Sarah Slate

Sarah is a digital transformation professional with expertise in delivery management and user-centred design in public services.

Sarah’s background is rooted in local government, supporting local authorities to improve their services and deliver meaningful impact for communities. She specialises in building organisational resilience and implementing user-led service design. In particular, Sarah is passionate about making cybersecurity more accessible, and promoting it as a cross-organisational and leadership priority.

At PD, Sarah has supported clients in our local authorities portfolio to move from their high level transformational strategy to delivering meaningful change, and to adopt product and user-centred design approaches to service delivery. Sarah has also led the delivery of cyber incident response guidance for local authorities, supporting clients to approach cyber as a leadership and operational issue, rather than simply a technical one.

Prior to joining Public Digital, Sarah was a Digital Adviser at the Local Government Association (LGA), supporting local authorities in England to develop the capability and tools needed to design modern and secure digital public services. Also in this role, she co-established the Local Government Cyber Resilience network, and built confidence and capabilities in councils across areas such as service design. Sarah has also held roles as an IT business partner in Westminster City Council, and at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), supporting with COVID-19 travel risk assessments.

Sarah is a graduate of the local government’s National Graduate Development Programme (now known as ‘Impact’), during which she led the delivery of frontline support for vulnerable residents during the cost of living crisis. She was also a student and research fellow at the London School of Economics, where she studied the importance of strategic regional collaboration to support local innovation and transformation in England.

sarah.slate@public.digital