Corporate report

Performance report

Published 18 July 2023

Applies to England and Wales

An overview of HM Land Registry

Our purpose

We protect your land ownership and provide services and data that support an efficient and informed property market.

Vision

A world-leading property market as part of a thriving economy and sustainable future.

How we serve

• Providing secure and efficient land registration
• Enabling property to be bought and sold digitally
• Providing near real-time property information
• Providing accessible digital register data#
• Leading research and accelerating change with property market partners

Our values

• We have integrity
• We drive innovation
• We are professional
• We give assurance

Our primary role

For 160 years HM Land Registry has served as the critical institution protecting the right to property and enabling the market to operate. By keeping the definitive and guaranteed record of property ownership in England and Wales, we allow property to be transacted securely and with confidence.

The value of land in England and Wales is estimated at over £8 trillion which is more than half the wealth of the nation. With over £260 billion worth of property transacted each year, the UK property market is one of the largest in the world.

The Land Register contains more than 26 million land and property titles, covering around 88% of the land area of England and Wales. Access to information about land and property enables individuals, businesses and the Government to plan for future housing needs, climate change and a thriving economy.

HM Land Registry is a non-ministerial department and since 1 June 2023 has been a partner body of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. For the 2022-23 reporting year the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was HM Land Registry’s sponsor department, ahead of a Machinery of Government change in February 2023 that resulted in HM Land Registry falling under the newly formed Department for Business and Trade for a brief time.

HM Land Registry in numbers

• 45.5 million service requests
• £356.9 million total recognised revenue
• 42.2 million digital applications
• 162,000 daily searches for land and property data
• 263,000 total number of Local Land Charges searches (free and paid)
• 26,386,109 registered titles
• 116,406 Property Alert accounts created
• 65% Engagement Index Score on the 2022 People Survey
• 6,814 employees
• 60.7% female
• 31.1% part-time
• 10.2% employees with a disability

Our role in the property market

Market interest

We hold one of the largest transactional geospatial property databases in Europe, including all secured loans and other property rights in England and Wales. We also map unregistered land. Since 1990 our register has been open to the public. We provide some of the most useful and valuable property information to support a truly data-driven economy.

Our Land Charges service can reveal whether an unregistered property has restrictions on its use. The service protects certain interests in unregistered land and we also maintain the bankruptcy index for England and Wales. Our Agricultural Credits Register provides security for lending over farm assets, such as livestock or equipment, other than the land itself.

• £8 trillion worth of land and property held
• 75,000 daily requests to view the register, plans, associated documents, MapSearch and Search for Land and Property Information

Property transaction

Our guaranteed information and transaction services provide essential information and protection to purchasers, lenders and their professional representatives, without which the property market would not function.

• 87,000 daily official copies, official searches and official local land charge searches

After purchase and beyond

We receive around 20,000 requests per day to change the register or create a new title. This can reflect new ownership, mortgages and other rights. Registering new ownership happens at the very end of a property transaction – after stamp duty land tax has been paid and the property has changed hands. Owners can use our Property Alert service to help protect their property from fraud.

• 486 fraudulent registrations prevented since 2009
• 20,000 daily requests to change the register or create a new title

Note: due to developing services, direct comparisons cannot be made with the corresponding section in previous Annual Reports.

Service requests

Guaranteed ownership information

• 18.2 million official copies
• 6.7 million Views of the Register (Register, plans, docs)
• 2.8 million official searches
• 800,000 Searches of the Index Map

Register Change Services

• 4.5 million Register Updates
• 74,000 First Registrations
• 200,000 Transfers of Part
• 200,000 New Leases

Search for Land and Property Information

• 11 million searches

Land Charges

• 1.8 million Total Service Requests

MapSearch

• 1.1 million searches

Dataset downloads

• 400,000 downloads

Local Land Charges

• 300,000 searches

Revenue

Register change services

• £182.3 million

Transfers of part

• £52.3 million

New leases

• £32.5 million

First registrations

• £17 million

Guaranteed queries

Official copies

• £54.4 million

Searches of the index map

• £1.1 million

Official searches

• £8.4 million

Information Services

Views of the register

• £20.1 million

Local Land Charges

• £800,000

Other services income

Land Charges and agricultural credits

• £6.5 million

Commercial services

• £4 million

Total Revenue (including other services income) £383.9 million*

*New methodology introduced in year to calculate volumes meaning current year and prior year volumes are not directly comparable.

Interview with Neil Sachdev, Chair

Nilesh (Neil) Sachdev was appointed as Chair of the HM Land Registry Board in September 2022. He is also Chair of the East West Railway Company, Chair of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation Board for the Ministry of Defence, and Non-Executive Director of Network Rail Property Limited. Neil has previously held a variety of senior positions in the energy, property and retail sectors. We took the opportunity to ask Neil about his experience since joining HM Land Registry.

So far what is the most significant aspect of your role?

As the Chair, my role encompasses several elements that are crucial to the success of the organisation. While governance is essential, it’s also about collaborating with the senior management team and ensuring that we remain accountable for the strategies we have developed.

As part of this, I have made frequent visits to our offices, and I’ve seen HM Land Registry colleagues demonstrate unwavering dedication with the utmost professionalism, and a true customer-centric ethos. This work is integral to the UK’s data record, as it not only simplifies the process of property acquisition but also facilitates the governance of the buying and selling procedures in the country.

How did you start your career?

I began my professional career as a graduate at Tesco. Following a number of store and regional manager roles, I became Regional Director and then a member of Tesco’s operating board. I held similar positions at Sainsbury’s at the Board level. Despite my extensive experience and expertise, I still regard myself as a ‘shopkeeper’.

What do you view as being HM Land Registry’s biggest challenge?

We know from our customers that speed of service is their number one priority and they want us to process their applications in our backlog faster. We recognise the pressures facing everyone in the property market and appreciate that many buyers and sellers are experiencing long delays. Therefore, we have been making changes right across the organisation so that we can give our customers a greater experience, optimise our performance and ensure efficient delivery of services.

Our focus is on continually improving our services and we know there is more to do. However, as we evolve and change there are also opportunities to work across government and industry to open up more of our data to increase its wider value. Each year, through our Geovation programme, we sponsor start-up businesses looking to use our data to innovate new products and services in line with the UK Geospatial Strategy.

What is the future for HM Land Registry and the property market?

I anticipate that the future of the property market will be characterised by a comprehensive digital transformation, ensuring complete assurance for both buyers and sellers. Every aspect of the transaction will be conducted digitally, transforming the property acquisition process into a seamless and hassle-free experience.

The most significant opportunity and strength at our organisation lies in supporting the housing and commercial property market as a whole, including agriculture and infrastructure. Our primary objective in driving productivity is to establish ourselves as an efficient organisation that guarantees the accuracy of housing records. As housing constitutes the most substantial asset for many individuals, our role in this domain is crucial.

Our efforts to digitise our services are aimed at modernising our approach and providing customers with prompt access to information. This entails creating digital records for all our operations, thereby simplifying processes and enhancing productivity. Our goal is to facilitate a more convenient and fulfilling experience for our stakeholders and customers.

The effective use of our data will significantly enhance our operational efficiency. It will facilitate quicker transactions in the property market and instil confidence in our customers. Collaborating with other stakeholders in the property market is crucial to ensuring simple buying and selling processes. Developers can leverage our data to make homes available faster, and customers can enjoy greater assurance with their lenders.

What role do our people play in the property market?

I have had the privilege of witnessing the depth of knowledge and experience that our people possess, and their unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional outcomes for our customers. I have been impressed by the tenacity of our staff, who are working tirelessly to simplify our current processes.

As an organisation, we are committed to leading the change and ensuring seamless data transfer to facilitate significantly quicker transaction processing. By using our expertise and resources, we aim to transform the current transactional process into a faster, more efficient experience for all.

Foreword by Simon Hayes, Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar

Last year HM Land Registry marked its 160th year, a remarkable story of longevity and success of which we are all very proud. It was a challenging year, but also one which contained a number of significant achievements, and in which great progress was made in the ongoing modernisation of the organisation.

The launch of our new strategy, in August 2022, was a major milestone. I was pleased with the strong support we received for our ambition and vision across the property sector and beyond. It was the product of excellent collaboration across many parts of government, along with our key partners and customers. I look forward to working with these groups and others to deliver what we have set out. As our strategy recognises, our top priority is to increase output to meet the demands of a market which has remained buoyant throughout all of the unpredictable events of the last three years.

While the vast majority of customer requests are delivered promptly, we still need to improve our speed of service and remove delays on certain types of applications. We now have colleagues specifically focused on tackling some of the oldest and most complex cases in the backlog that customers have been waiting for.

However, our trajectory in this area remains positive. We delivered a 12% increase in output in 2022-23 compared with 2021-22 (and a 41% increase compared with 2020-21). We have achieved this by investing heavily in new capacity and capabilities, and working relentlessly across our all systems, structures and processes to drive efficiencies and improve outcomes for customers.

We have recruited more than 2,000 new colleagues in the last three years (including 1,700 caseworkers and nearly 100 digital specialists), with over 33% of our current workforce having joined us during that time. This is an exciting opportunity to blend new talent alongside our experienced colleagues, and has been necessary to meet increased demand. But it also places a significant burden on the organisation in terms of training and the development of new structures and working relationships. As more experienced staff leave at the end of their careers, the nature of the workforce is changing quite radically, with impacts at all levels.

Partly in response to this, we undertook a significant restructure last year, to ensure we could continue to balance our organisation effectively to increase efficiency, better meet customer needs and continue to protect the integrity of the register. One of the ongoing barriers to increasing our output is the proportion of cases we are unable to process correctly first time due to issues with the information we have received. Last year we issued almost 1.2 million requisitions (requests for more information or clarification) to our customers. For the more complex applications, almost two-thirds require some form of requisition before they can be processed. This drives unnecessary delay and inefficiency for us and our customers. We will continue to work with our partners to improve this, providing support and guidance wherever we can.

12% increase in output in 2022-23 (compared with 2021-22)

This is an area where new technology is already helping. Our digital experts work tirelessly to maintain, build and improve the experience across millions of service requests each year and strengthen our systems’ resilience. As a result of our highly successful ‘digital by default’ campaign, almost 90% of applications are now received entirely digitally (up from 70% a year ago). Not only has this reduced requisitions points in some categories by over 40% it is also a key component of our wider digital transformation – enabling us to continue to work towards the full automation of more applications.

We are also working collaboratively with the market to digitise the overall conveyancing process. Our Local Land Charges Programme has moved from strength to strength. Not only are we processing more local authority data than ever before but also developing capabilities recognised as being at the forefront of the field. Our new Digital Property Market Steering Group will bring together some of the most influential stakeholders across the market to remove barriers and spearhead a concerted drive away from paperbased processes and embrace transactions through interoperable data.

While the focus of our organisation will forever be our customers and the integrity of the registers, the foundation is always our people. We were pleased our 2022 People Survey employee engagement scores placed us as one of the highest for organisations of similar size and type and among the top third across the Civil Service for inclusion. However, the significant changes we delivered this year to respond to the challenges we faced were not always easy for our people. Our decrease in managing change scores showed we have more work to do to help lead our people through changes. We will continue our cultural aspiration to be the most inclusive employer in the Civil Service to truly reflect the society we serve and deliver a world class service to our customers.

