R Mag Special Edition: Right for Renfrewshire

MAGAZINE

Special

Right for People Right for Communities

Employee Journey Talking you through every step

Year 1 Projects Find out more about each of the six service designs

Your questions answered What’s it all about? And why are we doing this?

Special edition: Right for Renfrewshire

Service Design How the process works

Could you be a mentor for vulnerable local children?

We are partnering with Aberlour, Scotland’s children’s charity, to launch their new mentoring service which supports vulnerable local care-experience children and young people across Renfrewshire. ‘Aberlour Attain’ needs mentors who can inspire, support and encourage young people to value education and have high aspirations for their future.

What does it mean to be a mentor?

Being a mentor is a bit like being a coach of a sports team —providing guidance, being a friend, cheering on from the sidelines while also being honest about what can be done better. A mentor is someone to turn to when things get tough, someone a young person can believe in—a lot like being a good parent.

It’s about • Listening and respecting a young person’s feelings, views and opinions • Providing support to encourage taking part in opportunities within their local area • Discussing and setting personal goals for their education and their future • Motivating and encouraging children and young people to help them make positive choices about their education and value it

What’s involved • Weekly or fortnightly one-to-one meetings with a child or young person for around 12 months depending on their needs • Practical experience working with children and young people with ongoing support and supervision from an Aberlour co-ordinator • One day paid leave to attend essential training to ensure you have the information and knowledge needed for the role • One hour of paid leave every fortnight for the duration of the mentoring relationship Why it’s worth it • A great sense of satisfaction in helping a young person reach their potential • An opportunity to feed into the ongoing evaluation of the service and to connect with volunteers across Scotland at social and recognition events

Contact volunteering@aberlour.org.uk for more info. for more information.

Contact volunteering@aberlour.org.uk 2

WELCOME

Welcome Welcome to this special edition of your employee newsletter, providing you with all the information you need to know about our Right for Renfrewshire transformation programme.

We are all aware local authorities face a number of challenges—whether that’s financial pressures, the changing and increasing needs of our communities’ or keeping pace with the latest technology.

As a council, we’re continuously changing how we work to respond to what our communities need and in recent years we’ve taken great strides in modernising and changing the way we operate.

We recognise we now need to do something different and want to take a fundamental look at how we operate and deliver our services—through our processes, technology, information and assets, people and structures.

The Right for Renfrewshire programme started in September 2019, and will be delivered over the next three years (2019–20 to 2021–22).

What makes Right for Renfrewshire different is it will look at the council as a whole, rather than individual services in isolation—and focus on the most important outcomes for local people and communities.

All services will be reviewed as part of the programme, so every one of you will have the opportunity to get involved and have your say on how we work in the future.

We will examine every aspect of how we work and the services we deliver, to make sure we are a sustainable council that places our staff, customers and the people who rely on our services at the heart of everything we do.

A key part of the programme is examining our ability to target our resources where they can have the most impact, and the way we develop our people.

Earlier this year we asked more than 4,000 employees and local people to tell us about their experience of the council as part of the Our Values and Our Renfrewshire engagement programme.

The feedback from these sessions has been used to inform the Right for Renfrewshire programme, and our ambition to design a council that is: Right for people: • Giving employees choices about their future • Addressing what you have told us hinders progress and how you would like to improve service delivery • Empowering and engaging you in designing services and making Renfrewshire a great place to live, learn and work • Creating and sustaining the right culture and making sure we live by our values.

Right for communities: • Giving communities choices about their future • Being more responsive and addressing the issues that communities have told us matter most to them • Empowering individuals and communities to be independent, resilient and able to participate in local issues • Placing the needs of the individual at the heart of services.

As we make changes over the next three years, we will manage any impact on our workforce sensitively and through careful workforce management. This will include managing our vacancies, redeployment and training, as well as offering Voluntary Redundancy (VR)/Voluntary Early Retirement (VER).

We invited colleagues in the Year 1 programme to express an interest in VR/VER in September 2019, and have had good interest. Decisions on which posts can be released will be made on a phased basis once service design changes emerge, and against our need to retain certain skills and expertise.

More information on our VR/VER scheme, including next steps and an example of what your package could look like are on page 10.

