Updated: Essex County Council's Registration Service

Project Context: An Overview of ECC's Registration Service

Essex County Council (ECC) is the second largest registration service in the UK, serving over 1.8 million people. In April 2024, the council recorded an all-time low in deaths registered within the statutory five-day period. For the most part, Essex attributed this to low availability rates, inefficient scheduling processes/workflows, and limited flexibility, dynamism, and automation. Due to a sustained period of declining KPIs, a newly assembled team at ECC seized this opportunity to overhaul its workflows and transform how its entire Registration Service operates.

As part of this, the team sought a partner who could support their vision of making ECC one of the highest-performing Registrar teams in the UK.

Invested in making Essex's vision a reality, we've worked in partnership with the council to build a market-leading booking and case management system that:

• Autonomously manages service complexity
• Creates more availability for customers
• Improves reporting capabilities and
• Provides a dynamic, flexible service that responds to user needs

The Challenge

ECC set an ambitious goal to complete this transformation within nine weeks. Motivated by this target, we immediately acted, concentrating on developing the essential functionalities for a Minimal Viable Product (MVP). This would enable ECC to swiftly implement its service-transforming process maps and business rules, effectively addressing the challenges highlighted in Its  audit of the previous approach.

These challenges included:

Limited Appointment Capacity

The previous approach could only accommodate 6-7 appointments per day and had limited dynamic scheduling. The rigid appointment slots did not accommodate different types of appointments, such as birth versus death registrations, leading to wasted capacity and limited availability.

Manual Processes

Due to the system's limited dynamism and scheduling complexity, staff had to manually amend appointment durations and add additional details, such as including an extra baby in an appointment or checking for a death declaration. This process resulted in wasted time spent cross-referencing information and adjusting appointment times.

Limited Reporting Capabilities

ECC wanted to be able to collect, visualise, and analyse more data for continuous statutory and service KPI monitoring.

A Static Online Booking Process

The customer-facing booking journey was hindered by a fixed set of questions that did not adapt based on the customer's input, leading to inefficient allocations, increased failure demand, and a sub-optimal user experience.

Excessive Customer Choice

Working with General Register Office (GRO), ECC concluded that the previous approach overwhelmed users with too many booking options and lacked autonomous slot optimisation, pathway limiters, or booking rules. This resulted in avoidable appointments being scheduled outside statutory timeframes and other inefficiencies.

We partnered closely with the ECC team to address these challenges through a series of collaborative workshops. In these workshops, we gathered detailed insights, brainstormed effective solutions, and ensured that all stakeholders were aligned on the goals and strategies.

Janine Last, Head of Statutory and Regulated Services at ECC adds:

"Despite the really tight timeframes to deliver the project, the team felt very supported. Chad, Rich, and the bookinglab team took a deep dive into our service area to maximise what we could get from this project. We are fully bought into the product because of the support we've had."

The Solution

Optimised Slot Allocations

Given the scale of Essex's registrar provision, the council faced an uphill battle to meet its statutory KPIs. We developed a dynamic, rule-based scheduling engine designed to increase slot capacity to address this. The system automatically calculates appointment lengths, optimal slot allocations, and other details based on the information provided by the customer. As a result, ECC can now fulfil at least 12 appointment slots per day, doubling its previous capacity and eliminating the need for manual interventions.

Configurable Business Rules

Another critical feature of Essex's system is its configurable business rules, which autonomously maximise KPI targets. These rules guide users in selecting the correct appointment slots while concealing service complexity from both customers and staff. For example:

• If a customer enters a date of death within the statutory 5-day period, the system will prevent booking an appointment beyond those five days.
• Similarly, if a customer enters a date of birth within the statutory 42-day period, the system will not allow booking an appointment beyond the 42 days.
• However, if a customer is outside these statutory timeframes, the system recognises this and allows them to book the next-best alternative.

These examples highlight just a few of the transformative rules the system enforces to ensure compliance and maximise operational efficiency.

A Dynamic, Rule-Based User Experience

Additionally, the system offers an intuitive, responsive user experience for both customers and back-office users by providing custom guidance messaging and pathway limiters based on user input. This minimises human error and guides users to the correct service with an easy-to-navigate booking experience. In extenuating circumstances, assigned back-office users can override these pathway limiters, ensuring maximum flexibility.