We are also uniquely placed to make a significant contribution to environmental and social progress in England and Wales. The data and services we provide support people, businesses and government to make informed decisions about how to use land sustainably and make the most of it for the benefit of society. Through our governance, we ensure the work we do is assessed for its financial, social and environmental value, including our approach to procurement. Our informed investment choices around technology and the workplace are helping us to achieve Greening Government Commitments. At the end of 1862, the first year of our existence, HM Land Registry had six employees and had registered 42 titles. Last year, our organisation of 6,816 staff processed over 45m service requests. However, what has not changed is our unwavering commitment to our customers and our core purpose. I am confident we will continue to improve the services we provide today, and build the foundations for a modern and world-leading HM Land Registry which will deliver benefits for the whole of society for many more years to come.

HM Land Registry’s strategy in summary

Providing secure and efficient land registration

We will:

• improve our speed of service as a priority
• automate and personalise our conveyancing services
• invest in our expertise
• increase resilience to fraud and cyber threats
• take the initiative in exploring mapping unregistered land to increase transparency

Enabling property to be bought and sold digitally

We will:

• work with the property sector to make the process of buying and selling property digital
• develop services that are fully digital and connect easily with other services in the property sector
• promote a secure and inclusive digital system of conveyancing

Providing accessible digital register data

We will:

• prioritise register digitisation to support a sustainable datadriven economy
• make our data more findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable
• continue to invest in our Geovation Accelerator Programme to find new data uses and users
• continue to help deliver the UK Geospatial Strategy

Providing near real-time property information

We will:

• plan to complete automation of all information services
• digitise the most useful register information
• develop greater transparency and online access for people and businesses
• complete the instant access Local Land Charges Register.

Leading research and accelerating change with property market partners

We will:

• work in partnership with others in the sector to build a shared vision for the property market
• co-create the property market research agenda to collaboratively change the current system
• build on the success of Digital Street to explore and take advantage of emerging technologies.

Secure and efficient land registration

Despite a huge level of activity across the property market, the most essential HM Land Registry services have continued to meet the needs of our customers, ensuring property transactions are completed on time. We recognise that some services are running slower than they should be, particularly the post-completion work or applications to create a title register for the first time. Where these become urgent, we offer a free expedite service which completes 96% of cases within 10 working days.

Our priority has remained the same over the last few years, to deliver the essential services that enable property transactions to continue uninterrupted. These are mainly searches of the register before a property is bought or sold. Searches of the title register and title plan prove the seller is the legal owner of the property they are selling and will give other important details, such as any debts registered against the property or any rights of way over the property. We get around 14,000 search requests every day and deliver nearly all of them within seconds.

Improvements to our speed of service

Improving the speed of our services remains our top priority. Our additional capability has helped us to increase output by 12% in 2022-23 compared with 2021-22.

This cross-organisation effort has been supported by our ambitious recruitment drive, bringing in over 1500 caseworkers over the last three years, with more than 450 additional caseworkers joining in the last year alone. This translates into a net increase of 520 caseworkers over the last three years.

We have made significant investment in our scale, capability and efficiency. An example of this is the creation of service teams, with a sharper focus on similar work, able to make more rapid improvement to processes and efficiency. We’ve also set up specialist teams, including lawyers, who are specifically targeting the oldest cases.

The Land Registration Academy has continued to enrich our caseworker expertise. Around 1,700 colleagues completed additional training, new starters were taught the fundamentals of our work, and we supported the overall effort to upskill and promote colleagues to handle our more complex cases. This is essential to our goal of developing our people and allowing our colleagues to focus on more complex cases as the benefits of processing simpler cases are realised.

1,500 caseworkers recruited over the last three years

Expedite case study

My husband and I have been greatly concerned that we would lose the buyers for our house and that we would be unable to move because of a charge that should have been removed in 2011 but was not completed by the person who placed the charge on our property.

The wonderful Customer Support Centre team, knowing our circumstances, worked a miracle for us. I cannot tell you how grateful we are for her efforts on our behalf. We only had one more day to get this sorted or we would have lost our buyer.

1,700 caseworkers recruited over the last 3 years

Digital applications

Towards the end of 2022 we achieved a major milestone in our journey towards fulfilling our automation ambitions. On 30 November we went ‘digital by default’. This means that whether an application is submitted in the HM Land Registry customer portal using the awardwinning Digital Registration Service, or using software connected to HM Land Registry’s Business Gateway APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), the default option to submit the application is digital.

Digital applications are a significant step forward from electronic applications. The details of the application are entered directly into the service capturing the data digitally. This is more accurate due to pre-submission checks, therefore making it more easily machinereadable – all of which will support the automation of more applications.

Whether an application is submitted via the portal or by legal software connected to our APIs, errors and requisitions will be reduced by improving the quality of the initial application. There are different benefits to each route, and numerous options when submitting through legal software.

To support the move to being ‘digital by default’, we also launched a new look portal homepage, the first change in design it’s had since it was launched in 2009. This redesign is to make the portal easier to use and to support customers in submitting and managing their applications.

Before the switch, less than 70% of applications were digital, rising to 88% from December 2022 onwards. In February we saw our one millionth digital application submitted via the Digital Registration System. A quarter of the lifetime applications submitted through the Digital Registration Service were submitted between November and February, and we expect to accelerate this trend to reach 2 million even quicker.

We have also seen more than 200 additional firms switch to the digital options provided by using software that links to our services over the last financial year. We believe this is the start of a new era of instantaneous processing with applications to change the register started before sales are completed.

Digital applications showcases

As part of our preparations for the switch to digital applications, we made sure our customers were aware of the range of options available to them – whether from HM Land Registry or a third-party supplier. We worked with software suppliers already integrated with our suite of APIs to present their solutions to our customers at a series of digital applications showcases. Between April and September, 11 suppliers presented to nearly 1,000 attendees across three virtual events. These events were well received by both our customers and our suppliers and contributed to the rise in digital applications.

Digital applications by numbers 2022-23

Award winning

For the second year running the Digital Registration Service won the Real IT Award for Delivering Excellent Customer Experience.

Improving application quality

We have been making great efforts to reduce the work conveyancers and their clients have to put into registrations in order to speed up processing times.

Our Digital Registration Service application service validates some data before an application is submitted. The most common errors checked by the service are discrepancies between the name on the application and that in the register, and checking the fee due to be paid. This new approach has reduced those errors by approximately 40% and with future improvements to the service we expect the quality of applications to improve further.

Customers said:

The easy to use digital registration makes it all quicker and easier.

…things have improved with the digital registration that we do.

I used the system for the first time digitally, it was very easy and simple.

We have been working directly with customers, delivering workshops, webinars, video tutorials and top tips guides in response to their feedback. We are also sharing best practice by publishing guest blogs from firms with low levels of requisitions.

Fraud

HM Land Registry prevented the registration of 41 fraudulent applications in 2022-23. These affected properties across England and Wales worth an estimated £18 million.

Our free Property Alert service also continued to receive positive coverage on prime-time television and radio consumer affairs shows. The service saw 116,406 new accounts created across the year, with clear spikes of interest when featured on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours , BBC’s Crimewatch, in the MoneySavingExpert newsletter and in ITV drama Our House.

Setting ourselves up for the future

We made significant structural changes as part of an organisational design programme that enable us to deliver better against our ambitions. We have aligned our teams to be more multi-disciplinary, putting customers at the heart of our organisation, as well as a greater emphasis on efficiency and streamlining decision-making.

Other internal governance changes included moving from an Executive Board to a Senior Executive Team that brings together around 20 of our senior leaders with accountability across a number of new Senior Executive Committees (Strategy and Delivery, Service Delivery and Corporate Services). The committee meetings take place monthly across our 14 office locations and help to improve the visibility of senior leaders across the wider organisation.

The formation of a new Customer and Strategy Group, for example, has brought together the elements of enterprise design, product and service design. We have implemented new ways of working which enable a greater focus on transformation outcomes. It also allows us to maintain standards and work against a set of design principles that reflect Strategy 2022+.

Customer satisfaction scores

Number of respondents: 2021-22 = 1570, 2022-23 = 1764

Enabling property to be bought and sold digitally

The work we have completed over the last year on digital applications is the first step to fulfilling our automation ambitions. But the way applications are submitted is just one of many elements that are required for us to be able to provide a truly digital, automated conveyancing process.

Electronic signatures and digital identity

We believe in innovation and embracing change, both within our own processes but also in encouraging innovation across the property market. In recent years we have been laying the groundwork by creating new practice guidance on accepting electronic signatures, followed by a standard for digital identity solutions. These ground-breaking steps have brought a focus on the benefits of these digital tools for property market professionals, and interest has continued to grow in this area. HM Land Registry has supported the Ministry of Justice’s Industry Working Group on the Electronic Execution of Documents and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s Digital Identity Trust Framework project. These discussions have moved our work forward and shown how this technology can bring real convenience and efficiency to conveyancers. We will continue this work to further our ambition of a fully digital property buying process.

Trust in application data

Our Strategy 2022+ sets out our ambition for automation, with up to 70% of applications to update the register being fully automated by the end of five years.

A key barrier to achieving that ambition is the need to place trust in the information provided to us, so we can move away from manually checking applications when they are submitted.

We are piloting a system for conveyancers to submit confirmation of the information in their applications. We have been working with four firms to test an early version, with positive results. This will only be a success if the new system works for conveyancers and others, so we will share any prototype approach with the full range of law firms and application types.

We are continuing to work with those involved in the pilot and talking to other conveyancers and stakeholders across the market to find the right solution, with the aim to automate fully some of our simpler application types in the next year.

Thirdfort

> HM Land Registry’s Digital ID Standard has been a real game-changer for the market. At Thirdfort, the majority of our conveyancing clients have adopted and are benefiting from the protection of safe-harbour through our products. For consumers, this has resulted in a much more convenient and secure process, taking on average seven minutes to complete their verification, resulting in a knock-on saving for our clients, reducing their onboarding administration from an average of one week to one day. By applying the standard, we are also allowing firms to unlock reduced Professional Indemnity Insurance premiums in partnership with future-focused insurance suppliers like Inperio who understand the value and risk reduction it unlocks.

Olly Thornton-Berry, Co-Founder and MD at Thirdfort

Providing near real-time property information

We continue to work in partnership with Companies House and other stakeholders across government to play a pivotal role in tackling global economic crime. This took a significant step forward through the creation of the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) at Companies House, which went live on 1 August. This new register requires overseas entities that own UK land to declare their beneficial owners or managing officers. Overseas entities in scope will now not be able to buy, sell, transfer or lease land, or create a charge against the land, in the UK unless they have registered with Companies House. To ensure compliance with the legalisation we added appropriate restrictions to approximately 100,000 affected registers. To ensure compliance with the legalisation we added appropriate restrictions to approximately 100,000 affected registers and shared the details of 32,000 overseas entities with Companies House. As a result, more than 26,000 overseas entities have registered with Companies House, and law enforcement organisations, journalists and the general public can now access this data.

This was a major piece of work for HM Land Registry, requiring changes to our systems, developing new practice, publishing guidance for our customers and training more than 4,000 caseworkers.

