Case Study: London Borough of Tower Hamlets achieves cost savings and faster, higher‑response canvassing with Civica's Xpress Mobile Canvasser App

Tower Hamlets modernises canvass process with Xpress Mobile Canvasser App

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, a diverse London borough with a highly mobile electorate of almost 200,000, needed to modernise its electoral canvass process to reduce costs and increase response rates. In 2015 the council trialled Civica’s Xpress Mobile Canvasser App (MCA), initially equipping 40 of 76 canvassers with tablets for stage 2 door knocking to replace paper forms.

Civica’s solution synced responses automatically with Xpress Register and enabled faster, more efficient rounds; results showed 2.5× more Household Enquiry Forms and nearly 22× more initial registration applications completed on mobile versus paper. Tower Hamlets estimated a £30,000 net saving in year one (after App, hosting and tablet costs) and a projected £38,000 savings the following year when all 107 canvassers used tablets. The approach freed office staff from manual processing and allowed canvassers to cover larger areas, leading to a substantial reduction in canvass staff.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Rob Curtis

Head of Electoral Services