Transform Issue 6 - July 2017

TRANSFORM Recruiting by Behaviours

ISSUE 6

Taking Public Sector recruitment to the next level

Calculating the future of Social Care

How Care Funding Calculators can support social care spend

Contents

Transform - Issue 6

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Editor’s letter

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Focus & Comment

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iESE Chief Executive discusses why iESE is helping local authorities nationwide

Opinions on local government issues

Recruiting by Behaviours

John Knight explains how two district councils are working with iESE to recruit their staff based on the behaviours that meet their vision – not just the skills.

Achieving better outcomes together County Trading Standards Merger will save £300,000

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Calculating the future of Social Care

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Latest News

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ardiff: Working towards a financially C secure future

How Care Funding Calculators can support local authority social care spend

All the latest news and events from iESE

Identifying budget saving opportunities to secure future service delivery

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iESE Introduces…

This month we introduce Andrew Carpenter, Head of Devon Building Control Partnership

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iESE Transform Issue 6

Editor’s letter

Editor’s Letter W Parliament.

ith £20billiion of savings made over the past decade, a continuation of the current approach to austerity means we are likely to see as much as another 40% - or £12billion – removed from public spending budgets over the course of the next

Even in the immediate weeks after the election, we can be sure of some key factors affecting local authorities – the continuation of the council tax cap, a reduction in central funding and borrowing, and the further austerity measures for public services all give a clear indication of the challenge authorities now face under the new Government.

To some extent, councils have a little more certainty in what to expect in terms of fixed reductions (the continuation of the council tax cap, for example), but over the next few weeks it is imperative that we find out more.

Because the bottom line is, we just don’t know.

All the main parties were sufficiently vague in pre-election debate around how they would meet the reduction in public spending, a point which was soon lost in the midst of other election issues, but a worrying one for local public service leaders. Even less still was said around social care funding, which continues to be the biggest challenge with increasing demand and falling revenue support.

The LGA is calling for a radical devolution of powers, set in statute, to empower local communities to best determine their needs, and allow local councils to best procure the services that meet them. Evidence from councils across the country – with radical transformation in the form of shared services, combined authorities and social partnerships – suggest that it is not an unreasonable ask. We are no longer trimming service budgets. These are large-scale, complex, multi-million pound transformation projects, and are delivering billions in savings.

That is why at iESE we are working with councils nationwide to help them meet the current challenges and look towards the future for their services.

In this issue of Transform we look at how we’ve been supporting South Hams and West Devon Councils to break new ground as part of their council merger – by recruiting their staff based on the behaviours that meet their vision – not just the skills. We also look at Cardiff Council where a further £7m in savings have been identified after a review its infrastructure services.

Transform Magazine provides you with a platform to showcase your successes and we are always keen to hear more from you, If you would like to provide an article or learn more, please do not hesitate to contact us on 08434 878025.

Enjoy!

Dr Andrew Larner Chief Executive, iESE www.iESE.org.uk

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Focus & Comment

Focus

Comment Pain-free cashable savings? Take a good long look at your procurement...

We’ve known for a while now that, in terms of administrative support and frontline services, the low-hanging fruit have all been plucked from local government’s branches.

Case Study Elmbridge Borough Council We recently supported Elmbridge Borough Council in Surrey by leading on the procurement of its upcoming Grounds Maintenance contract the existing contract was due to expire at the end of March 2015.

By completely redesigning the procurement spec to be purely focussed on outcomes – allowing bidders more freedom to outline the targets and tools required and far less restrictive than a traditional input--based contract which sets the activity required, - iESE saved Elmbridge £2million over the life of the contract.

But before another round of tough decisions are taken on service budgets for 2016, councils should be ensuring they’ve exhausted all opportunities to reduce costs through procurement – where savings are still being found ten years into austerity.

With a high percentage of frontline staff such as social workers and care workers earning around 30k, an annual saving of £500k can mean protecting as much as 15 frontline service jobs – or in some cases an entire service.

Half a million is a lot to find in a parks service with a £1m budget. But from a council wide (or even a multi-council) procurement contract it offers a relatively pain-free route to cashable savings. iESE are among the UK’s leading contract management specialists for local government. From helping partner councils develop a procurement strategy or carrying out a review of current third party spend, to renegotiating existing contracts to focus them on outcomes and delivering savings.

