issues for us — proper mapping, business continuation plan, and asset management all in one place. It's exactly what we needed.
This is your software
We're not a huge corporation writing software for dozens of sectors. We're focused entirely on parish, town, and community councils.
Roadmap shaped by customers
Visit ideas.civic.ly and vote on features. The highest-voted ideas move to the roadmap. New inspection types, regulations, and workflows are driven by what councils actually ask for.
No lock-in
Your data is yours. Cancel anytime, no penalty, no hoops. We have to earn your business every month, so we stay focused on making you successful.
Transparent, fair pricing
Your price increases are capped each year. Unlimited users included. We don't nickel-and-dime councils. You pay one flat rate, everyone on your council gets access.
Always growing
We release updates every month. New checklists for regulations you didn't know applied. New features your team asked for. New integrations that make your life easier.
Real support
You get email support from our team. Not a ticket queue in a call centre. We care because we're focused on councils, and councils care about getting it right.
Council-specific features
600+ asset types councils manage. 85+ pre-built checklists. UK safety standards auto-linked to assets. We understand your world because it's all we do.
Stop relying on spreadsheets, paper, and memory.
See how Civic.ly transforms asset management from a scramble into a system. Book a free demo with our team. No sales pressure, no catch.