Market-Leading Workforce Management Tools

The system's advanced staff rostering capabilities have enabled ECC to plan staff time more efficiently, significantly reducing wasted capacity. The system autonomously allocates bookings based on best fit by utilising detailed staff profiles that include roles, skills, rotas, and covered locations. This market-leading rostering tool maintains real-time data on availability, training schedules, and non-appointment times, enhancing service visibility and ensuring optimal use of staff time.

Improved Communications

In addition to these scheduling enhancements, the rollout of Essex's new booking system has significantly improved communication with both customers and staff. The Essex team can now send custom SMS and email notifications for trigger events such as confirmations, reminders, amendments, pre/post-visit instructions, and payment links. This has ensured customers have all the necessary information, resulting in fewer cancellations, reduced no-shows, and an enhanced customer experience. Additionally, ECC reports improved internal communications thanks to automated MS Teams alerts and email updates.

Enhanced Reporting Capabilities

Thanks to the system's extensive reporting capabilities, ECC can now monitor death and birth registrations daily. Automated reports provide actionable, real-time operational data, allowing discrepancies to be quickly identified and addressed. This shift from reactive to proactive management has been pivotal in ECC's success.

Janine adds that:

"We used this opportunity to completely overhaul and revamp how our service operates. We saw this as a chance for real change, and we've used the system to support our transformation process rather than simply adapting our technology use. When I joined the team in September 2024, my vision statement was: how do we become one of the highest-performing Registrar teams in the UK? This system and what it delivers will be key to helping us achieve this. The system will also play an important role in helping us manage the new death certification reform coming into place on the 9th of September."

The Early Results of Phase One (Statutory Appointments)

The impact of Essex's new system has been profound and immediate. In the short time the system has been live, the council has:

Achieved a 1000% ROI

Since rolling out the system, Essex County Council has achieved an impressive 1000% return on investment.

Doubled Appointment Capacity

ECC's capacity increased from 6 to 12 appointments per day, resulting in an additional 2,016 appointments per year.

400% improvement in statutory KPIs

As of September, ECC hit 98% for deaths registered within five days, a significant improvement from 18% in April. AI-powered scheduling and autonomous business rules have been key enablers of this success. Since implementing the new system, ECC has met its birth registration KPI. In July, the statutory KPI of 98% was achieved.

Earned Acclaim From The GRO

In recent months, ECC has distinguished itself as one of the few local authorities to consistently enhance its performance while others have plateaued or declined. This ongoing improvement is attributed to the new booking system and the transformative operational changes it has supported.

Top Performer Projection

ECC is projecting to be among the top 5 performing local authorities (for its size) within the next twelve months, a remarkable achievement given their previous performance struggles.

Cultural Shift

In just a few months, the ECC team has achieved a remarkable cultural transformation, completely remodelling the organisation's operations around appointments and staff scheduling.

Janine expressed her satisfaction with the new system:

"It is such a complex system, but it's so easy for users to operate. Without the system, we would not have seen changes this significant for another two or three years. In just a few months, we've transformed the service area, and it is transformational work. It's so much more than a booking system."

Phase Two: Expanding the Vision To Ceremony Bookings

With statutory services performing at a consistently high level, Essex County Council turned its attention to ceremonies. The goal was to deliver the same level of efficiency, flexibility, and user experience across its ceremony booking journey.

A New Standard In Ceremony Management

To achieve this, we introduced a sleek, private-sector-inspired ceremony portal that sets a new benchmark for ceremony management in the public sector. Fast, intuitive, and fully self-serve, the platform delivers a commercial-grade user experience—giving couples complete control over their ceremony from start to finish.

Designed around the expectations of today’s digital-first users, it enables them to book, pay, personalise, and manage every aspect of their ceremony journey—all in one place. It’s not just functional; it’s designed to feel effortless. By bringing private-sector best practices into a local authority setting, the portal reduces friction, enhances engagement, and raises the standard for modern service delivery.

