- What is the Playbook?
- Who is it for?
- Why take part?
- How do I join or contribute?
- How does the Playbook handle sensitive information and approvals?
- How will the Playbook evolve over time?
- Get in touch
What is the Playbook?
The Design in Local Government Playbook is a website and shared commons resource for service designers in UK local government.
It brings together practical examples, methods, and reflections to help people learn from one another and strengthen service design practice across councils.
The project is supported by UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, UAL London College of Communication, Camden Council and LGA in collaboration with the Local Government Service Design Network.
Who is it for?
The Playbook is by and for service designers in local governments across the UK.
It is also useful for people who support, manage, commission, or work alongside service design, including managers, transformation teams, policy colleagues, and partners.
The Playbook exists to enable knowledge exchange across the sector, helping people build on existing practice rather than start from scratch. It responds to a common challenge: many councils face similar issues, but learning is often scattered or hard to access.
Why take part?
Taking part helps ensure the Playbook reflects the real diversity of practice across local government, not just a narrow set of examples.
It is also a way to connect with peers across the UK, gain recognition for your work, and contribute to a growing community of practice.
- For individuals: a way to share learning, gain visibility, support peers, and shape the field
- For organisations: a way to contribute to sector-wide improvement and build shared capability across councils
How do I join or contribute?
The process is designed to be responsive and sensitive to public sector contexts. The aim is to make contributing simple, supported, and relevant to your role and capacity.
- Join the Local Government Service Design Network — a UK-wide, peer community for people working in service design in local government.
- Contribute to the Playbook — sharing your work, joining conversations and reviewing draft content.
How does the Playbook handle sensitive information and approvals?
The Review and Publish Process is designed with sensitivity to public sector processes and constraints.
It provides a safe route for sharing practice without exposing confidential, politically sensitive, or operationally risky information.
In practice, this follows a two-step process:
- Sharing and shaping material within our trusted network of service designers in local government
- Publishing only once appropriate organisational approval is in place
Contributions can focus on approaches, methods, learning, challenges, and reflections without disclosing sensitive detail.
Information can be anonymised, reduced, or reframed so that the learning remains valuable. The aim is responsible knowledge sharing, not full disclosure.
How will the Playbook evolve over time?
The Playbook is a living resource that will grow through continued participation, contribution, review, and use.
Over time, new examples will be added and existing content refined. It becomes more useful as more people help shape it and apply it in practice.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICE DESIGN NETWORK 