South Tyneside Council Chooses Symbiant GRC Software

We’re delighted to welcome South Tyneside Council to the growing community of UK local authorities trusting Symbiant’s governance, risk management, compliance (GRC) and audit software with optional AI capabilities.

They join a wide range of organisations of all sizes relying on Symbiant’s award-winning, modular platform to manage risk, controls, audit and assurance in one secure, connected environment. Symbiant combines powerful, configurable GRC capabilities with flexible, cost-effective pricing that remains practical within the realities of public-sector budgets.

These organisations operate across different governance structures, service portfolios and risk environments. What they share is the need to maintain effective oversight while managing public money, statutory responsibilities, operational pressures and changing community needs.

Supporting governance in a demanding local-government environment

South Tyneside Council’s published plans show the scale and interconnected nature of that challenge.

Its Medium Term Financial Plan 2026–2031 describes the period as its most challenging financial plan in over a decade. It identifies a requirement to save approximately £11.8 million in 2026/27, alongside rising costs and demand in Adult Social Care, Children’s Services and SEND transport.

The plan does more than set out financial pressures. It connects financial sustainability, service transformation, risk management and delivery. The Council states that its Transformation Board will provide a focal point for public-service reform while managing the risks that could affect delivery of its medium-term financial plans.

That is an important distinction. In local government, risk management is not a register maintained separately from operational or financial decisions. Risks can affect budgets, services, transformation programmes, strategic objectives, partnerships and the residents who depend on them.

Risk, control and assurance need to work together

South Tyneside’s governance arrangements also reflect the importance of formal oversight. The Council’s Audit Committee Annual Report for 2024/25 describes the Committee’s role in providing assurance over risk management, the control environment and transparent financial reporting. Its work includes oversight of the Strategic Risk Register, internal and external audit, and governance arrangements.

This reflects the wider direction of the sector. The Local Government Association’s Improvement and Assurance Framework for Local Government states that councils need assurance over both service performance and corporate governance. Its risk management guide for council leaders also emphasises that identifying and managing risk, and obtaining assurance that it is being managed effectively, are central leadership responsibilities.

The practical challenge is connecting those responsibilities. When risks, controls, audit findings, actions, incidents and evidence are maintained in separate spreadsheets or systems, teams can struggle to see:

• Whether a strategic risk is supported by effective controls

• Which actions are overdue and who is accountable for them

• Whether incidents indicate a wider control weakness or emerging risk

• How audit findings relate to current risk exposure

• Whether assurance is complete, current and supported by evidence

• How changes affect directorates, services, objectives or transformation programmes

Symbiant’s connected GRC software gives risk owners, assurance teams, auditors and decision-makers a shared view without removing the distinct responsibilities of each function.

Configurable GRC software for local authorities

Symbiant is designed to work around an organisation’s existing governance and risk framework. Councils can retain their own terminology, scoring models, reporting hierarchies, review cycles and approval routes rather than adopting a rigid vendor-defined process. Its connected risk register software and audit management software can be implemented separately or as part of a wider GRC environment.

Depending on the modules selected, the platform can support local authorities with:

• Corporate, strategic, operational, programme and service-level risk registers

• Configurable inherent, current and residual risk assessment methods

• Risk ownership, review dates, escalation routes and automated reminders

• Controls and policies linked directly to the risks they address

• Internal audit planning, working papers, findings and recommendations

• Audit and remediation actions with owners, deadlines and evidence

• Incident, complaint, compliance and assessment management

• Key risk indicators and threshold monitoring

• Role-based permissions for different teams, directorates and oversight bodies

• Dashboards and reports for management, committees and assurance activity

The value comes from the connections between those records. A control can be linked to the relevant risks; an audit finding can generate a tracked action; an incident can be assessed against existing risks; and reporting can draw from the same underlying information instead of being rebuilt manually.

Clear oversight without imposing a governance model

Technology should support accountability, not redefine it. Symbiant does not dictate a council’s committee structure, risk appetite, lines of responsibility or assurance model. The platform is configured around the organisation’s established arrangements and can evolve as those arrangements change.

This also allows councils to apply principles from recognised guidance where relevant. Symbiant can support approaches that reflect HM Treasury’s Orange Book principles, including clear ownership, integration of risk into decision-making, structured monitoring and reliable risk information. The platform can also help organisations apply risk-management approaches informed by ISO 31000 without presenting either framework as a fixed software template.

Designed for public-sector procurement and practical implementation

Symbiant is an approved supplier on the UK Government’s G-Cloud 14 framework, providing an established procurement route for eligible public-sector organisations.

Its modular structure allows organisations to select the capabilities they need and extend the platform over time. Configuration, training and ongoing support are included, helping teams adapt the system to their processes without committing internal resources to a lengthy system-development project.

AI-assisted functionality is available as an option rather than a requirement. Organisations can use Symbiant with or without AI according to their policies, governance expectations and risk appetite, while maintaining human ownership of decisions and approvals.