To find out how we can help your authority, contact us on 08434 878 025 or go to iESE.gov.uk.

Social Keep up to date with all the latest iESE news and events by following us on Twitter @iESELtd

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iESE Transform Issue 6

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Feature

Recruiting by Behaviours As part of a major merger of services in Devon, two district councils are working with iESE to break new ground – by recruiting their staff based on the behaviours that meet their vision – not just the skills.

John Knight, Principal Consultant at iESE explains In the past decade iESE has worked with hundreds of councils to support transformation projects – from service redesigns to corporate structure reviews. But lasting transformation isn’t about one-off projects – it’s about people, and about culture.

Get the right people with the right mindset to take your organisation forward, and the need for constant savings targets is diminished – because innovation comes naturally. Rather than becoming a necessity of budget pressures, transformation simply becomes the norm.

With that in mind, iESE has been working with two district councils in Devon on what could turn out to be a cornerstone project for local government – by not looking just at the micro-issue of service process, but by recruiting to their organisations based on behaviours – not just CV skills.

The concept is straightforward enough – if you want a culture of collaborative, innovative, outcome-focussed staff, then recruit to those behaviours, not just the skills required to do the job. But making it happen is a different challenge – and one that, working with iESE (the Innovation & Efficiency Social Enterprise), South Hams & West Devon councils are making a reality.

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The story began in 2007, when the two authorities agreed to work together to deliver better services at a lower cost. They knew it was possible, but they also knew it would be difficult to break decades of “doing things the same way”. A joint endeavour to find efficiencies was undertaken, and had already made savings of around £6m over six years.

If you want a culture of collaborative, innovative, outcome-focussed staff, then recruit to those behaviours, not just the skills required to do the job.

Earlier this year, the two authorities agreed a merger of all corporate functions – creating a single hub of finance, IT, audit, legal and HR staff to work across the two organisations.

To achieve it, South Hams and West Devon partnered with iESE to deliver a framework for the new organisation, beginning with a shared corporate centre.

iESE Transform Issue 6

Feature

iESE Transform Issue 4

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Feature

It is the start of a process that will eventually see some 400 services re-engineered. The savings will result in a reduction of some 25% in the combined budget of the authorities, or around £3.8m per year – an impressive outcome for two authorities spending a combined total of £17m.

But perhaps the most interesting element was the joint approach taken to recruitment. In considering how best to deliver the quality of services residents need, the emphasis became as much about behaviours as it did about skills.

This led to a radical new recruitment framework to deliver the organisations’ vision of focussing services around customers.

In short, South Hams and West Devon decided that having the experience and skills to deliver a role would no longer be the determining factor in recruitment. Instead, a fundamental decision was taken that the types of behaviours they wanted from their staff would become a core element of the scoring process.

To embed it, six behaviours were set out – Responsible, Communicative, Adaptable, Outcome-focussed, Co-operative and Challenging – and assessments of these were embedded into the recruitment process.

Such a radical change in job descriptions also led to the inevitable impact of every single member of corporate staff at both councils being made vulnerable to redundancy at the same time – presenting further challenges.

As a solution, iESE helped to lead the implementation of those new services over an interim period while senior staff went through the process of being interviewed, with a specialist iESE consultant sitting on each interview panel.

Around 70 staff – up to and including the most senior managers

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– were put into the process, and what followed was, as one member of staff put it, “the most rigorous interview process I’ve been through for any job in my career”. And from someone who’s reached the top of their profession, that’s a big statement.

Traditional interview questions and tests – designed to test knowledge of the skillset - were replaced with ones that required candidates to show not WHAT they were capable of – that much had been established at the application stage. Instead, the process was designed to test the behaviours that the new world of local government needs – collaboration, ownership of outcomes, and adaptability.

The savings will result in a reduction of some 25% in the combined budget of the authorities around £3.8m per year.

lack effort on considering the ‘soft’ elements – behaviours and culture, because they are invisible, and, frankly, the most difficult.

“In South Hams and West Devon the ‘hard’ skills required to do the job were considered at the application stage – so by the time the applicants reached assessment, we knew they were capable of delivering the role.

