Hello Everyone
As you’ve seen from the title, the Parish Council Domains Helper Service is just reaching an important milestone - perfect timing for this newsletter.
Our records show that we have now allocated just over 70% of the funding set aside for parish councils when they move over to a .gov.uk domain in this financial year. This is a great achievement; thank you for all your support so far. We are delighted to be helping so many parish councils but reaching this milestone also serves as a call to action for others.
At the moment, projections show that we will reach 100% allocation by mid February next year. However, over the last month or so we have seen an increase in numbers signing up to our introductory sessions (indicating an intention to move over) and in the number of new .gov.uk applications. In fact, September was our best month with 78 councils coming to one of our sessions and 106 new applications for a .gov.uk domain. Add to this some very proactive promotional initiatives from some of the shortlisted Approved Registrars and we could reach our full allocation sooner.
We want all councils with an appetite for change to know how quickly things are moving so they can take appropriate action. Our plan is to communicate at each significant milestone - 70, 90 and 95% allocation - through trusted NALC and SLCC channels and, of course, via each ALC. To help you inform your members about this particular milestone we’ve put together a short article for your websites and newsletters.
If you’d like to see how many councils in your region have moved across to a .gov.uk domain, then the ALC dashboard has the latest figures. If IT restrictions at your council prevent you from viewing this document, please get in touch with the team.
ALC engagement
We’ve also been making use of our dashboard figures reaching out to those ALCs where a higher percentage of councils are still using alternative domains. As a result, we’ve since presented to members at Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Yorkshire ALCs as well as SLCC Branch Officers. In the next couple of weeks, we will also be presenting to Leicestershire & Rutland, Cornwall, Staffordshire and East Riding and North Lincolnshire. In addition, we are planning a ‘national’ webinar for councillors via NALC - more on this soon.
ALC member sessions have a positive impact on engagement so we’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to chat through the possibilities of working together or are hosting these sessions. If you’re interested in a presentation then please contact us at the email address below.
Good to know
A few pointers and reminders you may find useful:
- There are now 24 .gov.uk Approved Registrars on our shortlist for councils to choose from, with Hugo Fox being our latest joiner. We regularly review the list to ensure that it remains relevant and includes those Approved Registrars that are actively engaged with the Parish Council Domains Helper Service. Openstrike and Easyspace have recently re-joined the list
- We regularly field questions from parish councils asking for clarity around the naming conventions for .gov.uk domains. You can direct councils to guidance on the ‘choose your .gov.uk domain name’ on the GOV.UK site. There are specific parish council examples towards the bottom of the page. The Parish Council Domains Helper Service is not involved in any of the decision making processes
- As an ALC you are entitled to use a .gov.uk domain. The support of the Parish Council Domains Helper Service is there for you too. Whilst ALCs are not eligible for funding, you are welcome to use the shortlist of Approved Registrars (see link in point 1 above) and come along to any of our sessions. Having a .gov.uk domain not only comes with many benefits but also actively demonstrates your advocacy for this initiative.
That’s it for the autumn newsletter! If you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to contact us at
Kind regards
Khidr, Sandra, Tim, Will, Stephanie and Karen
The Parish Council Domains Helper Service
