Know your power.
Use your voice.

Enter your postcode to find every layer of government that represents you - then contact them, know your rights, track elections, and make yourself heard.

Free · England only · No data stored

Not sure? Try it first.

Everything in one place

One postcode search unlocks fourteen powerful civic tools

🗺️

Your Governance Stack

See every layer of government covering your address - ward, district, county, combined authority, and Parliament - with responsibilities explained in plain English.

🏛️

Your MP & Councillors

Find your elected representatives, see their recent parliamentary activity and voting record, then contact them directly or write a guided letter.

🗳️

Upcoming Elections

See every election in your area, meet the candidates, check registration deadlines, and find your polling station - all pulled live from Democracy Club.

⚖️

Your Rights in Plain English

Searchable guides to housing, benefits, employment, healthcare, education, and data rights - what the law actually says and exactly who to contact.

💰

Council Spending Explorer

Understand how your council spends public money, access open data and annual accounts, and build a Freedom of Information request if you want to dig deeper.

🎓

Political Literacy

Six interactive explainers - how Parliament works, how laws are made, devolution, holding power to account - with quizzes to test your knowledge.

✍️

Write a Letter

A guided four-step tool to compose and send a letter to your MP or councillor - choose your tone, get the right address, and send via email or WriteToThem.

📋

FOI Request Builder

Build a legally correct Freedom of Information request in minutes. Every public body must respond within 20 working days - and it's completely free.

🏗️

Planning Near You

Conservation areas, listed buildings, flood risk zones, local plan status, and every planning designation affecting your address - from the national planning data register.

📰

Local News

BBC regional news for your area, automatically matched to your postcode - stay across what's happening in your community without leaving the app.

📢

Live Parliament Petitions

Active petitions in Parliament relevant to your area - see what your community is campaigning for, add your signature, and track progress toward a debate.

📊

Area Dashboard

Crime statistics from your local police force and air quality data for your postcode - real open data about the conditions in your neighbourhood.

🏫

Schools Near You

Every school within 2 miles of your postcode with their Ofsted rating, type, and latest inspection date - helping families make informed choices.

🏥

NHS & GP Finder

Find GP surgeries, pharmacies, and NHS services near your postcode - with contact details, opening hours, and whether they are accepting new patients.

🏘️

Planning Applications

Live planning applications submitted near your address in the last three months - see what's being proposed, who applied, and how to have your say.

💼

Benefits & Support Finder

Find out what benefits, grants, and support schemes you may be entitled to - including council tax reduction, Universal Credit, and local discretionary funds.

🗓️

Community Events

Local events, community meetings, council consultations, and civic activities near you - everything happening in your area that you can get involved in.

📅

Your Councillors

See your local councillors' names, party, ward, and contact details - with direct links to write to them or submit FOI requests about your council.

"PowerShare is built by People's Powerhouse to help communities across the North of England understand, access, and use the democratic power they already have."

About People's Powerhouse →

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about PowerShare and the C2C platform

PowerShare

What is PowerShare?

PowerShare is a free civic tool built by People's Powerhouse. Enter your postcode and it shows you every layer of government covering your address, your elected representatives, your rights, upcoming elections, and a suite of tools to help you take action.

What does the postcode search actually show me?

Your full governance stack: your ward and district councillors, county councillor (where applicable), combined authority mayor, and Member of Parliament. Each tier shows who holds the role, what they are responsible for, and how to contact them directly.

What are the statutory tools?

71 plain-English legal guides across 15 categories including housing, employment, benefits, healthcare, education, consumer rights, immigration, mental health, and data rights. Each tool explains what the law says, what you are entitled to, and who the right body is to contact or complain to.

What is the FOI request builder?

A guided tool that drafts a legally correct Freedom of Information request addressed to the right public body. Every public authority in England is required by law to respond within 20 working days. The tool is free and requires no account.

How does the letter-writing tool work?

A four-step guided flow. You choose your issue, select your tone (formal, concerned, urgent), and the tool drafts a letter pre-addressed to your MP or councillor. You can edit it freely and send via email or WriteToThem.

What elections information is available?

Upcoming elections in your area pulled live from Democracy Club, including local, combined authority, and parliamentary elections. You can view candidates, check registration deadlines, and find your polling station.

What does the Council Spending Explorer show?

How your council allocates its budget across services, links to open spending data and published annual accounts, and a direct path into the FOI builder if you want to ask specific questions about expenditure.

What is the Political Literacy section?

Six interactive explainers covering how Parliament works, how laws are made, what devolution means for your area, how to hold power to account, and more. Each module includes a short quiz so you can test your understanding.

Is PowerShare free to use?

Yes, completely free. No account needed, no data stored, no adverts. It works in any modern browser in England.

Does PowerShare work outside England?

Currently England only. Governance structures in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are different and not yet supported.

C2C Listening Platform

What is the C2C platform?

Coast to Coast (C2C) is a community listening platform built for People's Powerhouse. It gives field listeners a mobile tool to capture community conversations, and gives researchers a dashboard to analyse those conversations at scale using AI.

Who is the Listener App for?

Field listeners who conduct one-to-one conversations in community settings such as parks, cafes, doorsteps, and community centres. The app guides them through recording a conversation, completing an exit reflection, and submitting everything securely.

Does the Listener App work without internet?

Yes. The app includes an offline recording mode. Conversations can be recorded without a connection and queued for upload automatically when connectivity is restored, so patchy signal in community settings does not block a submission.

How is consent handled?

Consent must be recorded before any submission is accepted. The app supports in-app digital consent, verbal consent with a timestamp, and paper consent with a reference number. The consent method and timestamp are stored permanently alongside the submission.