“That wasn’t the point of the assessment – the point was to establish HOW you go about it, and how you demonstrate the type of behaviours that the organisations’ want to see in staff going forward. It was – and is - an incredibly thorough process, and forces people to really stop and think about the way they go about doing their job.

“But it’s also been hugely rewarding to see so many staff demonstrate the passion they have for the job – we have been fortunate in the sense that the driver was financial, not performance related. So actually, the majority of staff we assessed were able to demonstrate the behaviours clearly and therefore got the posts they wanted. But – as with all transformation – there have been people who didn’t make it through, and that has been difficult.”

Suddenly staff were required to demonstrate not just that they’d done the job – biut that they could do it the way SHWD needed it done.

Interviews traditionally test skills – at SHWD, they test your approach, your mindset, and your drive to make things happen.

The process is ongoing – only time will tell if it has the desired effect, and the first appointments were only made three months ago. But when authorities look at fundamental changes in culture, it may well be worth a trip to Devon.

The process was led by iESE Principal Consultant John Knight – who have worked with South Hams and West Devon officers at every stage of the process.

If you would like to discuss organisation development opportunities for your authority please contact enquiries@iese.org.uk

“So often when organisations look at change programmes they focus on the ‘hard’ elements – processes, systems and structures,” said John.

“These are the visible parts of the change. But many programmes

iESE Transform Issue 6

Achieving Together

Achieving better outcomes together County Trading Standards Merger will save £300,000 ENFORCEMENT and business services across Surrey and Buckinghamshire will operate as a single entity from April, after the iESE-led merger of the councils’ trading standards services was approved.

Almost £300,000 – some 10% of the combined budget of the two services – will be saved over the next three years, while officers from both authorities agree that they will maintain or improve services, while increasing the pool of resources to deploy in any major incident.

The merger of services – further evidence that local government is far ahead of central when it comes to making efficiencies without damaging services - will see both Surrey and Bucks retain their public identities, as well as their current range of services to consumers and businesses.

Core frontline services, such as Buy With Confidence, local business schemes and enforcement activity, will continue broadly as they are – although with the added benefit of sharing knowledge and resources between the two teams, cutting out duplication and saving time.

Major activity – such as responses to animal disease outbreaks like foot and mouth – will benefit from having the resource available from both authorities to deploy as required.

However legal, investigations and IT will be merged – creating a single business administration & management structure. The two teams will operate to a joint strategy with new governance – with a joint committee being established between Surrey and Bucks to set policy and review performance.

CC next month, and the new service goes live on April 1. iESE worked closely with both authorities in the development of the merger, supporting in both options development/options appraisal and delivery, and will continue working with Surrey and Bucks beyond April when the service goes live.

Surrey and Bucks are the latest in an increasing number of authorities to deliver significant savings through a partnership with iESE. We have forged a successful partnership with more than 90% of UK councils, and has helped councils deliver more than £600m in savings and service improvements to date.

Andrew Larner, Chief Executive, said: “The innovation and drive for improvement at both councils has been yet another fantastic reminder of the ability in local government.

“Trading Standards is one of the most visible services of any council – it may not be in the same budget sphere as social care, but it’s a key driver of resident satisfaction and that makes it critical to get the service right.

“A joint service not only makes sense financially but genuinely offers increased resilience when it’s required each authority will have a far greater resource to deploy to major incidents and to be able to offer an improved service to local businesses.”

Staff from Buckinghamshire – the smaller of the two authorities with 500,000 residents and around 15 Trading Standards staff – will be transferred to Surrey

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Calculating the Future

Calculating the future of Social Care iESE’s Leanne Mills takes a look at how the iESE Care Funding Calculator can provide a solution for local authority social care spend.

FOLLOWING another expected, yet precise, incision into the flesh of council finances, authorities are rapidly running out of time to find a solution to the most difficult spending challenge of all – social care.

In a market where it is incredibly difficult to accurately predict demand, and a growing service user base whose needs change, increase and become more acute, finding sustainable cost reductions in a service that makes up as much as 75% of some council budgets has proven difficult - even with the millions saved in the shift from care-home to home-care.

