Agenda item

SSDC Transformation Programme - Progress report

Decision:

 

RESOLVED:

That District Executive agreed to:-

 

a.

note the Transformation Programme report and progress to date;

 

b.

approve once off additional resources of £494,990 in 2019/20 and £240,230 in 2020/21, to support service delivery to customers during the extended transition period from old to new ways of working, to be funded from the additional business rate retention funds, reserves, income targets and next year’s Budget as set out in the Financial Implications section of the report.

Reason:

It was agreed by Full Council in April 2017 that the District Executive would receive quarterly updates on the progress of the council’s Transformation Programme.

 

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for Protecting Core Services including Transformation advised that there had been a constructive debate on the report at Scrutiny Committee and it had been agreed that the programme would be monitored quarterly by Scrutiny Committee in the future.

 

The Director for Strategy and Support Services reminded Members that it had been an ambitious programme to change how officers worked and how they worked with customers.  She said that lots of processes were coming on-line and those customers who wanted to were shifting to on-line access so that officers could spend more time with those customers who were not able to access on-line services.  Some of the service-redesigns had not gone according to plan and so there was a longer transition period and additional resource was requested to assist officers through a sustained period of pressure.  SSDC were the first in the county to use Connect 360 with Civica and so there were no lessons to be learned from other authorities.

 

The Director for Service Delivery said there was a plan to clear the backlog of work, increase customer satisfaction and reduce the pressure on staff to allow the new technology to bed-in.  A series of targets were being developed and they would be monitored through the quarterly reports to the Scrutiny Committee.

 

During discussion, the following points were made:

 

·         There were problems in certain areas but they were improving.

·         Staff had coped exceptionally well to continue to deliver their services during this period.

·         There had been long delays in phones being answered in the contact centre due to the volume of calls but this was improving.

 

In response to questions from Members, the Chief Executive and Directors confirmed:-

 

·         Some of the savings achieved through Transformation were being used in the interim so the £2.5m saving was only being delayed as more time was required to bed-in new systems.

·         Because of the Homeless Reduction Act 2018, thorough assessments of individuals circumstances was taking longer.

·         Additional resource would be added to the Customer Focus team, Development Management team and the Council Tax team but it took time to train new staff and time to change the public shift to on-line access.

·         The transformation programme would be closing towards the end of the year as it was now considered business as usual.

 

It was noted that officers had answered questioned raised at the Scrutiny Committee at that meeting, and, at the conclusion of the debate, Members unanimously agreed to confirm the recommendations of the report.

 

RESOLVED:

That District Executive agreed to:-

 

a.

note the Transformation Programme report and progress to date;

 

b.

approve once off additional resources of £494,990 in 2019/20 and £240,230 in 2020/21, to support service delivery to customers during the extended transition period from old to new ways of working, to be funded from the additional business rate retention funds, reserves, income targets and next year’s Budget as set out in the Financial Implications section of the report.

Reason:

It was agreed by Full Council in April 2017 that the District Executive would receive quarterly updates on the progress of the council’s Transformation Programme.

 

Supporting documents: