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Local authorities and public bodies running shared platforms keep hitting the same handful of walls. One admin account has to hold every team's or partner's projects and invitations. Residents who never touch email fall outside the process before it even starts. And a result is hard to stand behind when a single unverified account is all there is to back it up.
This set of updates works on all three: a managed space for every team or partner, a way to sign up and confirm high-stakes votes by phone instead of email, and a texting channel that reaches residents email never does. There's more too, like running more than one participation method in a single project and results that hold up to scrutiny.
On to the detail.
Spaces: one platform for every team or partner
Consolidating services, or several bodies sharing one platform? Spaces gives each council or team its own managed area under one roof, with central oversight kept intact. Each area runs independently day to day, while your organisation keeps the full picture from above.
It solves a specific ceiling councils and partner bodies keep hitting: right now, every invitation runs through a single admin account, and folders as a workaround break down once you're coordinating 50+ managers across services or partners. Each space comes with its own space manager, its own projects, and its own view, while your organisation's seats overview still shows everyone across the platform, so central oversight isn't lost.
Coming soon: September 2026
Available: Enterprise (add-on on other plans)
Parallel Participation: run several methods in one project
Run several participation methods in one project at the same time. Today, teams fake this with folders, running separate projects side by side and piecing the results together by hand. Parallel Participation replaces that workaround: keep an ideation project on its own timeline and open an extra survey alongside it, each on its own schedule, all reported together in one project. Design the process the way your community actually needs it.
Think of a local plan consultation: run an ideation phase for community input on its own timeline, then open an extra survey alongside it partway through to check reactions to an emerging option, each with its own results, all rolled into one project report. It also means you can blend online and in-person activities within the same project instead of running them as separate efforts.
Right now, this covers extra surveys running alongside any method, with more formats joining soon.
Available: All plans
Participation access confirmation: more trust, less friction
Run higher-confidence votes without formal ID verification. Community members enter their number, get a one-time code by SMS or email, and type it back. More trust in the result, and easier for everyone at the door.
Here's how it works end to end: a participant enters their number, receives a one-time code by SMS or email, and types it back before their vote counts. It takes seconds on their end, but it means you're not relying on a single unverified account to know a vote is real, which matters most when a result gets challenged after the fact.
Coming soon.
Available: All plans
SMS login: widen who takes part
Remove the email barrier to entry: community members can now sign up with a phone number. A simple way to reach groups email often misses, like elderly community members and younger people, and improve how representative your participation is.
It's especially useful for reaching residents who rarely use email: younger residents, older residents, and anyone email tends to miss. SMS login and the action-taking confirmation code are connected behind the scenes: turn one on, and the other comes with it, so residents can sign in by phone and confirm the actions that matter most, with nothing more to set up.
SMS login ships together with the action-taking confirmation code: turning one on brings the other with it.
Coming soon.
Available: Enterprise
SMS Campaigns: reach residents email misses
Text your community from the Messaging tab, alongside your emails. One extra channel, and a wider slice of your community in the results.
It works the same way your email campaigns already do: pick your opted-in segment, write a short message with a link, and send it from the same Messaging tab. The text delivery itself runs quietly in the background, so there's nothing extra to configure or manage.
Coming soon.
Available: Enterprise (add-on on other plans)
HTML Block: your page, your design
A page that looks like you. Paste your own HTML and your brand carries over, so participants stay on familiar ground. Interactive blocks do the rest: before/after sliders, maps and galleries that tell the story behind your initiative. No developer needed.
Available: Premium & Enterprise
Want to see everything that's new? Browse the changelog or visit our Help Centre to learn more.
Curious what this could look like on your own platform? Schedule a demo and we'll walk you through it.
