We are proud to welcome Newcastle City Council to the growing community of UK local authorities using Symbiant’s configurable Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) and Audit Management Software.
Newcastle City Council is not a small or simple organisation. It serves more than 300,000 residents and provides over 800 services, including adult and children’s social care, housing, public health, planning, highways, waste collection, neighbourhood services, libraries and museums.[1]
That scale matters. Every service introduces objectives to protect, risks to manage, controls to maintain, actions to complete and evidence to report. Newcastle City Council’s use of Symbiant’s award-winning, highly trusted platform demonstrates that powerful GRC software can support a complex local-authority environment without imposing the cost, rigidity or implementation burden traditionally associated with enterprise platforms.
Customer profile
Organisation: Newcastle City Council
Industry: Local Government and Public Administration
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Residents served: More than 300,000
Services delivered: More than 800
Software: Symbiant GRC, Risk Management, Compliance and Audit Management Software
Governance Across More Than 800 Council Services
Risk management in a major local authority extends far beyond maintaining a corporate risk register.
Councils must maintain oversight across essential public services, major programmes, safeguarding responsibilities, financial pressures, information governance, cyber security, procurement, third parties, workforce capacity and service continuity. Risks can originate within individual services but quickly affect wider strategic objectives, budgets, residents and public trust.
Newcastle’s current financial context makes that need particularly clear. For 2026/27, the council set out plans to spend £328 million on everyday services and invest £134 million in major projects such as housing, schools and road improvements. At the same time, it identified a need to save £8 million during the year and more than £40 million over three years, citing rising service demand and costs.[2]
In an environment of this size, efficiency cannot mean simply asking teams to do more with disconnected spreadsheets and manual reporting. It requires a controlled way to connect risks, controls, assurance, audit findings and improvement actions so that limited time and resources can be directed towards the areas that need them most.
Why Connected GRC Matters in Local Government
Effective risk management and internal audit are not optional administrative extras for English local authorities.
Regulation 3 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 requires a relevant authority to maintain a sound system of internal control that supports its functions and objectives, enables effective financial and operational management, and includes effective arrangements for managing risk.[3]
Regulation 5 also requires an effective internal audit evaluating the authority’s risk management, control and governance processes.[4]
Software does not create compliance or good governance by itself. Those remain the responsibility of the authority, its officers and elected members. The right platform can, however, provide the ownership, evidence, workflow and audit trail needed to make those responsibilities manageable at scale.
This is where Symbiant becomes a particularly strong fit for local government.
Powerful GRC. Proven in the Public Sector. Priced for Reality.
Choose a connected GRC and Audit platform built for serious public-sector responsibilities—without unnecessary enterprise costs or complexity.
Symbiant is Orange Book-aligned, listed on G‑Cloud 15 and designed to provide powerful, configurable risk, compliance and internal audit management within public-sector budgets.
The evidence is equally compelling. One year after replacing spreadsheet-based processes with Symbiant, independent feedback from 450 active UKHSA users found:
95% were satisfied or better with the system overall
97% were satisfied or better with Symbiant’s support
Bring risks, controls, compliance, audit findings, actions and assurance evidence together within one cost-effective source of truth.
One Source of Truth for Risk, Compliance and Audit
When risks sit in one spreadsheet, controls in another, audit recommendations in email chains and supporting evidence in shared folders, the individual records may be accurate while the wider governance picture remains incomplete.
Symbiant’s local government GRC software brings these records into one connected environment. Councils can maintain structured information on risks, controls, policies, assessments, audit work, findings and improvement actions while retaining ownership, review histories and supporting evidence.[5]
This makes it possible to connect:
Corporate, directorate, service, programme and project risk registers
Strategic objectives and service priorities
Controls, policies and evidence of effectiveness
Compliance obligations, assessments and review schedules
Internal audit plans, working papers, findings and recommendations
Assigned actions, target dates, reminders and closure evidence
Incidents, complaints and operational issues
Dashboards and reports for officers, leadership teams and committees
Instead of maintaining several versions of the truth for different audiences, authorised users can report from the same controlled underlying data.
Configured Around the Council, not the Other Way Around
Replacing spreadsheets should not require a council to abandon its established terminology, scoring methodology or governance structure.
Symbiant GRC Software can be configured around existing risk fields, categories, forms, qualitative or quantitative scoring matrices, appetite thresholds, review cycles, approval workflows, escalation routes, permissions and reporting formats.[5]
Existing spreadsheet records can be imported, reducing the need to rebuild every register manually. Authorised administrators can also update forms, workflows and views without writing code as requirements evolve.
This is an important distinction for a large authority. A platform must be powerful enough to accommodate different services and levels of reporting while maintaining a consistent council-wide framework. Symbiant provides that flexibility without forcing every team into a rigid template.
Connecting Risk Management With Internal Audit
Risk registers and internal audit plans should not operate as separate sources of information.
Within Symbiant, current risk information can inform risk-based audit planning. Audits can be connected to relevant risks, controls and objectives. Testing and evidence can support findings, findings can generate assigned actions, and remediation can be monitored through to evidenced closure.
This creates a traceable assurance cycle:
Objectives and risks help inform audit planning.
Audit work evaluates governance, risk management and controls.
Findings identify weaknesses and necessary improvements.