And finally, with the six Year One projects well underway, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in the programme to date. A large number of our colleagues have been working hard to support the programme, and you can read more about the progress, and each of the projects on page 6.

We have a successful track record of delivering change, and I am confident that through Right for Renfrewshire we will deliver a council that is right for you, and right for the communities we serve.

Sandra

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EMPLOYEE JOURNEY

How do we get there? The employee journey The diagram below provides an overview of the employee journey, for all employees, as we progress the Right for Renfrewshire programme. It highlights the key stages of the journey and describes what employees will experience at each stage of the service design process.

1. Engagement with Trade Unions

2. Communication and Engagement

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This began prior to initiation of the Right for Renfrewshire programme and will continue for the duration of the programme and service design.

3. Voluntary Redundancy (VR)/ Voluntary Early Retirement (VER)

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4. Have Your Say on Service Design

During the different stages of a service design employees may be invited to apply for VR/VER. Decisions on release will be made jointly by the service and the employee.

5. Get Involved in Service Design

No one knows the council better than you, and employees will be invited to get involved in the service design process by taking part in various engagement activities, to tell us; what we’re currently doing, how well we’re doing it and if we could do it better.

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Within each service design a group of service specialists and change champions will be invited to join the service design team to consider the future demands that will be made on the service, changing customer needs and expectations, along with what the service has to deliver, when it has to deliver it and to what standard.

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7 7. Delivering the New Service

6. Designing the New Service The team will also design how the future service will deliver its services using modern ways of working, community and individual empowerment; and how processes and systems will interact to deliver high-quality services to our customers.

8. Voluntary Redundancy (VR) / Voluntary Early Retirement (VER)

Changes to how we deliver our services will be subject to consultation with staff and trades unions and future changes will be agreed by elected members. Posts within the new service designs will be filled by matching, training and redeployment.

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At the start of the service design process employees in scope will be briefed by managers on; the context and timelines associated with the service design, the names of the service design project team, details of how they can get involved, and a commitment to be kept well informed throughout.

If you have confirmed an interest in VR/VER you will receive confirmation from your manager of the outcome and next steps. If your interest has been accepted and you choose to take VR/VER you’ll receive confirmation of your notice period along with further information and support.

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

What exactly is Right for Renfrewshire?

Why are we doing it? And what makes it different from Better Council and our previous change programmes?

What does Right for Renfrewshire mean to you?

“An opportunity for us to really focus on our people and communities and put their needs front and centre when redesigning services.”

Lee

“A chance for us to review what services we deliver, how we deliver them, and build on the great work we are already doing for communities in Renfrewshire.”

Mary Crearie, Director of Communities, Housing and Planning

What makes this different from Better Council and previous change programmes?

These are just some of the questions we’re hearing, and who better to answer them for you than Director of Finance and Resources, Alan Russell, and our new Head of Transformation, HR and Organisational Development, Lee Neary, and the council’s management team.

“It’s about meeting the needs of employees and local communities, responding to new technology and innovation and making sure the most vulnerable people in Renfrewshire get the support they need.”

Steven Quinn, Director of Children’s Services

“We’ve now reached a point, where we need to consider the future operating model of the council, set against the backdrop of changing customer expectations, scarcer resources and keeping pace with the latest in digital technologies.”

Alan

“The key difference is in the approach. Every service in the council will be included, as will employees and local communities. Individual services will not be reviewed in isolation, as we have done in the past, but rather groups of services that share similar processes and systems and contribute to shared outcomes, will be reviewed together.”

Lee

What will feel different for employees?

“The level of engagement.

Throughout the process, project teams will work collaboratively with staff across each of the service designs so that staff can influence what happens in the future.”

Steven

Why are we doing this?

“Employees will feel empowered to make decisions on the front line in the best interests of our customers, and the people that use our services.”

Mary

“Right for Renfrewshire will help us to focus our resources where we can make the most impact, working much more collaboratively across services, and providing employees with the right tools and technology to do their jobs.”

Gordon McNeil, Director of Environment and Infrastructure

If the size of my team is reduced will I be expected to pick up extra work, as well as my own?

“No. Right for Renfrewshire is about transforming the way we work, not simply reducing staff numbers.

