Hastings Borough Council are the Christmas No. 1 on the Sitemorse UK Local Government INDEX, with a near perfect overall score of 9.6/10 for digital compliance and user experience. Hastings also rose a meteoric 66 places to claim the top spot in the Q4 2022 INDEX.

The INDEX, which runs quarterly and assesses the websites of over 400 UK Local Government organizations, provides independent benchmarking for local authorities, underpinning and encouraging continuous improvement of online service for citizens in their communities.

Sitemorse is now entering its third decade of assessing, auditing, and checking websites. During this time, the importance of Local Governments’ online presence has grown significantly, and has been propelled from a ‘nice to have’ to critical part of their operations, further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on Hastings' achievement, Sitemorse CEO, Lawrence Shaw, said “Web teams are often not recognized or congratulated for the work they do, particularly when it comes to compliance initiatives and the like. The team at Hastings deserve a huge pat on the back, and I hope hitting the number one spot at Christmas affords them a little of the recognition that they richly deserve.”

Cllr Judy Rogers, lead councillor for planning, governance and community safety, said: “We are really pleased that our website has been recognised in this way. We have a small but very dedicated web team who are always looking to improve our website to make sure it is accessible and easy to use for all our residents and I would like to thank them for all their hard work. Having a Christmas number one is very exciting.”

The full results of the Sitemorse Local Government UK INDEX can be found here https://Sitemorse.com/index/uk-local-government/2022-q4

For more information about Sitemorse and the INDEX, contact Laura Shilstone