Short answer

Civic.ly maintains the checklist library centrally, so you do not rewrite your own forms every time guidance moves. What Civic.ly does not do is carry your compliance for you. The platform is the place the evidence lives and the reminder that the check is due; the duty stays with the council, and the checks that need a qualified inspector still need one.

Detail

The checklists are shared, and they are ours to maintain. Every asset type comes with checklists already attached, written to the relevant standard where one exists, and with a suggested frequency against each. When a standard changes or a checklist is improved, the change lands for every council on the platform. You do not have to watch for it or apply it yourself.

The flip side is worth knowing up front: because the library is shared across all councils, you cannot edit a checklist yourself. If a question is missing, or worded in a way that does not fit how your team works, send us the form you use today and we will look at extending the shared checklist. That is how most of the library got as detailed as it is.

Where the responsibility actually sits. It helps to split your checks into three kinds:

  • Checks anyone on your team can do. A weekly visual check of play equipment is the clearest example. No qualification is needed, and this is the bulk of what you will run in Civic.ly.
  • Checks that need training but stay in-house. The operational play inspection, typically monthly or quarterly, sits here. Somebody on your team can be trained and certificated to do it, and you record the findings in Civic.ly the same as any other inspection.
  • Checks that need an external, qualified inspector. The annual independent play inspection, the fire risk assessment, the electrical installation condition report. These are commissioned from a specialist, and that specialist is responsible for knowing the current guidance. You can record that the check happened and when the next one is due, but Civic.ly does not replace the inspection or the inspector.

So the honest framing is: Civic.ly is the record and the schedule, not the compliance authority. It tells you a check is due, gives you a defensible and dated record that it was done, and makes the evidence retrievable when an insurer or auditor asks. It does not certify the work, and a checklist being marked complete is not a statement that your council is compliant.

Watch-outs

  • The suggested frequency is a recommendation, not a rule. It reflects the common pattern across councils, and your own risk assessment or your insurer's terms may require something different. Set the cadence you actually need.
  • Do not assume a shared checklist covers a bespoke obligation. If your insurer or a funding condition requires something specific, check it appears in the checklist before relying on it, and tell us if it does not.
  • The external inspector's report still needs somewhere to live. Recording that the annual inspection happened is not the same as holding the report. Keep the report itself where your council keeps its records until document upload lands.