“It is not about taking on more work—it is a fundamental look at how we deliver our services and how we protect the wellbeing of our staff and the future services should reflect these principles in their new design.”

Alan

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RIGHT FOR RENFREWSHIRE PROGRAMME OVERVIEW: YEAR 1

Programme Overview: Year 1

Place shaping Led by: Sandra Black Chief Executive Alasdair Morrison Head of Regeneration ‘Place shaping’ will see us working closely with our partners and the wider community to empower residents, encouraging them to take on a bigger role in designing appropriate services.

It’s about building and shaping a local identity, where everyone with a vested interest in a place works together to use their influence, powers, creativity and abilities to create attractive, prosperous and safe communities.

By adopting a more joined-up, collaborative and participative approach to designing services, we’ll improve the lives of local people, support inclusiveness and sustainable economic growth, creating more successful places where people want to live, work and do business.

What’s in scope?

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Planning policy Economic strategy Regeneration strategy Housing strategy Neighbourhood planning Economic development Employability Sustainability strategy Conservation and heritage Town centre management Flood risk Tourism & visitor strategy Cultural regeneration

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• Transport strategy • Highways development control • Cultural infrastructure delivery • City Deal • Commercial property • Non-op council property assets • Council property joint ventures • Development management • Climate Change

Customer Transactions Led by: Alan Russell Director of Finance and Resources Rhona McGrath Head of Business and Customer Services Keep it simple, focus on customer need and let’s get the basics right is the approach being taken by the Customer Transaction service deign. The Digital First team will help us understand our customers and how they use our services. This will help us to optimise end-to-end processes and design digital services that work for our customers.

Our aim is to simplify service requests for both employees and customers by automating and integrating common processes, while designing targeted support for individuals and groups with complex needs.

A lot of work being explored is linked to the support provided to other services, so the benefits of Customer Transactions will be felt right across the Council.

What’s in scope?

• Customer Services: Customer Contact Centre, Customer Service Centres

• Business Services: Payroll, HR Transactions, Purchase to Pay, Revenues, Benefits and financial support and admin support.

RIGHT FOR RENFREWSHIRE PROGRAMME OVERVIEW: YEAR 1

There are six service designs in Year 1 of the Right for Renfrewshire programme.

Each of the projects is led by a member of the CMT and a Head of Service. We heard from Sandra in her welcome, and her CMT have answered your questions about the programme, now it’s the over to the Heads of Service or ‘Senior Users’ for more information about what their project hopes to deliver.

Facilities Management Developing Communities

Led by: Led by:

Led by: Mary Crearie Director of Communities, Housing and Planning Laura McIntyre Head of Policy and Commissioning Developing Communities service design will deliver stronger, more resilient communities that are less reliant on statutory services and where the needs and priorities of the local community are understood and aligned with council funding and resources.

It will prioritise opportunities for improved relationships between services, partners and the community.

It’s about reinforcing the concept of public service which is based on human relationships. Building better and more equal relationships and creating capacity across our communities will help us to work in a much more targeted way to deliver services.

What’s in scope?

• Community Learning and Development: Adult and family learning, youth work, Young Scot, citizenship and volunteering, outdoor learning and awards and accreditations.

• Provision of advice and welfare rights service: All core and project-based Advice Works services and externally-commissioned services.

• Housing advice and support services, housing allocations, housing tenancy management and estate management.

• Community support: Council-wide grant funding and community asset transfer, volunteering, third-sector engagement and projects such as Street Stuff and Team Up to Clean Up.

Gordon McNeil Director of Environment and Infrastructure Diane Gillies Head of Facilities Management

Facilities Management (FM) is about looking at both hard FM, the infrastructure required to run a property, (eg. public buildings and office accommodation) and soft FM (eg. catering) which provides the services that keep our buildings open, welcoming and supporting the people who use them It currently sits across three departments and extends to the wider council family, including Renfrewshire Leisure and HSCP and brings together many of the property-related functions which keep the council’s buildings operational.

The new service will be designed around the needs and demands of our customers, communities and workforce to provide buildings and services that are leading edge and remain so for the foreseeable future.

What’s in scope?

