Customer story: London Borough of Waltham Forest, UK

A better budget consultation

Waltham Forest improved on past response rates by using Budget Simulator.

The London Borough of Waltham Forest had run major consultations in 2010 and 2012 which identified corporate priorities and key budget commitments. Following this work, the Council wanted to consult on both budgets and priorities together, to inform their planning for the next three years.

Budget Simulator boosted engagement

The Council had previously tried other kinds of online budget consultation. However, participants didn't find these easy to use, and the response rate struggled accordingly.

This time around, Waltham Forest were keen to boost the levels of participation. They chose to deploy Budget Simulator – finding that it was more user-friendly, and helped residents better understand the consultation.

Carla Seabury, Insight and Consultation Manager for the London Borough of Waltham Forest, says: 'many residents praised the Budget Simulator for making it easy for them to understand and complete. A number explained that they didn't realise how difficult a job the Council had when setting the budget and having to save money and that the Simulator helped them to understand this'

With high expectations for citizen engagement, Waltham Forest were really pleased with the result of the consultation: more than 1,200 people responded via Budget Simulator. These responses were compiled into a report to the Cabinet, which was then also made available to the public.

Guide: how to consult residents on council budgets.