What happens after a conversation is submitted?

The audio is automatically transcribed using OpenAI Whisper, the listener's voice is separated from the community member's voice, and Claude AI extracts structured themes including attitudes and beliefs, experiences and stories, barriers and challenges, and actions and behaviours. The processed submission appears in the researcher dashboard, usually within a few minutes.

What is the exit reflection?

A short reflection the listener completes after each conversation. It covers three prompts (Everyday Life, Feeling Heard, Imagining Better) and a free-text summary. Listeners can record this as audio or complete it via a typed Google Form if they prefer.

What does the Researcher Dashboard show?

All submissions across your organisation, filterable by location, date, listener, status, and quality score. Each submission shows the audio player, full transcript, diarised transcript (listener vs. community member), AI-extracted themes, and the listener's exit reflection.

What AI analysis is applied to each conversation?

Claude AI (claude-sonnet-4-20250514) analyses the community member's transcript and extracts five structured categories: attitudes and beliefs, experiences and stories, barriers and challenges, actions and behaviours, and themes. It also flags anything requiring urgent attention.

How are safeguarding concerns handled?

Listeners can raise a wellbeing flag on any submission. Flagged submissions are surfaced prominently in the researcher dashboard and tracked in a dedicated queue so they are never missed. Researchers can escalate and add notes against any flagged record.

Is the C2C platform GDPR compliant?

Yes, fully. Before any conversation begins, the listener must explain the purpose of the recording, how the data will be used, and confirm that all data is anonymised before analysis. The speaker must verbally agree to proceed. That consent is recorded in the platform with a timestamp and method before the submission is accepted. No conversation can be submitted without a consent record in place. Data is stored securely, scoped to the collecting organisation, and never shared without explicit opt-in.

Can data be exported?

Yes. Researchers can export submissions as CSV or PDF. All exports are logged in an audit trail alongside any other sensitive actions such as viewing, sharing, or deleting a record.

Looking up your area…

Your governance stack

From closest to home to national government

What else can you do?

More ways to hold power to account - beyond writing a letter

Data sourced from Postcodes.io, TheyWorkForYou, Democracy Club, Parliament Petitions, data.police.uk, Open-Meteo, planning.data.gov.uk, BBC News RSS, PlanIt, DfE GIAS, Ofsted, NHS.uk. Contact details may change - always verify on the official website.

📋 FOI Request Builder
1
What you want
2
Which body
3
About you
4
Review
📋
Freedom of Information Request Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

What information do you want?

💡 The FOI Act gives you the right to request any recorded information held by a public body. The more specific your request, the easier it is for them to fulfil - and the harder to refuse.

Request documents, data, costs, correspondence, meeting minutes - any recorded information

⚠️ FOI only applies to public bodies (councils, NHS, police, schools, government departments). It does not apply to private companies.

Which public body holds this information?

💡 Send your FOI to the body most likely to hold the information. If you're not sure, send it to the most relevant organisation - they are legally required to tell you if they don't hold it and may transfer your request.

💡 The public body has 20 working days to respond. They must reply even if they don't hold the information or need to apply an exemption.

About you

💡 Under the FOI Act, public bodies cannot ask why you want the information. You only need to provide your name and a contact address for the response.

You can also submit via WhatDoTheyKnow.com to make your request and response public

Review your FOI request

💡 This request follows the standard format required under the FOI Act 2000. You can edit it directly before sending.

✏️ You can edit this request directly before sending

How to send your FOI request

🔍
WhatDoTheyKnowPublic record - others can see responses
→ ✉️
Open in emailSend from your own email account
→

Your rights if they refuse

  • Ask for an internal review within 40 working days
  • Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk
  • Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal if the ICO doesn't uphold your complaint
Write a letter
1
Your issue
2
About you
3
Your ask
4
Review
🏛️
Writing to Your representative

What's your issue?

💡 Focus on one clear issue - letters that make a specific, concrete point are far more likely to get a response.

A short, clear subject line (like an email)

Be specific - include location, dates, or examples where possible

💡 Personal stories are powerful. A genuine account of impact is more persuasive than statistics alone.

About you

💡 Representatives are elected to serve constituents - identifying yourself as a local resident makes your letter far more likely to receive a substantive reply.

Used to confirm you're a constituent - never shared with us

If you want a reply by email, include it here

What do you want them to do?

💡 The most effective letters make a specific, achievable ask. Vague requests are easier to ignore - a clear action is harder to sidestep.

Review your letter

💡 Read it through - check facts, names, and tone. A well-checked letter shows you're serious about the issue.

✏️ You can edit this letter directly before sending

How would you like to send it?

✍️
WriteToThem Easiest - they handle delivery
→ ✉️
Open in email Send from your own account
→
⚖️ Rights & Legal Tools
⚡

Statutory Tools

Legal powers you can invoke. These place a duty on public bodies to act - not just a right to ask.

Rights Guides

Plain English guides to what the law says and what to do when things go wrong.

🗺️ Planning
🗺️

National planning designations map

See every planning designation, conservation area, flood zone and more as an interactive map - centred on your postcode.

Open map for your postcode →

Powered by planning.data.gov.uk

💰 Council Spending

How councils spend your money

Average spending breakdown for English local authorities. Actual figures vary by council type and local priorities.

Viewing context for your council

Source: DLUHC Local Authority Revenue Expenditure and Financing, England 2023–24

Find the actual data

🎓 Political Literacy

How UK democracy works

Six interactive explainers - understand how power works at every level, from Parliament to your ward.