• Council Housing Stock: Strategic Investment, Responsive repairs, Voids/ Scottish Housing Quality Standards, Statutory compliance, Inspections and concierge and caretaking Services.

• Public Buildings: Strategic Investment, Repairs, Compliance, Inspections, Energy operations, Cleaning, Caretaking and commissionaires and housekeeping.

• Community Facilities: Schools, Community Halls and Centres—Letting team.

• Other Contracts and Major Construction Works: Health & Social Care Partnership (HSCP), Renfrewshire Leisure, Major refurbishment/ new-build extensions.

• Catering: School meals service, Community meals service and HSCP Care Homes.

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RIGHT FOR RENFREWSHIRE PROGRAMME OVERVIEW: YEAR 1

Early Intervention and Prevention Community Protection

Led by: Steven Quinn Director of Children’s Services

Led by: Mary Crearie Director of Communities, Housing and Planning Oliver Reid Head of Communities and Public Protection

John Trainer Chief Social Work Officer The Early Intervention and Prevention service design aims to ensure that those who need our assistance become empowered to take control of their own lives and are supported to make positive choices.

It’s about working with children, families and individuals who require support from specialist housing and social work services, to make sure they receive this at the earliest point possible, and that our services have a positive impact.

We’ll support families to stay together, where it is safe to do so, by providing the right support services around the family, at the right time.

What’s in scope?

• Children and young people social work (includes looked after children) • Kinship care • Whole System team (includes Youth Justice Team)

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• • • •

Criminal justice Fostering and adoption Children’s houses Homeless services

Community Protection brings together all the regulatory and enforcement functions that work to ensure communities are safe.

A key aim of the service design is to change community behaviours, keep people safe and minimise the requirement to use enforcement or statutory powers, building the capacity and resilience of the teams operating in this area.

It’s about making sure services are targeted to where they can have maximum impact, developing multi-agency partnerships and sharing intelligence and data to deliver systems and process that are efficient, up to date and effective.

What’s in scope?

• • • •

Regulation and Licensing Environmental Health Building Standards Trading Standards

• Private landlord and HMO Inspections and accreditations • Community safety and wardens enforcement

WHAT IS SERVICE DESIGN?

What is Service Design?

All of the service design projects will run at a different pace, however they follow the same design process.

The approach we are adopting involves collaboration between dedicated central Programme Management Office (PMO) resources, representatives from the service areas themselves (known as service

specialists) and business partner functions (e.g. HR, Finance, ICT and Legal).

This diagram explains in a little more detail, how the service design process works.

Clarify This will assess the current service and consider future demand.

It’s about gathering information and insights from employees about the services we provide, to help us identify what we are doing well, and if there are opportunities to do it better.

We’ll work with services to capture an accurate baseline of the current service model. Sessions will be held with front-line colleagues to help us understand the reality of service delivery, current processes and technologies.

This will help inform the new service design.

Change This is the move to and implementation of the new service design.

Change involves turning the plans into reality by implementing and testing the changes we’ve identified. This will be carefully managed to ensure service quality standards and service delivery is not adversely impacted.

Compose We will use the information collected to design a future service model and prepare for its implementation.

This stage is about designing new ways of working for the services we will provide in the future, and making sure they are properly resourced.

The key components of the design are: • People • Ways of Working • Processes • Assets • Technology • Information

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VR/VER EXPLAINED

Is VR/VER right for you?

Every service will be part of the Right for Renfrewshire programme and every member of council staff will be included.

As we make changes over the next three years, the size and composition of the workforce will change and we will manage any impact sensitively. This will include careful workforce management including; managing vacancies, redeployment and retraining and using our voluntary redundancy/voluntary early retirement scheme.

The flowchart on the page opposite provides an overview of the VR/VER process and we’ve also answered some of your most common questions in our Q&A section. Check out the example below to see what VR/VER could mean for you.

If I apply for VR/VER will I be successful in my application?

How is it decided?

Expressing an interest in the VR/VER scheme does not guarantee an application will be successful. If you express an interest, you will receive provisional figures setting out how much you will be entitled to receive should you be released.

At that time, you can decide whether you formally wish to be considered for the scheme. The decision to approve

Here’s an example

applications will be based on the requirements of the new service design and the skills and job roles the council needs to retain. For Year 1 service designs, this is likely to be known in the new year.