Empowering Customers with End-to-End Control

The new ceremony portal puts customers firmly in control—offering a seamless, fully digital experience that mirrors the ease and flexibility of leading private-sector experiences.

Every part of the ceremony journey is accessible online, giving couples the freedom to plan and manage their booking at their own pace, on their own terms.

Through the platform, customers can:

Book and pay using secure, flexible payment options

No phone calls, paperwork, or waiting. Customers can choose and secure their date, venue, and time, then complete payment quickly through a modern checkout experience.

Check availability and give notice in real-time

Live scheduling removes guesswork and delays. Users can view up-to-date availability and complete essential pre-ceremony steps like giving notice—all within the same journey.

Purchase ceremony add-ons

Whether it’s extra certificates or additional on-the-day services, users can browse, select, and purchase extras during booking—making the process easier and more personalised.

Declare ceremony choices

Couples can submit key details such as readings, music, vows, and other personal touches directly through the portal—ensuring all preferences are captured, accurate, and visible to staff.

Communicate with staff via integrated messaging

The platform supports direct, trackable communication with the registrar team, enabling quick resolution of questions and a more connected customer experience.

Access terms, FAQs, and policy information

Customers have instant access to everything they need to understand the process—reducing service desk demand and empowering users to self-serve with confidence.

A Unified Experience for Staff

Behind the customer-facing interface, the ceremony portal brings together a powerful suite of tools that streamline internal operations and deliver consistency across the end-to-end journey.

By consolidating workflows into a single, integrated platform, the system reduces manual effort, increases visibility, and ensures every team member has access to the information they need—when they need it.

Key capabilities include:

Seamless diary and event scheduling

Registrars can view, manage, and coordinate bookings across locations, time slots, and staff schedules with ease. Real-time updates reduce conflicts, improve planning, and increase ceremony availability.

Automated comms to reduce manual chasing

The system is configured to automatically schedule and send timely prompts—reminding customers to make payments, give notice, and submit their ceremony choices. This proactive approach ensures key steps are completed on time, dramatically reducing the need for staff to chase information manually. It keeps the process moving, improves compliance, and frees up staff to focus on higher-value tasks.

E-commerce and payment management

Payments are processed via an integration to the system, supporting flexible methods and real-time reconciliation. Staff gain visibility into transaction history and outstanding balances, simplifying finance admin.

Case handling and registrar assignment

Each booking becomes a structured case, complete with ceremony details, customer preferences, and documentation. Registrars can be assigned automatically based on role, availability, and location—ensuring smooth delivery.

Business intelligence and reporting tools

Built-in analytics offer real-time insights into service performance, financials, booking patterns, and customer behaviour—supporting data-led decisions and continuous improvement.

Ceremony extras/choices tracking and fulfilment

Extras selected during the customer journey—like music, vows, or enhancements—are captured and tracked within the system. This ensures registrar teams are fully briefed and nothing is missed on the day.

Ceremony Officer App

Gives staff the tools they need on the go with a dedicated app built specifically for Ceremony Officers. It provides instant access to ceremony details, customer information, documents, choices, and assigned tasks. The app reduces information chasing and enables staff to deliver a smoother, more efficient service on the day.

Task sheets, checklists, and talk tracks for admin teams

Back-office staff have access to structured task sheets, pre-built checklists, and ceremony-specific talk tracks—ensuring that every step is completed on time, consistently, and to a high standard. This reduces missed actions, improves service quality, and supports a joined-up delivery approach across the team.

Immediate Impact

Since launching on 22nd May 2025, Essex has seen strong early results that demonstrate the portal’s immediate impact on both customer behaviour and internal efficiency:

• 81.3% of ceremonies since launch have been booked online by customers with no staff involvement.
• 50% reduction in ceremony-related calls to the contact centre
• 36.5% of ceremonies have been booked outside working hours—including evenings, weekends, and bank holidays.
• 147 direct messages received via the customer ceremony portal—streamlining communication and cutting down on emails and phone calls.
• 71.5% of couples with August ceremonies have already submitted their choices through the portal, saving staff time on follow-ups and admin.

We’ll be sharing more updates as this transformative project moves forward, so stay tuned! To learn more about the product powering this transformation, click here.