Website redevelopment, design and hosting

The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) provides free expert advice and guidance to leaseholders and park home owners in England and Wales. Currently, we deliver services through two websites (approximately 1.3 million annual visits) and 35,000 one to one phone and written advice sessions. This volume of appointments is limited by the capacity of LEASE and doesn't meet current demand let alone forecast increases in future demand from incoming legislation and reform. However, many of our appointments could be resolved through a better web offer which provides the right content to customers that helps them solve their problem without needing to contact us. Our current (wordpress) websites are: https://www.lease-advice.org/ https://parkhomes.lease-advice.org/ Our vision is to become the most trusted, authoritative, and accessible source of leasehold information in England and Wales. To achieve this vision, we must address fundamental issues with our current website. Therefore, we require a redesigned website and content management system that is embeds AI, enables users to quickly find relevant information and resources, and helps our users to self-serve and find their own answers, thus reducing the demand to our one-to-one service for enquiries which could be answered without direct advice. Long term we aim to provide personalised advice through multiple channels, leveraging technology like AI to enhance service delivery and data analysis. This transformation will enable us to provide real-time, data-driven insights to policymakers and the public. This will mean we reach more customers in a way that helps them more effectively and efficiently. This project is the first step to doing so and the full delivery of this is out of scope of this brief. This is an initial piece of work that will kick start our digital transformation. However, we are looking for a longer-term digital partner who will help us continue to transform our services. Therefore this brief covers two phases of work 1. The initial 6 month development of a new website 2. A further 18 months of host, maintenance, With the potential for further enhancements to the website. Users Our primary users are leaseholders and park homeowners seeking support on a wide range of issues, for example a service charge dispute or to extend their lease. They typically require clear, accessible information and guidance to resolve their problems. With incoming leasehold reforms, expansion of commonhold, and the Government's agenda for leasehold reform we expect demand for our service to continue to grow. There is a secondary user group of legal professionals, internal LEASE advisers, journalists and customers with unusual questions who use our website to find information on specific niche areas of law. Objectives: • Enhance user self-sufficiency: Empower more customers to find the information they need without needing to contact us, thereby reducing the volume of contact on queries that could be answered on the website. We expect this to be achieved by; o Empower users to independently resolve their issues by providing clear, accessible information, templates, and resources, reducing the need for one-to-one assistance where possible. o Improved user experience including seamless, intuitive, and personalised user journeys, improved navigation, perhaps via breadcrumbs, and tailored content, making it easier for users to find the help they need. o New AI chat interface which generates accurate and digestible answers to customers questions based on content on the LEASE website. • More traffic and increased discoverability: Achieving higher prominence in google search engine results and AI summaries through search engine and AI optimisation, ensuring users can easily find relevant information and resources. • Future-proof platform: Develop a scalable and adaptable platform that can evolve with future needs, including the integration of more advanced AI tools, new contact routes, e-learning and personalised services in future. Deliverables • A revamped functional, responsive, and user-tested website, built in line with the Government Service Standard, that meets our customer needs and business objectives. • Enhanced search and navigation: Implement AI-driven content including chat and search-based interfaces, with a focus on high performance, relevant results, and intuitive navigation, for improved user experience. Whilst ensuring results are accurate and sourced. • Integrated appointment booking system which makes it easy for a customer who need an appointment to book one, but deflects queries which can be served through web content: development and integration of a seamless appointment booking system, enabling users to easily schedule one-to-one assistance via phone and email and other routes in future. • An integrated, cost effective, and user-friendly content management system (CMS) that empowers non-technical staff to efficiently manage and update website content, optimises for SEO • A secure and scalable platform with personalisation capabilities: a secure, cost effective, affordable, scalable, and adaptable platform that can integrate future AI tools and personalised services and is suited to the size of LEASE. • Content migration and technical and content SEO audit: ensuring seamless transfer of existing content to the new platform, and highlighting content areas for future improvement by LEASE content specialists. • SEO strategy (keyword optimisation, url structure, meta descriptions) • Development of new content information architecture optimised for both AI engine ingestion and SEO and surfacing the right information to meet user needs • Robust analytics and reporting: development of comprehensive analytics and reporting mechanisms including a suite of measure which show progress against baselines for our business objectives, and content tagging to track user behaviour and inform data-driven improvements • Secure and sustainable hosting: provision of a secure, cost effective, reliable, and scalable hosting solution, with ongoing maintenance, security updates, and performance monitoring, including measures to protect against common web vulnerabilities (such as those outlined in the OWASP Top 10), appropriate data encryption both in transit and at rest, and robust access controls. The hosting solution should also include provisions for regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, and a clear incident response plan. Consider environmental impact and with the ability for our developers to continue iterating and improving the website. The hosting solution should be easy to migrate if needed to an alternative provider before the end of the contract. Contract length and timeline The overall contract will be for up to 24 months. We expect the initial website redevelopment to launch within 6 months, with the remaining 18 months to provide hosting, maintenance, support, and where needed further enhancements and improvements in conjunction with our internal team. To receive the full specification and supplementary documents please contact [email protected]. Please include the reference number (LCRN001-25) in the email title as part of all correspondence.