Actions are assigned to accountable owners with target dates.
Reminders, evidence and approvals support follow-up and closure.
Completed work contributes to the wider risk and assurance picture.
For senior officers and Audit and Governance Committees, that connection can make it easier to see where assurance exists, where actions remain overdue and where further attention may be required.
Powerful Enough for Scale, Proportionate Enough for Public Budgets
The traditional GRC market often assumes that greater organisational complexity must mean higher licensing costs, lengthy contracts and difficult implementations. Symbiant challenges that assumption.
Its modular model allows a council to begin with a priority, such as risk registers, audit management or action tracking, and add further connected modules when required. Support, training and configuration are included, report generation is unlimited, and contracts operate on a 30-day rolling basis.[5]
An independent GRC 20/20 Solution Perspective reached a similar conclusion, describing Symbiant as an affordable solution with robust features and a low cost of ownership.[7]
For a major authority managing hundreds of services, this combination is compelling: connected enterprise-level capability, configurable workflows and clear reporting, delivered through a commercial model designed to remain proportionate.
Aligned With Public-Sector Risk Management Principles
HM Treasury’s Orange Book establishes principles and concepts for risk management in government organisations. Although councils should apply the frameworks and requirements relevant to their own circumstances, the Orange Book provides a valuable public-sector benchmark for risk-informed decision-making, clear ownership, integrated controls, monitoring and assurance.[8]
Symbiant’s Orange Book-aligned risk management solution can be configured around an authority’s risk methodology, governance structure and reporting requirements. It helps maintain the connected records and evidence that support the authority’s own assessments and judgements; it does not claim to create compliance automatically.
This human-led approach is essential. Technology should strengthen accountability, not replace it.
Established, Secure and Ready for Public-Sector Requirements
Symbiant has provided governance, risk, compliance and audit software since 1999. Its platform is UK-hosted and supported by Cyber Essentials Plus, ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certifications. Symbiant is also listed on G-Cloud 15, marking its sixth consecutive year of availability through the UK Government’s cloud procurement framework.
Newcastle City Council joins other UK local-authority customers including Durham County Council, Gateshead Council, North Tyneside Council, Northumberland County Council, South Tyneside Council and Sunderland City Council.[9]
This is more than a list of logos. It shows that Symbiant understands the realities of local-government governance: varied services, multiple risk registers, committee reporting, constrained resources, changing structures and the need to demonstrate evidence without creating unnecessary administrative burden.
Why Symbiant Is the Practical Choice for Local Government GRC
For councils comparing GRC platforms, the choice should not be between affordability and capability.
Symbiant GRC provides:
A connected source of truth across governance, risk, compliance and audit
Configurable registers, scoring, workflows, permissions and reports
Integrated risk-based audit and action tracking
Clear ownership, reminders, review histories and evidence
A modular route to begin with one priority and expand over time
Included support, training and configuration
- Easy-to-use, intuitive, robust platform
Transparent, cost-effective pricing and 30-day rolling contracts
UK hosting and recognised security and quality certifications
Experience supporting local authorities and other high-responsibility public bodies
Optional AI assistance that can remain disabled and, when enabled, keeps outputs subject to human review
Newcastle City Council’s customer profile demonstrates why those advantages matter. A council serving more than 300,000 people through over 800 services needs software capable of handling complexity and volume. It also needs to protect public value, improve efficiency and avoid unnecessary cost.
Symbiant is built to deliver both.
We are proud to support Newcastle City Council and look forward to continuing our work together.
Sources and Further Reading
Newcastle City Council: Local Priorities in Newcastle’s Wards — council statement that it serves over 300,000 residents and provides more than 800 services.
Newcastle City Council: Investing, Saving and Innovating—Financial Plan for 2026/27 — 2026/27 spending, investment and savings figures.
The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, Regulation 3 — internal control and risk-management requirements.
Local Government Association: Must Know Guide—Working With Auditors — legislative basis and role of effective internal audit.
Symbiant: Local Government GRC and Risk Management Software — functionality, implementation, commercial model and public-sector readiness.
Symbiant: Pricing — published starter packs, module pricing, licensing and pricing disclaimer.
GRC 20/20 Solution Perspective on Symbiant — independent analyst assessment reproduced by Symbiant.
HM Treasury: The Orange Book—Management of Risk — government risk-management principles and concepts; page updated 29 July 2026.
Symbiant: Our Clients — Newcastle City Council and other local-authority customers.
Connect Your Operational Risk Evidence
The EBA’s direction is clear: operational risk information must be current, connected and traceable. Symbiant’s award-winning GRC Sofrware brings risks, incidents, controls, indicators, actions and audit evidence together in one configurable platform, helping risk and audit teams strengthen oversight without adding unnecessary complexity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do large councils need connected GRC software?
Can Symbiant use a council’s existing risk framework?
Yes. Symbiant can be configured around existing fields, terminology, scoring matrices, appetite thresholds, review cycles, approvals, permissions and reporting requirements. Existing spreadsheet data can also be imported.[5]
Is Symbiant suitable for councils with constrained budgets?
Symbiant uses a modular licensing model, publishes starter pricing, includes support, training and configuration, and offers 30-day rolling contracts. This allows a council to begin with a priority area and add connected functionality as required.[5][6]