We have expanded our data science capability and widened the use of leading-edge tools such as machine learning, showing how they can make information more accessible and reusable. For example, machine learning has significantly cut the time taken to extract local land charges from millions of local authority documents under our Local Land Charges Programme, while accelerating the pace of change to the upfront provision of information. It’s also enabling comprehensive searches of the Register of Overseas Entities at a speed that would be impossible with a manual process.

Local Land Charges Programme – saves customers £1.2 million

Our Local Land Charges (LLC) Programme is one of the most ambitious geospatial data transformations ever attempted by a UK government. Using cutting edge techniques, we are transforming the LLC services previously delivered by 331 local authorities across England and Wales into a single national, geospatial digital LLC Register.

Buying a property is the largest transaction most people undertake. It is vital they have quick and simple access to the information they require, so decision-making can be informed and transactions prevented from failing. The migration of LLC registers from local authorities to our national digital service is the most significant change to searches in over 20 years. Critical information about restrictions or conditions that affect a property are instantly available online in a standard, easy-to-read format.

In 2022-23, a total of 34 local authorities migrated their data to the digital register. This brought the total number of migrated local authorities to 74, with almost 4 million charges migrated to the register. As more local authorities migrate, customers in these areas are saving an average of £11 per LLC search, and receive the results instantly. Collectively, customers have also saved more than £1.5 million due to cheaper search fees.

Wandsworth Council chose to join to the national LLC register as part of their cost-of-living response package. Council Leader Simon Hogg said:

For the first time, property buyers in the Wandsworth area will have instant access to LLC information free of charge. Or they can opt to pay £15 for an official guaranteed search.

The council is absolutely committed to making sure it does everything possible to help people through the cost of living crisis. This includes helping property buyers to get the information they need quickly and simply, so their transactions are not compromised.

Customers have already conducted more than 500,000 searches in migrated areas. High-quality, standardised data also enables government and industry to work more efficiently and effectively. Making our data accessible and interoperable will mean that for every £1 we invest, up to £18 will be released back into the UK economy.

We’re dedicated to continuous improvement and learning from previous migrations to share expertise and best practice with other local authorities for future migrations. We have listened to feedback and optimised several processes to make our service better and faster for customers. This year we have improved the accessibility and navigation for both the live service, which was moved to GOV.UK, and the Migration Hub, which provides guidance to support local authorities on their migration journey. We have also successfully embarked on our first regional cluster strategy, which gives neighbouring authorities an opportunity to work together during migration, supporting broader economic growth. We are committed to building upon the momentum and leveraging the national LLC Register to promote progress and prosperity throughout England and Wales.

More than 500,000 customer searches in migrated LLC areas

Championing continuous improvement

The LLC team became multi-award winners after receiving the Smarter Working Lives Championing Continuous Improvement award for their collaboration with the Continuous Improvement team.

The award celebrates the collaborative efforts made to identify and improve the programme’s processes and speed of migration delivery. They undertook a number of innovative, imaginative and ambitious activities, such as end-to-end process design, which helped to identify ways to increase the speed of local authority migrations, and pod design, which enhanced the existing programme structure, and benefited customers by providing increased support for local authorities.

The LLC Programme has always advocated continuous improvement, recognising that investments in processes and people achieve the best business outcomes. Our customers are receiving a better service in terms of speed and quality, not only when it comes to LLC searches but also in relation to the overall conveyancing process.

Delivering the first regional cluster of migrations

HM Land Registry and the LLC teams at Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby collaborated to migrate their LLC registers to the national digital LLC service in time for the North Yorkshire Council merger on 1 April 2023.

The data migration of these seven local authorities posed a significant challenge due to each authority’s unique requirements. Across North Yorkshire, more than 334,000 LLC records were transformed, making this information easily accessible to customers.

The lessons learned during this collaboration project will be applied to future migrations, aiming to increase the pace of local authority migrations and sharing expertise with other councils who may be embarking on mergers. We want to unlock the true value of the register to exploit all the benefits for North Yorkshire and the wider economy.

Providing accessible digital register data

More accessible digital register data

We’re moving closer to our goal of making more of our Land Register data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR). This will increase its potential to generate insight that helps the Government and others tackle complex social, environmental and economic challenges.

As more of the Land Register is data machine-readable it not only means we can make significant internal efficiencies in the way we operate, but also enables our register data to be reused far more easily, such as conveyancers making applications. Combined with other property information it allows for better informed and faster property marketing and transactions, as well as more intelligent land use planning. Enabling our data to be read and understood by machines is an essential step in our ambition to automate more of our services, which in turn benefits the property market and beyond. However, we acknowledge that we still have more to do on making all our data more FAIR.

Our datasets contain information about millions of properties, so this is now the route by which many billions of pieces of property information enter the general market and public use. Since the launch of our own data publication platform –Use land and property data – in 2020, the number of data downloads has increased significantly, with around 430,000 in 2022-23 – a fourfold increase in three years. The platform makes access to our data easier, enabling more people to use the 13 published datasets in ways that benefit the property market and the wider UK economy.

As part of our aim to transform the way HM Land Registry collects, stores and supplies spatial data, we have enhanced both individual and team capabilities. This means we are set up to unlock the significant economic, social and environmental opportunities of the future line with the aims of the UK Geospatial Strategy.

Location Data’s Going Digital | Move iQ People in Property Series – YouTube

In December 2022, we took part in Phil Spencer’s (TV’s Location Location Location co-presenter) MoveIQ podcast and video. Alongside spokespeople from the Geospatial Commission and Geovation, our Chief Geospatial and Data Officer, Andrew Trigg, and LLC Programme Director Mark Kelso, discussed the vital role our geospatial data plays in the homebuying process.

Each organisation outlined how the digitisation of government location data benefits the UK and helps in making it quicker and simpler to buy and sell a home. “All music to our ears – absolutely fantastic – benefits everyone in the country,” was Phil’s response.

This collaborative podcast was a success in reaching an audience we wouldn’t normally reach, with nearly 2,000 listens in the first month.

Leading research and accelerating change with property market partners

Close working with industry partners is key to delivering on our ambition of a world-leading property market. Over the past year, we have worked closely with our Land Registry Advisory Council, industry and others in government working to improve the home buying and selling process, identifying shared opportunities to deliver change and attempting to remove the barriers to improvements we see in the sector. We have also supported the Geospatial Commission in their exploration of key land use pressures and how innovative data analysis can support better decisions about land use change, contributing to the National Land Data Programme through roundtables and expert workshops with stakeholders across local and national government, academia and industry.

Our Industry Forum continues to meet regularly, giving us crucial insight into the issues facing our customers. With five sub-groups working on a range of topics, they are also an opportunity for industry colleagues to work with us to solve shared challenges mutually. The groups focus on Communicating with the market, Digital Innovations, Lending Community, Registration Practise and Business Gateway.

The Policy Team are responsible for ensuring that HM Land Registry contributes effectively to wider government policy delivery in a co-ordinated way. We take an active approach to policy horizon scanning to enable timely engagement. We have drawn on expert land registration knowledge in supporting a number of policy initiatives. Particular collaborative policy highlights over the last year include:

• working closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on a range of initiatives to improve the current housing landscape including measures to enhance land transparency; leasehold reform and shaping how the home buying and selling process could be improved;
• working with Department for Business and Trade and Companies House on the implementation of the new Register of Overseas Entities and the sanctions regime;
• collaborating with the Geospatial Commission to support the National Land Data Programme, the UK Geospatial Strategy refresh and to ensure property data supports improvements to the home buying and selling process;
• working to actively encourage the adoption of digital identity checking, as part of the emerging UK digital identity and attributes trust framework, led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT); and
• supporting the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) as they work to modernise lasting powers of attorney and further contribute to an Industry Working Group on digital signatures facilitated by the MOJ.

We collaborated as a strategic partner of the Geospatial Commission on several initiatives, including supporting the commission in their exploration of key land use pressures and how innovative data analysis can support better decisions about land use change, contributing to the National Land Data Programme and the final report ‘Finding Common Ground’. We have engaged with the commission as they refresh the UK’s Geospatial Strategy and an HM Land Registry case study was used in the commission’s report, ‘Measuring the Economic, Social and Environmental value of public sector location data’, published in August 2022. We continue to work with the commission to ensure property data supports improvements to the home buying and selling process.

We are also working more closely with the Home Buying and Selling Group, understanding how the group is attempting to effect change for the good and what we can do to support those changes.

At an international level, we continue to take the opportunity to share experiences and to learn from partner agencies across the globe. We actively participate in the Working Party on Land Administration (WPLA) within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) where we held the role of Vice-Chair of the Bureau to the Working Party.

The overall goals of the Working Party are the promotion and improvement of land administration and land management in the UNECE region in order to respond to a changing environment and emerging needs.

We helped organise a series of webinars and took the lead on discussions around ‘Data Interoperability: The benefits for the Land Administration sector’, along with colleagues from the Geospatial Commission. We also contributed to a study on Digital transformation and land administration – ‘Sustainable practices from the UNECE region and beyond’.

HM Land Registry is working with others in government to actively encourage the adoption of digital identity checking, as part of the emerging UK digital identity and attributes trust framework, led by DSIT. We attended DSIT’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) adoption sprint for the property sector. We were encouraged by the appetite to adopt, within a regulated framework, reusable identities and the credibility provided by the HM Land Registry digital identity standard, and the role that could play in adoption.

Geovation

Working alongside Ordnance Survey, we continue to support the Geovation Accelerator Programme. Every year the programme helps a number of start-ups to harness the opportunities of property and location data.

Since 2017, more than 150 start-ups have been supported by the Geovation programme, with over 2,500 jobs created and £170 million in funding raised. Start-ups who are chosen to take part in the programme receive a bespoke package of financial help and support worth over £100,000. This includes grant funding, a 12-month residency in the data hub, intensive support from industry experts, workshops, coaching and access to the latest location and property data from Ordnance Survey and HM Land Registry. At the end of the first six months the start-ups take part in a showcase/ demo day where they pitch to potential investors and stakeholders.

The Geovation programme was extremely proud to win Accelerator Programme of the Year in the Go:Tech Awards 2022. These awards celebrate businesses and entrepreneurs who lead the way in technology and innovation across the UK, which ties in exactly with what the Geovation programme aims to do. By providing funding and support from both HM Land Registry and Ordnance Survey, PropTech and geospatial start-up firms can advance to the next level.

Caroline Bray, Geovation Stakeholder Manager at HM Land Registry says:

I have worked with great community members and business founders during my time as part of the Geovation team. I have regular sessions with participants throughout their time on the programme covering what commercial data HM Land Registry has and how it might help them, introducing them to stakeholders and helping them understand our statutory services. The support doesn’t stop at the end of the programme as they remain members of Geovation. It’s the best role I have had in HM Land Registry and it’s very rewarding to see how the companies we have supported go from strength to strength.

Our autumn 2022 cohort of PropTech start-ups taking part in the Geovation programme are:

Pantera Solutions

Transforming forecasting and strategy planning for commercial real estate.

Blocktype

Helping developers and planners understand the development potential of land.

EverKnock

A virtual concierge to manage your home move.

Geovation case studies – where are they now?