We already have over 50 councils using the iESE Care Funding Calculator (CFC) to get a clear projection of need and market cost, with Coventry City Council becoming the latest to embed the iESE CFC into its service planning process.

Care Funding Calculators – whether through iESE or anybody else – are essential if we’re going to effectively tackle the looming shadow of increasing demand and reduced budgets in care services. Because until we can accurately predict the level of care and associated activities and costs for service users, how will we be able to identify sustainable, strategic savings? We will just keep cutting the cloth until there’s not enough to fit.

Initially built to support adults with learning difficulties, our CFC is adaptable for a range of adult social care services, and was recently even posed as a potential solution to the thorny issue of care worker pay raised by Unison.

Allowing care staff to go through care packages with

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clients individually, mapping out all the activities and support required and the market costs of provision, it gives care directors the a clear way to project exactly what support an individual needs, how often, and what the market price should be for it. As such it can also integrated with resourcing provision.

In just four years the iESE CFC has saved more than £45m for councils, without the need to cut services to the vulnerable.

The calculator’s approach is to provide a simple, structured means to calculate the fair price for a fair package of care. It’s already proven – with £45m saved simply through better planning and costing of care.

The recent Unison issue, resulting in parliamentary debate around fair pay for care workers, showed another area of service where the CFC could become a central tool for calculating care worker travel time and ensuring it is covered in commissioning contracts.

The LGAs so-called “graph of doom” a few years ago predicted that without radical and sustainable change, continued funding drops would mean councils would be unable to provide any services beyond social care – such is the demand for, and cost of, the service.

Certainly those authorities who are using care funding calculators – while still not solving the problem of sustainable cost reductions – do at least appear to have a clearer understanding of what the possible solutions will be.

For more information on iESE’s Innovation Club, contact us by emailing enquiries@iese.org.uk

iESE Transform Issue 6

iESE

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News & Events

Latest news Aylesbury Vale named iESE’s ‘Council of the Year 2015’

eyebrows. Now, it’s a simple reality.”

AYLESBURY Vale district council (AVDC) has been named Council of the Year by efficiency experts after generating almost £11m in savings and new income – reducing the council’s impact on taxpayers over five years by around £3m a year

Connecting People - Bracknell Forest Council

Since launching its single-model approach to service reviews in 2011, AVDC has projected that £10.5m will be removed from the council’s financial pressures by 2016.

It’s efforts were recognised with the plum prize at this month’s Improvement & Efficiency Awards, run by efficiency agency iESE. They were among ten winners honoured at the annual awards, set up by the Improvement & Efficiency Social Enterprise six years ago to showcase the best in savings from the public sector.

Other benchmark projects highlighted were Bracknell Forest DC, which created an e-card for residents to access services including a points scheme for residents which allows them to redeem points for recycling against leisure centre activities, composters and other paid goods.

Among the other projects highlighted were Shepway & Dover districts in Kent, which has delivered a shared waste service resulting in £30m savings and a 50% increase in recycling.

Andrew Larner, Chief Executive at iESE, said: “Much has been said about transformation as a buzzword in local government. But it absolutely exists – what we’ve seen here are tangible, measurable examples of how redelivering a service concept from the ground up can deliver massive savings and better services.

“20 years ago, the very idea that a council might deliver services via an e-card, let alone the fact it might drive up recycling by offering a nectar-card style reward scheme, would have been met with raised

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Gold winners on the night included:

The e+ scheme connects numerous services using a single smartcard.

DEFRA funding supported the council to inform residents and encourage recycling with e+ reward points for each correct collection. Residents redeem points electronically for rewards including composters, library and leisure activities at council sites or donate them to local causes.

Innovation Award - Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service In November 2014 a new firefighting branch was brought to the fire sector market developed through a partnership between SFRS and FireBug Company Ltd. Bringing private and public sector thinking together resulted in a branch 65% more water efficient and more versatile than others available in the marketplace.

Transforming Local Services Aylesbury Vale District Council AVDC is a Local Authority early adopter of Cloud IT. This is enabling it to deliver the flexibility in IT Service Delivery required in a period of significant change, facilitating the flexing of IT provision to meet customer needs while providing an “Anytime Anyplace Anywhere” IT Service at reduced cost.

