We're providing a free GOV.UK domain and a free GOV.UK mailbox for your town, parish or community council clerk.

There are no catches or hidden costs, just an opportunity for your council to make that first step towards best-practice communication.

Why are we doing this?
Whilst the transition to GOV.UK has been going very well, there's still a long way to go to get all councils using it. About half are yet to switch. Resistance to switching include;

• Lack of funds
• Resistance from clerks or councillors
• Lack of technical understanding.

So, we want to help accelerate the transition by providing a "no-brainer" service that any clerk can adopt.

Does this mean councillors can keep their personal email addresses?

The SAPPP Practitioners' Guide (Assertion 10) states that it is best practice for all council communication to use authority-owned gov.uk domains. If only the clerk is using a gov.uk domain then you're not fully compliant. Treat this offer as a stepping stone towards getting councillors comfortable with switching to gov.uk and removing the GDPR and data retention risk associated with using personal email addresses.

How are we funding the service?

Just like our Parish Online GOV.UK Switching Fund, this will be self-funded by Parish Online. We have dedicated reserves purely for this project. Plus we have suppliers who have helped us make this possible.

We've decided it is worthy of investment through our social value commitment to the sector.

Is it actually free?!

Yep, completely free. You'll only need to pay an annual fee if you want larger storage on your mailbox beyond the 5GB. The vast majority of you won't need this, and you'll get plenty of warning if you do.

How long will it run for?

We've not put a hard stop-date on the offer. Our intention is to run it indefinitely. But if for any reason we need to close the free service, we'll give you 3 years notice. Plenty of time to either find budget or find an alternative.

What if I want councillor mailboxes as well?

You can upgrade to our standard mail package which gives you mailboxes for all councillors and staff. This is the best-practice option.

Can I connect the GOV.UK domain to my existing website?

Yes. All we need are some DNS records that your website host can provide. They'll then need to do some configuration on your site.

Remember that we have our full Website + Email + Domain package available that gives you the best value for money and everything under one supplier. It's also compliant to the GDS Parish Council Domain Helper Service guidelines.

Will this affect my ability to claim the Parish Online GOV.UK Switching fund?

No, you'll still qualify for that. So, if you're upgrading to our email or full website package then we can apply the £100 fund to your first invoice.

Does this lock our council into Parish Online forever?!

Like that's a bad thing?! No, we're not locking you in. You can transfer your domain and copy your emails away from our service if you like. Of course, we'll be sad, but also happy that we've helped you on your journey to GOV.UK. There'll be tears, but happy tears!

Will you provide support?

Yes, we support you as if you were a paying customer. Welcome to fast, free unlimited email support that our Parish Online customers know and love!

Still not sure?

Contact the Parish Council Domain Helper Service at Government Digital Service. They're available to give local councils independent advice regarding the switch to GOV.UK.

Simply fill out the form in the link below to place your order. As soon as we get the domain approval through from the Government Digital Service we'll send you details of your new mailbox.

The Parish Online Free GOV.UK email is funded by Local Authority Technology CIC, our not-for-profit Community Interest Company. We commit to maintaining, supporting and fully funding a 5GB mailbox for the clerk of any qualifying council.

A qualifying council means any town, parish or community council in England, Wales or Scotland who, at the point of order, does not have a registered GOV.UK domain name in use. The offer does not apply if a council already has a GOV.UK domain name, except if it is unused and dormant.