Veya

Veya was a participant in the Geovation Accelerator Programme in 2019. They provide an instant and comprehensive analysis of HM Land Registry ownership records – giving anyone access to a layperson’s understanding of property titles (the evidence of a person’s right to property). This means that risks or issues associated with a property can be explained prior to listing, which leads to smoother and faster transactions for all. Veya has been proven to significantly reduce transaction times by up to 25%, through highlighting the key areas of focus right from the point of appraisal by the estate agent through to being able to allocate cases to the appropriate conveyancer.

Taking part in the Geovation programme was a pivotal moment for Veya. The workshops were incredibly insightful, and well positioned for startups looking to scale up.

Jason Howarth, founder of Veya.

Searchland

Property professionals spend an average of 100 hours per month just collecting data. Finding sites for development can be a time consuming and repetitive task. What’s more, conversion rates are between 3% to 10% for the sites that are found, which means that 90% of the work is wasted. This prompted Searchland, a participant in the Geovation Programme in 2021, to provide a platform that captures the most reliable and relevant data for anyone looking for property information. They do this by combining HM Land Registry data with a whole host of other property and land related data from across England and Wales such as the National Grid, Companies House, Environment Agency, Historic England and local planning authorities. This means clients have a one-stop-shop rather than having to search multiple sources and platforms.

Co-founder Arthur Goodhart says:

The Geovation programme gave us 12 months of invaluable support, both financial and practical, in developing our business which helped us to deliver our solution to challenges that exist in the property market.

Our people

Over the last year, we’ve continued to focus on developing the people agenda within HM Land Registry, making sure that we nurture and develop our existing colleagues, while bringing in additional capability and capacity so that we can fulfil our customers’ needs. We remain committed to Diversity & Inclusion, health and wellbeing, and developing the culture of the organisation. During 2022-23 we made significant organisational structure changes, rearranging our teams so that they are more focused on delivery specific casework types and establishing multi-disciplinary teams to lead on outcomes for our customers.

A new strategy for our people

We launched a new People Strategy in March 2023, that aims to nurture the commitment and creativity of our people as they bring our strategic ambitions to life. It focuses on three main themes.

• Developing our people – investing in learning and development; providing opportunities and support for our people to take their careers in the direction they want; and planning to ensure we have the right capacity, capability, and organisational structure for 2025 and beyond.

• Modernising our ways of working – reaffirming our commitment to collaborative hybrid working; maturing our inclusive culture and involving our people in change; and strengthening a high-performance culture with the customer at its heart.

• Attracting the right skills – using our sense of mission and culture to position ourselves in a shifting jobs market to attract the talent we need for success. We are also innovating in the way we recruit and reward people, diversifying the organisation so we better reflect the customers we serve.

Our workforce continues to evolve and change and we are developing a Strategic Workforce plan to help to identify the skills we need for the future. We are committed to developing highly capable and motivated colleagues.

Engagement scores

Our Civil Service People Survey 2022 scores are now similar to pre-COVID levels. The 2022 engagement index score of 65% was two points higher than 2019, but six points lower than 2021. Similarly, our leadership and managing change score of 50% was 2 points higher than 2019, but 12 points lower than 2021.

While our engagement scores remain in the top quartile of Civil Service organisations of a similar size and type, we know there is more to do to reach the levels we are aiming for. We are developing action plans and will continue our focus on improving engagement and involving and supporting our people so that HM Land Registry continues to be a great place to work.

PERMA Index Score 73%

(Civil Service Average 73%)

A refreshed approach to health and wellbeing

Our commitment to the health and wellbeing of our people has continued to grow, with a refreshed approach and action plan to 2024, giving us the focus we need to provide a happy and healthy workplace. To help us to build on recent achievements – such as the recruitment of more mental health first aiders, the relaunch of mental health training for line managers and a new menopause policy – our approach’s five key wellbeing priorities are to:

• provide visible leadership for health and wellbeing;
• encourage an open dialogue leading to action on mental health;
• create a safe and healthy hybrid working environment;
• provide impactful and inclusive wellbeing support; and
• improve the general wellbeing of all our workforce.

After receiving a Gold Award for 2020-21, we have again taken part in the MIND Workplace Wellbeing Index. Combining this with our internal engagement surveys keeps us accountable and helps us to strengthen our policies and practices in ways that really meet the needs of our people.

Leadership & Management Academy

Developing our leaders for now and for the future

Building leadership capability is a corporate priority, so we have launched our Leadership & Management Academy, our single point of access to all leadership and management development.

The academy is accessible to all our people, supporting the leadership development of those with significant leadership experience, those new to people management and our aspiring future leaders.

We have clarified our leadership expectations, refreshed our new line manager programme and introduced a suite of facilitated workshops for more experienced leaders. Talent management and talent programmes also sit within the academy.

Following a successful pilot, we launched our second cohort of ‘Step up to’ and ‘Step into’ accelerated leadership programmes. They encourage our high-potential colleagues to step out of their comfort zones and equip themselves with the skills, knowledge and behaviours to become great leaders. From the first group of 33 graduates, 17 have already been promoted, and they have all continued to inspire each other through their ongoing leadership journeys.

Coaching – unlocking potential and improving performance

Coaching is fundamental to how we work as it ensures our people are supported and upskilled to deliver a best-in-class service. The Developer Team from the Plymouth office have been leading from the front to unlock potential and improve performance.

They employed a tailored coaching programme, coaching models and targeted development activities to ensure newly promoted colleagues gained the confidence, knowledge and sense of achievement they needed to be brilliant leaders and inspiring coaches.

Diversity and inclusion

We continue to strive to be the most inclusive employer in the Civil Service and to reflect the society we serve. We continually review and check best practice with other departments and the private sector. Resourcing is a priority area, and we have a wide range of inclusive activities in place to ensure resourcing is accessible and welcoming to all, such as adjustments from sift through to interview, name blind recruitment and gender balanced panels.

We are a Disability Confident leader and continue to score highly for inclusion in the Civil Service People Survey with 83%.

We have an action plan in place to deliver the three themes of our strategy: improving representation, creating an inclusive culture and embedding diversity and inclusion. An internal committee made up of diversity networks, Inclusion Champions and the trade unions reviews the action plan.

We have active diversity networks for disability, LGBTI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex +), age, women, and faith or belief and for people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Our networks have continued to grow and develop throughout the year, supporting colleagues and allies, and providing vital feedback to the organisation. We have relaunched our senior diversity champions who are allies and advocates.

We ensure our policies are inclusive and this year launched a new gender identity and intersex policy and a menopause policy. We updated our equality impact assessment process, embedding it in our people impact assessments.

83% Inclusion Civil Service People Survey

Spectrum – neurodiversity network

October 2022 saw the launch of our staff neurodiversity network – Spectrum. In a short time, they have grown to 400 members and have made a huge impact.

Colleagues can now access a wide range of online resources around neurodiversity, including guides on training and hybrid working with a neurodiverse condition. Spectrum has been helping us to improve our human resources (HR) and recruitment processes too. We have added information on neurodiversity to our job candidate packs, a ‘neurodiverse condition’ option has been added to the diversity declaration section of colleagues’ HR profiles and we are working to make our interviews and progression opportunities more inclusive.

Spectrum have also been consulted as we have put in place changes and developed new systems, ensuring we’re considering any potential impacts on neurodiverse colleagues – such as sensory issues that might be experienced in office spaces, or the accessibility of a digital platform.

Hybrid working framework

We have launched a refreshed hybrid working framework and frequently asked questions, as well as a series of awareness sessions attended by around 800 line managers. The focus continues to be on enabling better business outcomes, with an expectation of staff spending 40% of their working time in the office. Hybrid working was a key topic in a virtual Chief Executive question and answer session in December, which had a record attendance of over 2,500 colleagues.

160 years of land registration

HM Land Registry opened with a staff of just six in 1862. We took the opportunity to mark the milestone of 160 years in October 2022. With the support of LR Leisure, we marked our journey from one to more than 26 million titles with tea parties at all 14 of our offices. Thanks to some technological advances, our Chief Executive Simon Hayes was broadcast live from Coventry to every location to speak about our incredible journey so far and the ongoing resilience we have demonstrated as we have adapted to change.

Breaking the taboo on menopause and menstruation

This year our Women’s Network helped us take further steps to break taboos around women’s health. We classified menstruation as a sickness absence reason and created a new ‘Menopause and the Workplace’ policy, helping to raise awareness and promote a more supportive environment for anyone impacted by menopause.

In February 2023 we began providing free sanitary products in all 14 of our office locations. The products we have supplied from social enterprise Hey Girls are sustainable, biodegradable, organic and vegan friendly.

A new Nottingham Office

This year our Nottingham colleagues began the sizeable shift of moving from their office space at Castle Wharf House to a new Government Hub in Unity Square.

LR Leisure: fostering the wellbeing and culture of our organisation

We are so lucky to have both LR Leisure and an organisation that recognises and supports the remarkable people who work tirelessly to provide events and opportunities for us all to connect and interact. We are the envy of many departments who see the benefits of staff connecting through social activities.

As someone who has enjoyed so many of those moments, I feel we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone continues to have different ways to connect, join the HM Land Registry family and create their own memories.

Paul Hayden, LR Leisure Secretary

LR Leisure, our sports and social network, makes significant contributions to the health, wellbeing and culture of our organisation. Funded through a lottery and run by a local network of volunteers overseen by a national committee, LR Leisure has continued to organise a full programme of events throughout the year to promote engagement.

We enable our members to compete in internal competitions and against other departments through our positive relationship with the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC). Paul Hayden and Neil Vick received merit awards as part of the CSSC 100th anniversary celebrations, along with Maria Kerr and Donna Swarbrick receiving health and wellbeing awards. We are rightfully proud to have been recognised across the whole Civil Service for our work.

The first wave of around 80 people, drawn from every level of the organisation, began moving into their new office space in late March 2023. They hit the ground running from day one with the aim to test what the new space had to offer. From the range of formal and informal workspaces to the impressive facilities and cityscape views, they have been feeding back their experiences so those who follow feel informed and confident when moving in.

Key Performance Indicators assessment

The Business Plan and Strategy 2022+ it supports is reinforced by a Performance Framework, which was introduced last year and was designed in accordance with the principles laid out in the Public Value Framework. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within this framework are supported by a full ecosystem of performance data, which is reviewed on a continuous basis, ensuring our governance boards have the information they need to support outcome-focused decision-making, including early warning signs when performance is at risk. While we didn’t achieve all the stretching ambitions for the past year, services necessary to keep the property market moving were delivered and ensured the property market has continued to thrive.

KPI 1 Customer trust in the integrity and accuracy of the registers

Question KPI seeks to answer

Do our customers trust the information held on the land registers?

Performance summary

We measure customer trust by conducting a quarterly survey by Ipsos Mori that tracks the percentage of customers rating our ability to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the register as 8 to 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10). Performance has been broadly consistent over the years. Our ability to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the registers was rated as good to excellent by 72% of customers.

Data provided is for Q4 of each financial year. Data was not collected for this KPI prior to 2019-20.

KPI 2 Customer satisfaction

Question KPI seeks to answer

Are we delivering a service that aligns with our customer needs?

