IT estates of 17 County Councils have ballooned to £28m, a Freedom of Information request from Maintel has revealed

LONDON, UK, 15th October 2021, A Freedom of Information (FOI) request from Maintel, the leader in cloud and managed communication services, revealed, the IT estates of the 17 County Councils which responded are worth £28 million. They collectively own 65,033 laptops, 4,077 tablets and 37,612 mobiles.

The spend is likely to have been associated with these County Council's purchasing equipment so that staff can work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to do so in the new hybrid model operated by many says Maintel.

East Sussex council provides an indication of the pressure some County Councils were under at the start of the pandemic to keep staff online. The number of laptops purchased by the council increased 212% year on year with 3,358 in 2020, up from 1,075 in 2019.

While Somerset Council purchased approximately 2100 Samsung A20e mobile devices over the last 18 months. Between May and August 2020, the council issued 159 Surface Laptop 3s and 161 Surface Pro 7 laptops.

Councils have a duty to provide the best service for their constituents. Staff, therefore, need the right setup so that they continue their jobs to the best of their ability - that means the right collaboration tools, headsets and the right phone systems in place so that staff can collaborate and easily pick-up calls, even when they're at home.