A shared digital platform for Law Centres across the UK
Law Centres provide free legal advice to communities that need it most. They're also chronically under-resourced. Each centre operates independently, managing its own digital tools, websites, and products, which means each one faces the same digital challenges alone: outdated websites, fragmented communications, no shared tooling, and no budget to fix any of it. Modernising felt impossible because every centre would have to start from scratch, and none had the capacity.
The answer was a network-wide digital transformation: a shared platform, design system, and strategy developed in close collaboration with the Law Centres Network and individual centres. Not a set of templates, but a coherent foundation that any centre (or any agency they tender for and contract) can adopt and run with, complete with real products and tools ready to use from day one.
Same problems, no shared solutions
Centres were managing their own digital presence in isolation. That meant duplicating effort, reinventing wheels, and making the same mistakes over and over. There was no shared approach, no consistent tooling, and no way to benefit from each other's progress.
A platform, not templates
The framework is a full digital platform and strategy, from tools to integrations, with a design system at its core that ensures coherent design across the whole network:
Design system
with reusable components and patterns that work consistently across all centres
Platform architecture
covering the full stack of digital tools centres need, from content management to communications
EnquiryDesk integration
bringing calls, emails, SMS, and WhatsApp into one omnichannel triage tool
Documented patterns and practices
so any agency a centre contracts can pick up the work and run with it
Modular approach
allowing centres to adopt what they need without rebuilding everything
Built to hand over
The framework gives centres a way to get up and running without starting from scratch. Because it's built on shared components and documented patterns, it's transferable. If a centre brings in an agency to help with development, that agency can work within the framework immediately. No proprietary lock-in, no knowledge silos.
With a coherent platform and design system in place, centres can now explore automation, self-service tools, and better data practices without the prohibitive costs that used to make innovation impossible. Several centres are already running modern, accessible digital services that would have been out of reach without it.
Explore the framework at framework.lawcentres.org.uk.