Performance summary

As with customer trust, we measure satisfaction by conducting a quarterly survey by Ipsos Mori that tracks the percentage of customers rating our overall service as 8 to 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10). This was rated as good to excellent by 60% of customers surveyed. We know satisfaction varies by different users of our services, with higher satisfaction from customers who use pre-completion services, including requests for information. We want all our customers to experience a high-level of service which is why we are focusing on improving the speed of our services and reducing the volume and age of applications during the course of our business plan.

Data provided is for Q4 of each financial year. Data was not collected for this KPI prior to 2019-20.

KPI 3 Staff engagement

Question KPI seeks to answer

How connected do our staff feel towards their work and our organisation?

Performance summary

Our Civil Service People Survey results continue to be among the best in Whitehall when compared to organisations of a similar size and nature. The overall Engagement Index from the 2022 Civil Service People Survey was 65% which was level with the Civil Service benchmark. Our recently published People Strategy will allow us to track commitments that will enable us to continue to develop our people, attract the right skills and continue to modernise our ways of working.

KPI 4 Cost of our services

Question KPI seeks to answer

How efficiently is our organisation being run?

Performance summary

This is a cost to serve metric, which provides the total organisational costs of delivering individual ‘units’ or services to our customers. It considers total costs, including the investment in transformation as well as the costs directly associated with the delivery of our services. The rolling 12-month Cost of our Services was £46.30, an improvement of £0.50 on last year. The positive improvement in output over the past year has lowered the average cost of delivering our service.

Data provided is for Q4 of each financial year. We introduced our new performance framework in 2021 which was the first year this indicator was collected. No prior period data is available.

KPI 5 Risk to the integrity of the register

Question KPI seeks to answer

How are changes to the register impacting register integrity?

Performance summary

This metric is an early warning indicator in the quality of the Land Register to indicate the overall level of risk HM Land Registry holds. It provides a view of the frequency of errors and their potential impact. It does not assess the overall integrity of the register of title. Our risk profile is baselined at 1.0 at the beginning of each year. We ended the year slightly above profile at 1.2. The aim in the coming year is to reduce the level of risk we hold by focusing on targeted improvement activities as we process our oldest and most complex applications.

Data provided is for the end of March for each financial year. We introduced our new performance framework in 2021 which was the first year this indicator was collected. No prior period data is available.

KPI 6 Applications completed

Question KPI seeks to answer

Does HM Land Registry have the right capacity and capability to deliver its services in a timely manner?

Performance summary

We closely monitor the percentage of applications completed against those received. Over the 12-month period, we output 99.5% of the applications we received but we want to do more. The work we’ve completed over the last year on digital applications is the first step in fulfilling our automation ambitions. We invested in developing the skills of our caseworkers and increased operational capacity. In the coming year we are focused on building on this momentum to further increase output, reduce the size and age of the backlog and improve the speed of service for customers.

Data provided is for the end of March for each financial year. We introduced our new performance framework in 2021 which was the first year this indicator was collected. No prior period data is available.

KPI 7a Speed of our services

Question KPI seeks to answer

How long do applications spend in HM Land Registry (excluding time awaiting a customer response and other 3rd party action)?

Performance summary

This is expressed as the median working days to update or create new register entries. Over 46 million service requests were processed in 2022-23. Forty-seven per cent of these were information services requests, which are the pre-completion services that are vital before housing transactions complete, and people can move into their new homes. The vast majority of these were automated with customers receiving a response on the same day with the majority of the remainder delivered within three days. At the end of March 2023 post-completion applications, which are important to the overall accuracy of the Land Register but do not hold up housing transactions, were processed within 16 working days on average. We processed over 1,000 expedited (fast-track) applications every day where there was an urgent need for the registration to be completed, consistently completing 96% within 10 working days.

Data provided is for the end of March for each financial year. We introduced our new performance framework in 2021 which was the first year this indicator was collected. No prior period data is available.

KPI 7b Time taken to change the register

Question KPI seeks to answer

How long does it take for the register to accurately reflect ownership?

Performance summary

This focuses on the accuracy of the register as a complete data set at a given moment. At the end of March 2023, it took 350 working days for 95% of all known changes lodged by a conveyancer to be reflected in the register, which includes the time an application spends with HM Land Registry (the focus of KPI 7a) plus any time the application is with a customer or 3rd party to provide more information, and any time it may take for an application to go through tribunal. As this is a measure of the total time it takes for 95% of updates to go through, it is subject to fluctuation when particularly long tribunal applications reach resolution.

Data provided is for the end of March for each financial year. We introduced our new performance framework in 2021 which was the first year this indicator was collected. No prior period data is available.

How we’re delivering against our Strategy and Business Plan

Last year was a significant year with the launch of our Strategy 2022+ and Business Plan 2022-2025. This provided a catalyst to transform the process of land registration in England and Wales, placing customers at the centre. Using our expert colleagues for the more complex cases we are working to digitise more information to enable us to play a significant role in a data-driven and sustainable economy. This will also benefit planning and policymaking towards achieving Net Zero and continue to energise the developing PropTech sector.

In this section we will share details of our progress and how we are transforming to meet our aims.

Our Business Plan objectives

In August 2022, we published our 2022-2025 Business Plan. This set out our priority objectives, the plan for achieving them and the key performance indicators we would use to track performance.

Our Business Plan laid out our commitment to:

• deliver an improved speed of service for our customers;
• lay the foundations for our future role in a digital property market and maximise our impact on the future wider economy; and
• modernise our organisational culture and ways of working.

We measure performance using a range of indicators and datasets on GOV.UK enabling us to understand the broader impact the organisation is having, with the aim of delivering improvements.

The following summary shows how we progressed towards the objectives in our Business Plan 2022-2025. The performance analysis section of this report on pages 38 to 41 provides further details of our activities, and an analysis of progress against key performance indicators and the principal risks we have faced.

Performance overview

The cyclical nature of the property market means we have traditionally gone through periods where a backlog of applications builds up. Our Business Plan set out our aims to tackle our backlog while making our organisation more resilient to market volatility in the longer-term.

Deliver an improved speed of service for our customers

Delivering an improved speed of service is central to our commitment to eradicate the backlog of applications we hold. All pre-completion services necessary to keep the property market moving were delivered. Approximately 28 million Information Service requests were received, with more than 91% automated and available instantly. The remainder that required manual intervention were completed in three days. Investment in transformation means over a million applications to amend the register were received digitally and processed more efficiently. We processed more than 1,000 expedited (fast-track) applications every day, consistently completing 96% within 10 working days, where there was an urgent need for the registration to be completed. During the past year, we invested significantly in developing the skills of new and existing caseworkers, which, when measuring against applications’ complexity and time taken to complete, supported a 12% increase in output and reduced the backlog of applications to change the register.

Lay the foundations for our future role in a digital property market and maximise our impact on the wider economy.

To support a more efficient and transparent property market, we progressed activity to standardise and migrate Local Land Charges register information to one accessible place. This is one of the Information Services we provide which keeps the property market moving. So far, 74 local authorities have transferred their Local Land Charges data to HM Land Registry’s digital service. We expect a further 45 local authorities to complete by April 2024. The register comprises almost 4 million charges, meaning it is around 20% complete. Since 2018 HM Land Registry has delivered around 500,000 searches with instant results, transforming how this information is accessed. For official search customers this has resulted in an average saving of £11 per search and receiving results around two weeks faster.

Modernise our organisational culture and ways of working

Our values and commitment to our cultural aspirations have not changed and our people remain at the heart of all that we do. We have focused on enabling activity that has supported us as an organisation to maintain and deliver improvements to our services. Our response rate of 70% from the 2022 Civil Service People Survey (5% points above the Civil Service average) demonstrates that our people remain engaged. We launched our People Strategy 2022+ which outlines how we will realise our vision for HM Land Registry, by ensuring we have the right capacity, capability, and culture for success. Specifically, it highlights our commitment to invest in our people, ensure we attract the right skills, diversify the organisation so that we better reflect the customers we serve, and re-affirms our commitment to modernise our ways of working. We launched our Health and Wellbeing Approach to 2024, which signalled our continued commitment to the health and wellbeing of our people. This is embedded as a priority within the organisation.

Commitments for 2022-23

Objective 1: Deliver an improved speed of service for our customers

This objective supports two key elements of Strategy 2022+ – delivering secure and efficient land registration and enabling property to be bought and sold digitally. Improving the speed of service for customers through investment in digital transformation and caseworker capacity and capability will enable us to keep pace with the market and make service delivery more resilient to future demand.

Over the three years of the Business Plan, we are investing 75% of our budget to improve the speed of service for customers. We have made significant progress in the first year:

Speed of our services (All speeds are expressed as median averages)	2022-23 progress made
Information service requests	91% of requests immediate, with no manual intervention required 92.3% delivered within 24 hours 97.8% delivered within 48 hours 99.5% delivered within 72 hours Average experience as of March 2023 – same day
Register updates	Average experience as of March 2023 – 11 days across all register updates (21 days excluding automated applications), an improvement of 21 days since March 2022
Register creates – Developers and non-developers – First registrations	Average experience as of March 2023 - 285 days for those dividing an existing registered title, an increase of 117 days since March 2022 Average experience as of March 2023 - 279 days for applications registering land for the first time, an increase of 36 days since March 2022
Expedited applications	96% of expedited applications delivered within 10 days
Local Land Charges	Local Land Charges delivered 210,000 personal and 53,000 official searches, with all results returned instantly
Land Charges	Information services returned in one working day; applications actioned upon day of receipt

Status at the end of 2022-23

Commitment	Progress made	Status
We will begin to automate register update applications by Q4 2022-23	Automation is an enabler for creating greater organisational resilience against market fluctuation. The focus for automation in 2022-23 was developing the design principles to inform future development of an end-to-end automation solution. We achieved the first end-to-end automation of a simple charge application by the end of the year. We are continuing to focus on developing our automation plans for the year ahead.	Risk to delivery

Objective 2: Lay the foundations for our future role in a digital property market and maximise our impact on the wider economy

This objective supports two areas of Strategy 2022+ – providing near real-time property information and providing accessible digital register data. The digital registers of the future – including the Local Land Charges Register – will support a more efficient and transparent property market. We are also investing in the accessibility and interoperability of our data to help support wider economic activity and innovation.

Commitment	Progress made	Status
We will migrate the data held from at least 50 local authorities into the Local Land Charges Register by Q4 2022-23.	HM Land Registry is working in partnership with local authorities in England and Wales to standardise and migrate local land charges register information to one accessible place. This was a historic step forward in the Government’s ambition to make the homebuying process simpler, faster and cheaper. So far, 74 local authorities have transferred their Local Land Charges data to HM Land Registry’s digital service, 34 of which were in the last year. We are accelerating our plans to enable us to migrate at least 45 local authorities into the Local Land Charges Register by the end of 2023-24.	On track or complete

Objective 3: Modernise our organisational culture and ways of working

We want to make sure HM Land Registry remains a great place to work for current and future workforce. The organisation has gone through a period of significant change. We have aligned to Civil Service Modernisation and Reform, including maximising the potential of new ways of working. We’re also transforming how we deliver our services and use our influence to improve how the property market works for all customers, the wider economy and society as a whole.

