Our role
Driving sustainable service improvement via business, tech and UX transformation
Our deliverable
Better digital government service for housing grant applications and management
The outcome
Intuitive digital processes boost productivity and meeting rising service demand
With a government target of 1.5 million new homes by 2029, Homes England needed a scalable digital solution to increase its capacity to support the financing of affordable housing delivery and speed up its funding application process.
Overhauling legacy systems
Homes England is a government agency, established to help solve the country’s housing crisis by providing grants and loans to both non-profit and commercial builders. However it was facing challenges with an outdated funding application process, which slowed down the provision of financial support for new home construction.
Given the urgent need to bolster housebuilding, Homes England required a scalable, efficient digital system to facilitate rapid policy responses and improve productivity. The existing legacy systems and manual processes were labour-intensive and hindered progress, restricting the agency's ability to meet housing demands. Addressing this was crucial to help alleviate the country's housing shortage and streamline operations.
Innovative digital transformation
We collaborated with Homes England to design and implement a cutting-edge digital solution using Microsoft Dynamics 365. Our multidisciplinary team applied expertise in government design services (GDS) principles, user-centric design and architectural driven agile delivery to develop an adaptable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform. This solution included a comprehensive, GDS-compliant application website, significantly streamlining the funding process.
By employing an agile approach - which focuses on iterative development and real-time user feedback - we prototyped and refined flexible, standardised processes. This enabled us to swiftly adapt to new government housing targets, facilitating a seamless transition to an end-to-end digital service. The robust system not only modernises the application process but also enhances internal efficiency and data accuracy.
Boosting housing capacity
Our programme with Homes England resulted in an end-to-end digital government service that enables housing providers to apply for, contract, draw down and manage grant and loan funding through a more streamlined online experience. The work has standardised and improved a complex, multi-phase process, increased productivity and capacity by reducing manual administration. It has also improved the accuracy and transparency of the agency’s reporting by enhancing data quality.
In private beta testing, the self-service application process has been received enthusiastically by homebuilders, while streamlined systems have reduced support demands on Homes England staff. Initial indications suggest a 20–25% increase in capacity, enabling the agency to deliver more funding, faster, and support a massive acceleration in the building of affordable homes.
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