About KPSN

What is the Kent Public Service Network?

It is a not-for-profit Partnership governed by 38 Partner organisations including Kent County Council, Medway Council all Borough and District Councils in Kent, NHS organisations, blue lights organisations, schools and   most of the  universities and colleges in the Kent area. 

These organisations connect their sites through secure private infrastructure which facilitates: connectivity over a geographically wide area, co-location with Partner agencies using separate private networks and flexibility which is scalable to suit your business needs.

This enables shared service delivery through a complete infrastructure that is compliant with central government standards and supports collaborative projects across the Partnership at a reduced cost through aggregation over shared infrastructure.

KPSN has increased ICT capacity, resilience and security to deliver faster, more accessible, and better public services to Partners, overcoming technological barriers through collaboration.

KPSN has been instrumental in reducing network complexity within the region to combine into a single entity; minimising costs and facilitating shared and collaborative services. It is ideally placed to support devolution and will assist the transition required to meet the challenges of the coming years. 

Our network

Our history

KPSN was created in 2008 and was built on the existing schools KCN network, since then it has evolved significantly, both in terms of services offered and the scope of the Partnership. 

It has grown from five public sector organisations supporting 900+ sites, to around 38 Partners with over 1,400 connected sites across the region. Whilst COVID-19 has had an impact on remote working and office closures, we expect the number of sites to increase over the coming year predominantly from the NHS sector .

The Partnership has been successful in developing and promoting the use of shared secure aggregated services.  KPSN is one of the first UK public sector Partnerships to aggregate connections into GCSx/GSi (now called the Public Services Network or PSN).  Also through working with NHS England we can deliver aggregated HSCN to multiple sites via our current service provider, this has lowered  costs and improved the service available.

How we are structured

The Kent Public Service Network is a not-for-profit Partnership run by a team of KCC staff and is governed by a Management  Board who vote on key decisions made on behalf of the partnership.. Whilst we are part of Kent County Council (the contract owner and a Partner of KPSN), the Partnership is a self-funded enterprise.

The KPSN Management Board provides oversight of procurement and accountability for the Partners. The Board is made up of representatives of each sector (Local Authorities, Health, Education, Blue Light Services etc), and a representative from the Contract owner Kent County Council.

Chaired by a nominated representative, the KPSN Management Board provides vision and strategy to the Partnership. All Partners are invited to have representation on the Management Board and attend our Technical Design Workshops and regular Technical Events.

Types of membership

We offer two different types of contracts – Primary Partner and Affiliate Partner. 

If you join as a Primary Partner, you will be entitled to representation on the Management Board and the ability to vote on future motions. Affiliate Partners will have access to open meeting sessions (for example Technical and Product meetings), papers, and services but will not be entitled to vote. 

Your Partner status will not affect the services you receive; it depends on what level of involvement you choose. We currently have 25 Primary Partners and 13 Affiliates.

Please contact us if you are thinking of joining KPSN and would like more information on our structure, governance, or the different types of Partners.