Failing to prepare for end of life (EOL) deadlines for IT systems can be detrimental for any business, but the unique nature of how local authorities operate can lead them to be particularly vulnerable. In England, councils have limited options in terms of how they make revenue, and unlike central government, are unable to borrow money to finance day-to-day spending. The purse strings are therefore incredibly tight, and any expenditure needs to be budgeted efficiently while balanced with the need to provide IT services to the public across areas such as waste collection and transport.

With a need to keep customer facing systems updated to serve its area, local authorities can be susceptible to placing focus on updating these front end systems as opposed to the back end processes. While understandable in meeting customer requirements, failure to ensure that these processes are tended for, such as background servers, can create risks, while potentially creating a problematic disconnect between legacy background systems and the newer front end systems. One such example is Windows Server 2012, which reaches its EOL deadline in January 2023.