The delivery of Medway Council’s transformation programme, and the resultant expected savings of this programme, form a key component for both this Council’s ability to explore new and more efficient ways of working and ultimately to meet the requirements of the 2018/19 Budget.
Will the Portfolio Holder please provide a detailed update regarding the progress of the transformation programme, as well as the current forecast for immediate target achievement?
Minutes:
“The delivery of Medway Council’s transformation programme, and the resultant expected savings of this programme, form a key component for both this Council’s ability to explore new and more efficient ways of working and ultimately to meet the requirements of the 2018/19 Budget.
Will the Portfolio Holder please provide a detailed update regarding the progress of the transformation programme, as well as the current forecast for immediate target achievement?”
Councillor Gulvin thanked Councillor Joy for this question. He stated that a road map of projects was developed for the three year programme and the following had been achieved:
• Medway.gov.uk website delivered within 3 months. The SOCITM rating improved from 1 star to 3 stars out of 4 with top marks achieved in some areas.
• Blue Badge online application process launched.
• Bulky waste online application and payment process launched.
• Leadership Academy launched with managing change training for staff.
• Office 365 being implemented across the Council.
• First new eforms going live from August 2018.
• Online joining process for leisure memberships launched.
• Customer Contact and Business Administration Support Service reviewed with new model earlier this month.
• New leadership and structure was in place which ensures effective decisions were being made at pace based on a “return on investment” business case model.
• Transformation strategy and governance procedures put in place.
• Project road map produced and implemented showing project progress and savings identified/achieved.
• Specialist consultants appointed to lead the transformation programme for Children and Adults.
With a return on investment approach, clear strategy and roadmap; alongside effective employee communication and engagement the Council had confidence the savings for 2018/19 were on track. £3.5m has already been delivered and further savings of £1.5m would be achieved this year, totalling £5m.
Tranche 1 of the programme laid the foundations for Medway to become a Smart Council by establishing online channels and creating an improved website.
A mobile working solution was also implemented to enable social workers within Children and Adults Services to input information directly in to back office systems by using smart technology. This removed the requirement to complete paper forms, return to the office and then re-input the information.
Tranches 2 and 3 were focused on encouraging residents to use the online services provided during tranche 1. It was anticipated that residents would quickly realise the benefits of the digital channels as they would be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Residents would receive proactive updates as their issue was progressed, they would have access to a customer account where they could access all relevant Council information about them, and they would ultimately receive a quicker service.
For those residents who were unable to access services digitally the Council’s hubs and libraries were geared up to help. The Council had achieved much with its Transformation Programme, and was looking at the business case for further investment to continue its journey of change into future years
Councillor Gulvin took the opportunity to thank all Council staff who had engaged with this programme with such enthusiasm.