Status at the end of 2022-23

Commitment	Progress made	Status
We will deliver the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, improving representation and creating an inclusive culture across HM Land Registry by Q4 2024-25	We continue to strive to be the most inclusive employer in the Civil Service and to reflect the society we serve. We continually review and check best practice with other departments and the private sector. We aim to deliver the three themes of our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: — improving representation; — creating an inclusive culture; and — embedding diversity and inclusion.	On track or complete
We will maintain momentum towards cultural maturity, in order to achieve the objectives set out in our People Strategy by Q4 2024-25	We have maintained momentum towards increasing our cultural maturity. During the year we identified nine areas of focus and have achieved six of these which include: — launch of the Strategy 2022+; — launch of the People Strategy 2022+; — agreement of our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy; and — revised hybrid working framework. The remaining areas are on track for successfully delivery.	On track or complete
We will deliver a strategic workforce plan for 2025+ which identifies the requirements for the future capacity, capability and structure of our workforce by Q1 2023-24.	Our strategic workforce plan will help us understand what the future capacity and capability requirements will be to deliver Strategy 2022+ for three core professions: caseworker, digital data and technology, and customer roles. We have identified and agreed workforce demands to meet organisational strategic objectives up to 2027.	On track or complete
We will identify opportunities to contribute directly towards the Government’s Net Zero targets by Q4 2024	We have put governance in place to enable us to develop Net Zero plans as part of our environmental, social and governance ambitions. Our delivery against Greening Government Commitments that incorporate Net Zero is set out in the Sustainability Report (on pages 50 to 53).	On track or complete
We will develop a new Workplace Strategy, which covers our estate and considers our footprint by Q4 2022-23.	Our Workplace Strategy has been developed and aligns to the Government Estate Strategy. The themes of our Workplace Strategy outline our ambition to: — invest in “Smaller, Better, Greener” spaces creating an estate that is more efficient, effective and sustainable in line with the Government Property Strategy 2022-2030; — retain some presences with a strong HM Land Registry identity but seek to join government hubs where they suit our locations and need for space; and — realign our existing spaces to support the way the organisation works now and as hybrid working continues to mature.	On track or complete

Financial review

HM Land Registry has been funded through the Parliamentary Estimates process since the revocation of trading fund status on 1 April 2020. HM Land Registry’s costs are set out in the Statement of Consolidated Net Expenditure (SoCNE) and our Statement of Financial Position (SoFP) sets out our balance sheet position as at 31 March 2023. All fees, charges and commercial income are captured through our Trust Statement and surrendered to HM Treasury (HMT). Detailed financial statements for both can be found on pages 96 to 99 and pages 124 to 126.

In 2022-23 there have not been any significant changes in Financial Reporting Standards. However, following the introduction of IFRS 16 Leases in 2021-22, a leasing international financial reporting standard, there remain changes in how we account for new leases entered into in-year. In 2022-23 HM Land Registry entered into a new lease in the Government Property Agency’s Nottingham hub which resulted in additional capital expenditure of £8.1m. HM Land Registry calculates its indemnity provision with the support of the Government Actuary Department utilising HMT discount rates. Following changes in the HMT’s discount rate this has resulted in a one-off drop to the indemnity provision of £12.7m. The impact of this change is the most significant of the assumptions underpinning the provision, and is driven by changes to interest rates.

Financial summary

Our main financial objective going into 2022-23 remained that of continued investment in the short-term capacity and capabilities we need to service the day-to-day demand for our services in a housing market that remained buoyant, alongside the longer-term investment required to make sure those services become more resilient to market volatility.

The last two financial years have seen the highest volume of applications received by HM Land Registry since 2008. We have invested significantly in our capacity and capability to try to keep up with this demand. Over the last three years we have recruited and trained an extra 1,500 caseworkers to ensure we can process more applications which has supported a 12% increase in output in 2022-23. We have improved the effectiveness of our systems through innovations such as the Digital Registration Service (DRS), and Application Processing. These systems will improve the accuracy of applications coming into HM Land Registry, increase the efficiency with which they can be processed and lay the foundations for greater automation of our services.

This investment has been managed within our overall parliamentary control totals with underspends against both Resource Departmental Expenditure Limits (RDEL) and Capital Departmental Expenditure Limits (CDEL). The RDEL underspend is driven by some recruitment delays, the adoption of the new technical accounting standard IFRS 16 Leases, changes in the useful economic lives of some fixed assets impacting depreciation and some changes to the schedule of local authorities migrating to the Local Land Charges Register. This meant we underspent against RDEL and CDEL control totals by £14.0m and £10.8m respectively. However, our RDEL cash outturn, our largest budget which accounts for our day-to-day operational expenditure, was within 1.5% of our budget.

Summary table 2022-23	Outturn	Supplementary Estimate Budget
In £000’s	Total	Total
Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL)
Resource – cash	374,807	380,238
Resource – non-cash	20,333	28,910
Total resource	395,140	409,148
Capital	47,582	58,349
Total	442,722	467,497
Annually Managed Expenditure (AME)
Resource	(9,006)	17,000
Capital	894	2,000
Total	(8,112)	19,000

Resource accounts (RDEL) financial review

	2022-23 £m	2021-22 £m
Staff costs	286.8	269.2
Purchase of goods and services	84.8	76.7
Depreciation and amortisation charges*	18.8	11.8
Indemnity payments including legal costs**	4.7	5.8
Total operating expenditure	395.1	363.4
Finance income/expense	1.1	1.2
(Profit)/Loss on disposal of noncurrent assets	0.2	-
Net resource expenditure for the year	396.4	364.6
Other provisions utilised	-	-
Total RDEL	396.4	364.6

*Excludes impairment charged to Annually Managed Expenditure (AME).

** Excludes movements in the indemnity provision (classified as AME).

Staff costs

We recruited more expert colleagues and funded increased overtime to help manage demand for our services. Our average full-time equivalent headcount increased from 6,072 to 6,391 at 31 March 2023. This contributed to an increase in staff costs for our business-as-usual activity, rising from £269.2 million in 2021-22 to £286.8 million in 2022-23.

Purchases of goods and services

The key areas of spend and their movements from 2021- 22 to 2022-23 were:

• IT and professional services, including maintenance of equipment and licences, decreased from £31.4 million to £30.4 million in 2022-23, which reflected a slight reduction in IT costs following prioritisation changes in our transformation programme partly offset by increased spend in business-as-usual costs. The underspend helped to fund additional overtime costs in 2022-23;

• an increase in accommodation costs of £1.9 million relating to how leases are accounted for under IFRS 16 Leases; and

• an increase in other staff costs of £5.6 million to £10.9 million primarily due to an increase in contract resource and training when compared with 2021-22.

Depreciation, finance costs and indemnity payments

Depreciation increased by £7.1 million as a result intangible assets lives being restated in 2022-23 and over £30.0 million of asset brought into use primarily due to completion of LLC as local authorities go live on the LLC register. We also incurred £1.1 million of costs relating to interest on finance leases, which is consistent with 2021-22. Finally, our non-staff costs also include the impact of our state-backed guarantee of title, which helps to underpin the integrity of the register. It provides protection for victims of fraud or error. In 2022-23, £3.5 million was paid out against 627 claims, compared with £6.6 million and 598 claims in 2021-22.

Capital expenditure (CDEL)

Total capital expenditure in 2022-23 was £47.6 million, which relates to IT, software and capitalisation of LLC development costs. The CDEL underspend, against budget, related primarily to re-phasing of the LLC programme timetable.

Annually managed expenditure

In 2022-23, we incurred a Resource Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) credit of £9.0 million, following a decrease in the indemnity provision primarily due to change in the HMT discount rates applied to the provision. The indemnity provision valuation is provided by the Government Actuary Department.

Further information on outstanding claims and Incurred But Not Reported (IBNR) provisions – including sensitivity analysis that reflects the estimated nature of the IBNR liability and susceptibility of the provision to fluctuation – can be found in note 14 to the accounts.

Following an office move in 2022-23 HM Land Registry incurred dilapidation costs of £0.9 million which were classified as Capital AME costs.

Fees and charges

Transforming local land charges

We continued to accelerate the progress of the LLC Programme with 34 new local authorities migrating to the service in 2022-23 (as set out on page 23) which incurred costs of £7.2 million (RDEL) and £19.8 million (CDEL). The programme continues to be one of the most ambitious geospatial data transformations ever attempted by a UK government and has migrated a total of 74 local authorities to date.

Sustainability

• Carbon 50% reduction
• Waste 60% reduction
• Waste recycled 72%
• Water 36% reduction
• Paper 84% reduction
• Waste to energy process 29%

Sustainability governance

Compliance with environmental legislation is managed through the Sustainability and Environmental Policy Statement and Management System and internal meetings within HM Land Registry and with the facilities management provider. This is administered by the Sustainability Business Manager in conjunction with our senior facilities business partners and Total Facilities Management provider, overseen by the Head of Health, Safety, and Sustainability. Our Sustainability Panel ensures that our approach to sustainability is both positive and coordinated.

As HM Land Registry works to embed a new hybrid working model we are identifying opportunities to improve our carbon footprint in all our buildings. We have a network of sustainability champions across the estate, proactively encouraging staff to consider the impact of their own actions on the environmental performance of HM Land Registry, particularly by reducing their waste production, travel and energy and water consumption.

We continue to monitor our effectiveness in the management of our resources through internal and external audits against the ISO 14001 Environmental Management standards. We have maintained accreditation to ISO14001, which is based on demonstrating continuous improvement, and have recently successfully completed a recertification audit.

We continue to work with the Government Property Agency to identify opportunities to undertake de-carbonisation projects in the properties we occupy. These include installation of air-source heat pumps, photo-voltaic panels and LED lighting.

HM Land Registry is developing an Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) plan to pull together different strands of activity to give greater oversight and cohesion helping us to meet environmental commitments and innovate more effectively.

Overall delivery of additional requirements of Greening Government Commitments

The Greening Government Commitments (GGC) targets continue to drive central government to be more sustainable and ensure the requirement of the Climate Change Act (2008) that a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is delivered by 2024.

In addition, HM Land Registry is now incorporating a range of activities to reflect the ESG commitments going forward and reflect a new hybrid working model alongside a new estate strategy in 2023-24.

Climate change adaptation

Climate change impacts are considered during the implementation of building works and projects.

We use information collated in building condition surveys and forward maintenance plans as part of our sustainability reduction strategy while carrying out major refurbishments, relocations or when delivering significant building plant replacement.

The delivery of the Government’s Net Zero programme forms part of the considerations across several areas of business delivery in HM Land Registry, including our People, Procurement and Commercial, Digital, Data and Technology and Facilities, and considers the framework of the ESG. We continue to identify opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint in all our activities with the ambition to achieve Net Zero by 2050 or sooner.

The Facilities Management arrangements deliver reductions as part of maintenance and wider property management decisions. Activity has continued through the Government Property Agency on several major Net Zero works. We are working across the organisation to deliver a Net Zero plan in line with GGC and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

	Achieved 2022-23	Target for 2025	On target?
Carbon	50% reduction	62% reduction	On target
Waste arising	60% reduction in waste generated 72% recycled 0% landfill 29% Waste to Energy process	Reduce the amount of waste generated by at least 25% Recycle or compost at least 70% of waste and landfill less than 10% of waste	On target
Water consumption	36% reduction	Reduce the amount of waste generated by at least 8%	On target
Paper consumption	84% reduction	Reduce our paper use by 50%	On target
Waste is recycled or incinerated for energy conversion (29%) rather than going to landfill. Waste management is delivered through two routes. Paper is managed through a confidential disposal contract outside of the facilities management
Performance data calculated against 2017-18 baseline

Biodiversity and the natural environment

We recognise the importance of biodiversity in the built environment. Biodiversity plans have been created and are being implemented at Telford and Weymouth. This process will continue as sites are identified as benefiting from future enhancements.