Delivering Through Efficiency South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council South Hams and West Devon Councils are pioneering a new working model to protect local services. Costs are reduced by redesigning services around customers using new technology, while a smaller workforce reduces the need for offices. Starting in December 2013, the first of the three phase programme is now complete.

Transformation In Health & Social Care - The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead A portfolio of projects under RBWM’s Dementia Strategy to address need and enable residents to live well with dementia. Projects include training,

directories, dementia environment improvements and work across libraries, the Windsor & Royal Borough Museum and arts & leisure centres.

Outcomes include 600 people trained, 2000 directories distributed to residents diagnosed with dementia and environment improvements to 17 care homes and two-day centres, regular Singing Memories sessions & Dementia Reading Group.

Police Project Of The Year - Essex & Kent Police Support Services Directorate Kent and Essex Police Diversity and HR Strategy Team have partnered with the Essex Coalition for Disabled People to provide a work placement scheme for disabled individuals, matching skills and aspirations to organisational roles. providing opportunities for individuals to develop and build confidence; helping them return into the work environment.

Transformation In Waste & Environment - Shepway & Dover District Councils Delivering a 50% improvement in the recycling rate, to around 50% of all waste collected being recycled, and with £30m savings to East Kent taxpayers over 10 years, the waste project led by Shepway and Dover has succeeded through a mix of public engagement, visionary leadership, and innovative joint working.

Working Together - Christchurch and East Dorset Councils Christchurch and East Dorset councils formed a partnership in 2011 and the enduring strength of the partnership is characterised by strong political commitment, integrated service delivery focusing on customer needs, the delivery of sustainable savings and bringing about the behavioural changes necessary to thrive in an uncertain economic climate.

Nominations for the Improvement & Efficiency Awards 2016 open on 24 September 2015 iESE Transform Issue 6

Cardiff Review

Cardiff: Working towards a financially secure future As Wales faces tougher times ahead, iESE works with Cardiff to identify budget saving opportunities, enabling them to continue delivering quality services to their residents. iESE has assisted the City of Cardiff Council in reviewing of some of its services and identifying opportunities for achieving budget savings and generating income.

The authority, the largest in Wales, announced savings of some £38m toward the end of 2014, having carried out major reviews in the way it delivers services such as adult care, libraries and youth services. Its total budget gap next year is £48m.

and – critically – the determination to drive through some massive changes in the way they look at services if they are to get them right for residents while reducing spend.

The outcome of the review is now being considered

by Cardiff as part of its consideration of budget saving opportunities as part of its medium term financial plan. .

And the pressure is set to continue – radical changes are required across Wales after the Welsh government announced in October that its councils would receive £146m less in funding next year – with individual authorities facing cuts of up to 4.5% in their budgets.

Cardiff chief executive Paul Orders, who took the top position at the Council last year, said: “We’re working incredibly hard to identify how the Council can continue to deliver quality services whilst achieving the significant savings required as result of the reduction in central funding to the Council. iESE’s insight and experience with so many authorities meant they were able to provide a valuable contribution to this process.

As well as commissioning iESE to support officers in developing a consistent service review methodology, we were asked to identify and independently evaluate possible areas for service review and efficiency gains, with a view to making initial high-level recommendations.

Lesley Kragt, senior consultant at iESE who worked with Cardiff, added: “A lot of strong work has already been done at Cardiff, but the settlement means there are still big challenges ahead, and – as we’ve seen in England – radical changes are now required.”

Working with Managers, Team Leaders and some front line staff from each service area, the service reviews identified possible changes to the delivery of services as well as opportunities to improve income generation.

To find out more about this or other iESE projects please contact us on 08434 878 025

As in England and Scotland, Welsh authorities need to align members and services to the scale of the new challenge, sharing a greater appetite for calculated risk

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Personal Profile

iESE Introduces…

Personal Profile: Andrew Carpenter Head of Devon Building Control Partnership

Being born and bred in Devon, then spending my working life here may cause some to wonder why I have never moved. Why would I want to, as this is such a lovely part of the Country to live and work?

I started working as a Trainee Building Control Officer at Teignbridge District Council in 1978, based at Newton Abbot in Devon. I then worked at Plymouth City Council before returning to Teignbridge, during which I qualified as a Chartered Surveyor, Building Engineer and Fire Engineer. Among numerous things that I have been involved with includes the South West Region of LABC (Local Authority Building Control) for whom I served as Chairman as well as representing the region Nationally.