Carbon

We have reduced consumption of electricity against last year’s use by 28% and reduced against the baseline year 2017-18 by 6,662 MWh. This reflects the reduced use of our buildings while remaining open and the continued estates rationalisation.

Gas consumption has continued to increase, this year by 28,321 KWh over last year resulting in an increase against the baseline year of 17%.

Our overall carbon emissions have reduced since 2017-18 and are at 2,907 tonnes, a reduction against the baseline year of 50%. See Appendix C for historic trend data.

Carbon from domestic flights to be reduced by 30% by end of March 2025 is a new target set in the current GGC. In the baseline year, HM Land Registry had a total of 351 domestic flights with a carbon impact of 18.03 tonnes. The current financial year had 56 domestic fights with a carbon impact of 3.82 tonnes, resulting in a carbon reduction against the baseline of 79%.

No international flights were undertaken by colleagues in this financial year.

A review and update of the Travel Policy in autumn 2023 will include the requirement to use lower carbon options for all reasons of travel as set out in the GGC requirements.

Waste

The target set is to reduce the overall amount of waste generated by 15% from a 2017-18 baseline and strive to reduce it further, recycle or compost by 70%, and send less than 5% of waste to landfill.

We are currently meeting the above targets, with the amount of waste generated reduced by 60% and 100% of all waste is recycled or incinerated for energy conversion (29%) rather than going to landfill.

Waste management is delivered through two routes. Paper is managed through a confidential disposal contract outside of the facilities management arrangements. Other waste is delivered through the facilities management contract.

Paper equates to 46% of waste arising and 190 tonnes was sent for recycling. Our overall reduction in waste generated since 2017-18 is 60%. See Appendix C for historic trend data.

GGC targets also require the removal of consumer single use plastics (CSUP) from the government estate. HM Land Registry aims to eliminate all sources of single use plastic from its supply chain and has made significant progress in 2022-23. Stationery suppliers have advised that they are working with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs on a reporting mechanism for all of the government estate. The Facilities Management contract has not been able to provide data on the CSUP used – we are working with the contractors to ensure this is secured in future years.

Water consumption

The target is to reduce water consumption by 8% from a 2017-18 baseline.

A 36% reduction in water consumption has been achieved against a target of 8%. This reduction continues to be measured against a lower occupancy. Usage has actually increased slightly over the 2021-22 reporting period, showing the increased use of our buildings as part of the hybrid working environment.

Paper usage

The GGC reduction target to reduce our paper use by 50% from a baseline year of 2017-18 shows a current improvement of 84% of A4 equivalent. Our digital services programme and our move to on-request printing are continuing to have a significant impact.

Sustainable procurement

HM Land Registry’s procurement policy pays proper regard to sustainability, including social value, modern slavery, and environmental factors. Procurement exercises are designed with a view to securing best value for money on a whole-life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the economy, while minimising damage to the environment. Through our investment choices around technology and the workplace we will contribute directly to achieving GGC targets. Details of any social, economic, or environmental requirements that suppliers need to be aware of will always be included in our invitation to tender documents and we are committed to working with our suppliers to measure performance against agreed measures to maximise value for money.

Information and communications technology and digital

Our commitment to the Government’s Net Zero carbon requirements includes ensuring upgrades or replacement of any information and communications technology (ICT), and digital equipment, hosting or supporting mechanical and electrical infrastructure, must perform better than what is being replaced. We comply with all relevant environmental legislation and key Government objectives, including reporting annually to the Sustainable Technology Advice & Reporting (STAR) Team. We ensure 100% of all decommissioned ICT equipment is reused, recycled or disposed of environmentally and ethically.

Following on from the successful migration of one of our data halls into a Crown-hosted facility in 2021 which has an annualised power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.2, we are planning to migrate our existing data hall into Crown-hosted facilities during 2023, demonstrating our commitment to the Government’s Net Zero carbon target.

Hull Office blazing a trail in nature conservation

Our Hull office is taking part in a city-wide nature conservation scheme of national importance.

Butterfly City aims to encourage, protect and promote biodiversity in Hull by raising awareness and encouraging pollinator-friendly planting.

The scheme is run by East Yorkshire’s butterfly recorder, Sean Clough, who identified the grassy area to the south of our building, Earle House, as a significant habitat for pollinators. When left uncut, he said, the patch was “incredible”, with fine grasses, yarrow, hawkbit, self-heal, black medic, bird’s foot trefoil and more thriving in the grounds.

Hull Office was keen to get involved. The fire assembly point was relocated to ensure the area would remain undisturbed and a sympathetic mowing schedule agreed. Signs and posters signal the growing urban meadow as a nature reserve.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s local officer, Andy Gibson, visited the site to sow yellow rattle, also known as the ‘meadow maker’, a companion plant that helps wildflowers to bloom.

He also created a fixed pathway – or transect – around the perimeter. The only urban transect in Yorkshire, it helps monitor the site’s development in a scientifically robust way. Volunteers undertake weekly walks throughout the butterfly flight season, counting and recording butterflies. The methodology used allows meaningful comparisons across sites and year on year for the same site and the data is added to the National Biodiversity Network database.

Other corporate information

Public sector information holder

We fulfil our role as a public sector information holder, which we take very seriously, through adherence to UK data protection legislation and the Freedom of Information Act. HM Land Registry is exempt from the application of some individual data protection rights where the application of legislation would conflict with the Land Registration Act and Rules. The Information Rights Team is leading on a privacy compliance programme to help ensure we meet our legal obligations under relevant legislation.

We received 680 Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests in 2022-23. We answered 546 of these within the statutory timescale of 20 working days. Four requests are active and ongoing while 30 are on hold awaiting clarification from the applicant. Our response rate for responding to requests within the statutory timescales is 84.5%.

Our new Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) strategy has delivered a new Information Management Policy that supports the delivery of HM Land Registry’s aims and objectives through enabling and sustaining the creation, organisation and exploitation of corporate information and knowledge. Our assurance activities support the effective management of information assets and information-related risks via the corporate information asset register.

In the provision of our data services, HM Land Registry complies with the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015.

Better regulation

The business impact target score comprises the economic impact of regulatory activity where the burden or benefit will impact on businesses above a £5m threshold. HM Land Registry regularly reviews its activities to assess the impact on its business customers in complying with its regulatory processes and requirements. We are continuing to monitor the impact changes to our services may have on our business customers as we roll out more digital and automated ways of working.

HM Land Registry published the first Post Implementation Review (PIR) of the Land Registration (Amendment) Rules 2018. This was a statutory requirement to determine whether policy objectives had been achieved and remain appropriate through the regulations put in place. The review concluded that the Amendment Rules 2018 were necessary, were appropriate, are achieving their intended objectives and should remain unchanged. It confirmed HM Land Registry has already been successful in realising some benefits made possible by the amendments. Key highlights were removing the last strict requirement for any paper in the land registration process and introducing a digital service for some remortgage applications. HM Land Registry plans to use the Rules to facilitate future digital transformation work and further automation.

Health and safety

We have continued to deliver an agile and proactive approach to health, safety and wellbeing as we moved from COVID-19 secure arrangements to a new hybrid model of working across all our offices. This has included adapting our policies, risk management and how our offices support a range of work types and collaboration. The focus has been to ensure we support not only all our building users but all our staff working remotely.

The focus alongside our statutory obligations has been to develop a proactive cultural model that enables all our colleagues to thrive at work, caring for their own and teams’ workplaces and prioritising their safety and wellbeing.

Our ambitious project of change and improvement to a hybrid model has been delivered with the essential support of all our leaders, internal and external stakeholders and champion groups, and in an open and positive dialogue with our trade unions.

We have continued to monitor our effectiveness through internal and external audits against our management standards in line with ISO 45001 and received further accreditation this year.

During the financial year 2022-23, we recorded a total of 29 accidents, of which we reported one to the Health and Safety Executive as required under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). This is broken down as:

Office workplace

• 22 accidents relating to HM Land Registry staff
• 3 accidents relating to contractors
• 1 accident relating to visitors

Home workplace

• 3 accidents relating to HM Land Registry staff
• 0 accidents relating to contractors
• 0 accident relating to visitors

The one RIDDOR incident was:

1 A trip in the office car park – resulting in a bone injury/fracture to wrist.

We proactively investigate any near miss, accident or incident to ensure we continue to learn and improve in all aspects of our work.

Complaints

HM Land Registry welcomes customer complaints as opportunities to resolve individual concerns, and also carry forward learning to help improve our services and provide a better all-round customer experience.

We have been working throughout 2022-23 to ensure greater consistency in the identification, handling and analysis of customer complaints. To that end, we have provided more training and engagement for our people on the value of complaints and how they should be handled. We have also taken steps to centralise complaint resolution and customer contact further so more complaints are handled by those best equipped to do so. Work on all of that is continuing in 2023-24.

Due in part to this activity, we recorded 10,991 complaints in 2022-23 compared with 9,566 in 2021-22, an increase of 15%. We anticipate a further increase in 2023-24.

In terms of recorded complaints, 52% were upheld or partially upheld. Customer feedback about delays with registration applications and associated customer enquiries was the most common area of upheld complaint, comprising 27% of the upheld total. This reflects the fact that some of our processing times for non-automated services remain subject to significant delay.

The other main area of upheld complaints related to the requests for information (requisitions) we send to customers when their applications lack the required information (5% of the upheld total).

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman did not investigate any HM Land Registry complaints during the year.

We conduct analysis of all complaints received throughout the year to capture and act on learning points. For example, our customers said they would like:

• improved speed of service on the oldest more complex registration applications that await processing. Targeted action by virtual target teams based at several offices is being taken on the oldest registration applications, principally complex applications relating to registering property for the first time, dividing existing titles or lodging a new lease;
• for HM Land Registry to reduce the number of unnecessary written requests for information they send. We introduced improved in-house training and workshops on requisitions. We are also working on a range of improvements to our application processes. Applications made via electronic business platforms used by many firms and those sent direct through our Digital Registration Service (DRS) will increasingly validate data before the application is submitted, thereby avoiding requisitions at a later stage. We are also looking to clarify minor errors and omissions by telephone call;
• more detailed information about application processing times and an up-to-date and accurate estimated completion date (ECD) for individual applications. We launched a new GOV.UK page providing information on how quickly we will deal with the different types of application we process. The timelines reflect the average customer experience based on the previous month’s activity. Also, a new ECD calculation was introduced linking to the above GOV.UK page;
• more certainty about our requirements for providing evidence of identity. Changes brought in previously allowing non-conveyancers from a number of professions (such as medical doctors and police officers) to verify the identity of UK passport holders using forms ID3 and ID4 were made permanent;
• an improved online business customer portal that is easier to use and better supports customers in submitting digital applications and managing their applications. A redesigned portal was introduced with enhancements to the homepage, the pages for the DRS and for managing digital and electronic applications. This supports the move to digital applications by default for business customers;
• the facility within the customer portal for business users to search for and view the status of their colleagues’ applications. The search feature in the ‘View Applications’ facility in the customer portal now allows users to search for applications using a current or former colleague’s name, HM Land Registry reference, title number, or a customer reference number;
• their first registration postal applications to be scanned by HM Land Registry on receipt, to bring the process in line with other types of application. All first registrations are now scanned on receipt allowing HM Land Registry to manage requests to expedite applications remotely and enabling e-despatch of applications. It will also support future enhancements to ways of working and reduces manual handling;
• HM Land Registry’s requirements around the electronic signing of documents simplified. We introduced changes to allow non-conveyancers to sign consents and the majority of certificates electronically, where the registration application has been submitted by a conveyancer. Conveyancers and non-conveyancers are also able to electronically sign all of HM Land Registry’s prescribed and promulgated application forms (except for statements of truth) where the registration application is submitted by a conveyancer or by a non-conveyancer using the customer portal or business gateway. The associated published customer practice guidance was updated to reflect this; and
• quick and easy access to HM Land Registry guidance and training materials. We launched a new training hub on GOV.UK making it easier for customers to find the required information.

Our Independent Complaints Reviewer (ICR) provides a free and impartial review and resolution service for any customer dissatisfied with how we have handled their complaint. Throughout the year, their reports and recommendations arising from the complaints they have reviewed have continued to provide a valuable source of insight and identification of areas where we might need to improve. The ICR publishes an annual report.

We continue to review our customer feedback processes aimed at improving the way we recognise and deal with complaints and helping us more effectively identify insights and improvements arising from customer feedback. Enhancements have been made to our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to facilitate this.

Modern slavery

We support measures to ensure modern slavery, including human trafficking, has no place in our organisation or supply chains. We continue to use robust procedures in our contracts and recruitment processes. In addition, we facilitate the raising of concerns by colleagues, including any issues relating to our supply chains.

Land Registration Rule Committee activities

The Land Registration Rule Committee was constituted under the Land Registration Act 2002 and is classified as an Expert Committee. The committee’s role is to provide advice and assistance to the Secretary of State in making land registration rules and fee orders under the Act.

In June 2022 the committee scrutinised and advised on the statutory instrument making amendments to the forms in Schedules 1 and 1A to the Land Registration Rules 2003, in order to accommodate the new registration regime for Overseas Entities. In March 2023 the committee reviewed HM Land Registry’s Post Implementation Review of the Land Registration (Amendment) Rules 2018.

Service standards

Details of the service that customers can expect from us can be found on our website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-land-registry-service-standards.

Welsh Language Scheme

We remain committed to our obligations under the Welsh Language Scheme to treat the English and Welsh languages equally when dealing with the public in Wales. Mike Harlow, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Customer and Strategy, is the senior responsible owner for the scheme. Our current scheme containing our four-year action plan was approved by the Welsh Language Commissioner on 27 September 2019.

One of our successes during the year to further the action plan was the following.

Many of our most used notices, when relating to properties in Wales now include text explaining why the notice is in English only, and that a Welsh version is available on request. Welsh-only notices are already sent when we have been informed that Welsh is the preferred language of the proprietor.

An email, drawing attention to our Welsh language services, was sent to all solicitor firms in Wales, on 1 March 2023. The campaign also included a short video highlighting the fact that our dedicated Welsh language team is at hand to assist with Welsh language correspondence and applications. The team can be contacted directly by emailing [email protected] or calling 0300 006 0422.

The featured links on our GOV.UK home page are available in Welsh and lead directly to Welsh language pages. Other GOV.UK pages that are available in Welsh can be viewed through selecting the ‘Cymraeg’ tab found in the top right-hand corner of a page.

Further information on our Welsh language services can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry/about/welsh-language-scheme.

Parliamentary and sponsorship coordination

The Chief Land Registrar’s Office functions have been reviewed during 2022-23 as part of a wider organisation redesign that established a Customer and Strategy group. The policy and external affairs co-ordination functions reported in previous annual reports transferred to the new group in August and those activities are covered in other sections.

The Chief of Staff has provided corporate oversight for HM Land Registry’s contribution to the Government’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Chief’s Office is responsible for HM Land Registry’s corporate governance coordination and management including its Board Secretariat and support to both executive and non-executive senior teams. It has reviewed the effectiveness and structures of HM Land Registry’s governance during 2022-23 and implemented changes reported in other sections. The Chief’s Office leads our partner relationship with our sponsor department, which is underpinned by a published Framework that also establishes the formal relationships with HM Treasury and the Geospatial Commission. The Chief’s Office works closely with UK Government Investments, which acts as our sponsor department’s agent in representing the Government’s interest in the governance and performance of HM Land Registry as an organisation. Much of the Chief’s Office corporate governance activities are reflected elsewhere in this Annual Report.

The Chief’s Office is also responsible for ensuring that HM Land Registry Parliamentary processes run smoothly. This covers all Ministerial and Parliamentary business. We have handled 13 parliamentary questions and considered over 40 government and other consultations, providing comments on 10. We have overseen HM Land Registry Ministerial business and engagement, including to deal with 108 Ministerial or Treat Official letters.

Glossary

Agricultural Credits Register	A register against which provides a means of ensuring security for lending over farm assets such as livestock and equipment.

Application	Applying for the registration of unregistered land, updating registered land or property titles, or applying for information from HM Land Registry.
Application Programming Interface (API)	Enables companies to open up their applications’ data and functionality to external third-party developers, business partners and internal departments within their companies.
Artificial intelligence (AI)	Intelligence and learning demonstrated by machines.
Business Gateway	The Business Gateway Application Programming Interface allows customers to seamlessly access our services from within their case management systems and automate repetitive processes
Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (Capital DEL, CDEL)	Investment in internally-generated software, IT equipment and estates.
CO2/carbon footprint	The total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) generated by our actions.
Common data standards	Data standards set a clear and common understanding of how the government must describe, record, store, manage and access data in consistent ways.
Critical National Infrastructure	A term used to describe processes, systems, facilities, technologies, networks, assets and services essential to the nation’s health, safety, security or economic wellbeing and the effective functioning of government.
Data economy	A global digital ecosystem in which data is gathered, organized, and exchanged by a network of vendors for the purpose of deriving value from the accumulated information.
Digitisation	The process of converting information into a digital (computer-readable) format.
Digital by default	The current position for submitting applications to HM Land Registry, under which the default option is digital, whether via the customer portal using the Digital Registration Service or using software connected to the Business Gateway APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).
Digital identity	A virtual form of identity which reduces the time, effort and expense that sharing physical documents can take when people need to provide legal proof of who they are
Digital transformation	The adoption of digital technology by a company. Common goals for its implementation are to improve efficiency, value or innovation.
Digital Registration Service	An HM Land Registry portal service allowing applications to be submitted digitally where the data is automatically checked before it is lodged.
Digital Street	An existing research and development approach, collaborating with a strong community of innovation leaders, entrepreneurs and creative disruptors to push the boundaries of property market expectations.
Expedites/expedite services	Customers can request HM Land Registry processes an application urgently.
FAIR	Findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data.
First registration	The requirement to register unregistered freehold and leasehold estates in land.
Geospatial Commission	An expert committee, sponsored by the Cabinet Office, that sets the UK’s geospatial strategy and promotes the best use of geospatial data.
Geospatial	Data and information associated with a particular location or place.
Geovation	The practice of using location data and intelligence to help identify opportunities and create solutions.
Geovation Accelerator Programme	A scheme supported by HM Land Registry and Ordnance Survey providing grant funding, access to data, geospatial expertise and property insight to location-data and PropTech start-ups.
Greening Government Commitments	The actions UK government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment in the period 2021 to 2025.
Guaranteed queries	Services that provide information and results which come with a state guarantee.
Home Buying and Selling Group	An informal mix of people across the property, legal and finance sectors working together to improve the home buying and selling process for consumers.
Land Charges	Interests in unregistered land that are capable of being protected by entry in the Land Charges Register.
Land Charges Register	A register that contains the following information: a register of land charges, a register of pending actions and pending actions in bankruptcy, a register of writs and orders effecting land and writs and orders in bankruptcy, a register of deeds of arrangement affecting land and a register of annuities.
Land Register	Records the ownership of land and property in England and Wales.
Land Registration Academy	The staff training centre of excellence at HM Land Registry.
Land Registry Advisory Council	An advisory board that ensures stakeholders’ interests are considered when developing policies, services and products. It provides an opportunity for information exchange and discussion, drawing on the collective knowledge and expertise of the members.
Land Registry Industry Forum	A cross-section of customers and stakeholders within the property market who work together to find new ways to improve the conveyancing process
Leadership & Management Academy	HM Land Registry’s centre of excellence for leadership and management development.
Local Land Charges (LLC) Register	A statutory register that contains local authority information about the use and enjoyment of properties. It includes things such as listed building status, tree preservation orders and other environmental protections.
Machine learning	The study of computer algorithms that can improve automatically through experience and by the use of data.
Machine readable	Data structured and coded in such a way that it can be processed by a computer.
MapSearch	An online mapping tool allowing customers to establish quickly whether land and property in England or Wales is registered.
Migration Hub	An online source of guidance and support for local authorities migrating their local land charges data to the Local Land Charges Register.
National Data Strategy	An ambitious, pro-growth strategy that drives the UK in building a world-leading data economy while ensuring public trust in data use.
National Geospatial Strategy	Promotes and safeguards the use of location data to provide an evidenced view of the market value of location data, set clear guidelines on data access, privacy, ethics and security, and promote better use of location data. Owned by the Geospatial Commission.
Net Zero	Achieving a balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.
Official copy	Copies of deeds and documents filed with us, including title registers and title plans, which are guaranteed as being accurate and are admissible as evidence as if they were the original.
Official search	Allows people such as homebuyers or mortgage lenders to have their purchase, lease or charge prioritised for completion over applications lodged subsequently
Open data	Data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone.
PropTech	The use of technology to help individuals and companies research, buy, sell and manage real estate.
Register create application	Any application that leads to the creation of a completely new register, such as a transfer of part of an existing title, a new lease or registration of land for the first time.
Register of Overseas Entities	A public register of beneficial owners of non-UK entities that own or buy land in the UK, operated by the Companies House registrar.
Register update	Any application to change the register of the whole of an existing property title, including new mortgages, name changes, transfers and discharges.
Register view	Viewing the current version of the register.
Requisition/request for information	Where HM Land Registry has to make enquiries to the applicant on an application because information or evidence is missing or incorrect and so cannot be processed.
Restriction	An entry that limits HM Land Registry from updating the register unless specified conditions are met.
Search for land and property information	A service allowing customers to download copies of the property summary, title plan and title register for properties in England and Wales.
Senior Executive Team	The executive team that handles the day-to-day running of HM Land Registry.
Title	The evidence of a person’s right to property.
Use land and property data	Datasets about all registered land and property in England and Wales.
United Nations	An international organisation founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 member states, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding charter.
View Applications	A free-to-use service within the HM Land Registry portal which allows users to view all the applications made using the portal, as well as checking the status and downloading all relevant documentation relating to each application.