With over 36 years experience in Building Control I have seen many changes and my experience as both a surveyor and a manager has shown me that change is ongoing and happening faster.

Being prepared for and managing it is part of everyday life.

Like many services, Building Control was very different when I started.

Applications were then free of charge and the service was entirely provided by Local Authorities. For a long time now Local Authorities have to ensure the service is fully funded from its charges and against competition from the private sector. These changes brought a different approach to Building Control in terms of customer service, accountability and commercial awareness.

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Dealing with dangerous structures is one of the most challenging, exciting and rewarding parts of the job. I have successfully dealt with many incidents including major fire damage followed by repair to historic buildings in Dartmouth and the collapse of the sea wall and railway line at Dawlish in 2014 through to reinstatement ensuring no injury or loss of life.

I was deputy Manager at Teignbridge when it joined forces with West Devon and South Hams Councils to form Devon Building Control Partnership in 2004. I was fully involved with the integration and development of the Partnership from both an operational and managerial position, combining teams from different cultures and systems from Local Authorities with different financial, geographical and political backgrounds.

The development of the Partnership has been interesting and successful and we’ve gained valuable business insight and learning along the way which we can apply to how we work more collaboratively in the future.

The Partnership has more recently enabled operational efficiency, productivity and financial savings to be generated while maintaining high levels of service, forced upon it by ever increasing financial pressures and greater competition.

Some achievements include; centralising office accommodation and introducing remote working for surveyors, 9 surveyors now work remotely; shared systems across the three districts with remote access; fully electronic systems. Our

business model is currently under review following help from IESE. We now have a flatter more streamlined structure enabling savings to be made without affecting surveying staff while delivering significant investment in training. Two surveyors have been developed recently by ‘growing your own’ surveyors through an apprentice scheme which is a very successful and cost effective way to create headroom and develop talent management. One of whom received the LABC Trainee of the year award in 2013 and we appointed another apprentice in 2014.

Working together with customers is important in all services and in Building Control where competition is a driver it is also fundamental to its survival. A measure of success is a continued market share of around 80% that has been achieved by consistency, high standards of service, good customer relations and value for money. LABC provide National and Regional awards to recognise building excellence by its customers and Devon Building Control Partnership, like many others use the opportunity to promote some of their most successful projects regionally and nationally.

Life for me in Devon is not all about working and as an outdoor person I love to go cycling or walking, but only when I’m not playing golf or with my family, which are my true passions.

iESE Transform Issue 6

Transform with us!

Be a part of…

Owned, led and governed by councils, we are a not-for-profit social enterprise, here to help public bodies throughout the UK deliver improved services at lower cost. Our highly skilled team can help you deliver groundbreaking money-saving solutions to almost any public service.

When iESE works with you to save your authority money and improve its services, it also transfers its skills to your authority’s staff. Not only does this mean that you can sustain your transformation, it also means that you can become a part of iESE and help other authorities transform.

With over 75% of UK councils now using our services and other public bodies requesting to work with us, our knowledge and expertise is being shared with thousands every single day.

By using our services you have the option of becoming an owner.

Whether you want to own a part of the business or if you want to have a leadership role for the mutual as a whole you will always be welcome.

Our members have the benefit of accessing our services without the

need for the usual procurement bureaucracy, reducing the cost of transformation to us and to our owners.

However you wish to get involved with iESE, you can be assured of an innovative, sustainable and forward-thinking way of working.

Our effective results already speak for themselves with us saving councils over £250M and for every £1 that is invested in iESE, at least £5 in efficiency savings is generated.

To help your organisation benefit from the wide range of services we offer, why not find out more about becoming part of iESE - contact us today on enquiries@iese.org.uk or call on 08434 878 025

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Waste Management Services Framework aims to save councils

£85m

£270m

Construction framework has made

£92m of savings

In Figures

Care Funding Calculator has saved authorities

£63m T. 08434 878 025 E. enquiries@iese.org.uk www.iese.org.uk

iESE has generated over £270 million worth of efficiency savings over the last 5 years…