Will I be able to see the new service design/structure before I decide whether VR/VER is right for me?

Yes. If you express an interest in VR/VER there will be further opportunities to decide whether you wish to continue to express an interest. Firstly, once you receive your provisional figures, and secondly when the new structures are confirmed.

If my application for VR/VER is approved, when will I leave the council?

This will depend on the timeline for implementing each service design. As each individual service design will run at a different pace, any employees who leave the council through VR/VER will do so on a phased basis. You will be kept up-todate on progress directly from your manager as soon as the information is available.

Member aged 55 on 31 March 2020 Salary: £33,260 Scheme membership: 20 years 161 days

Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) aged 55 at 31 March 2020 Pension Lump sum £10,974 £13,022 +£1,663 (added years) +£4,989 (added years) =£12,637 (per year) =£18,011 Or by exchanging pension for tax free cash Pension Lump Sum £7,752 £51,682 +£1,663 (added years) +£4,989 (added years) =£9,415 (per year) =£56,671 * Estimated redundancy payment of £19,188 paid in addition to above.

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Continued membership until age 60 Pension Lump sum £11,007 (per year) £12,883 Or by exchanging pension for tax free cash Pension Lump sum £7,766 (per year) £51,774 *No redundancy payment

Did you know?

In September 2019, elected members agreed to enhance the council’s current voluntary redundancy scheme from up to 45 weeks redundancy pay, depending on age and length of service, to up to 52 weeks.

VR/VER EXPLAINED

VR/VER: What’s the process?

Not Interested

Interested

Form completed and sent to HR. Automated letter confirming receipt of form.

Letter and expression of interest in VR/VER form received by staff who are in-scope and part of a Service Design.

All expressions of interest sent to payroll and Strathclyde Pension Fund.

Letter with provisional figures and formal indication of interest form issued.

Employee returns form confirming whether they are still, or no longer interested in VR/VER.

No action required However, please be aware there may be a need for some roles to change as part of Right for Renfrewshire, either by training or redeployment.

Not Interested It’s important that you return your indication of interest form whether you wish to be considered for VR/VER or not.

Interested

No action required However, please be aware there may be a need for some roles to change as part of Right for Renfrewshire, either by training or redeployment.

HR provide update to services.

Service designs and proposed structures are confirmed.

You will also have a further opportunity to apply for VR/VER once the service designs and proposed new structures are confirmed.

New expressions considered and decisions made by services on releases (new expressions go through same stages as above).*

One-to-one meeting with manager confirming outcome and next steps.

Note: As the service designs begin to take shape, there may be a need for some roles to change, either by training or redeployment.

VR/VER rejected

VR/VER accepted

Official notice period issued along with further information and support.

Notes * Decisions will be based on the proposed new service designs, the potential cost of early release and

If you require more information or have a question about VR /VER, then please contact a member of the VR/VER Team at vrverteam@renfrewshire.gov.uk or 0141 618 7324.

most importantly that we retain certain skills and expertise to ensure continuity of service delivery.

Proposed changes to future services will be agreed by elected members.

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The Right for Renfrewshire (R4R) team: Who’s who?

Senior Responsible Owner

Programme Assurance Lead

Alan is the CMT lead for the R4R programme, making sure it’s meeting its objectives, delivering the projected outcomes and realising the required benefits.

Lee provides independent and objective oversight of the R4R programme and assurance that the programme remains on track.

Alan Russell, Director of Finance and Resources

Lee Neary, Head of Transformation, HR and Organisational Development

Business Change Manager Paula Reid

Programme Manager

Paula leads on the development and assurance of the expected benefits of the programme, working with the teams to ensure business as usual is maintained during the transition and delivery of the new service design achieves the desired outcomes.

Elizabeth Quinn

Elizabeth provides overall day-to-day coordination of the programme to ensure it achieves its objectives.

Programme Support Officer

Communications Lead

Katie manages the day-to-day running of the programme office, providing comprehensive project support to all projects and the programme.

Liam will lead on the development, design and delivery of the stakeholder engagement and communications plan to support the implementation of the programme.

Katie Whiteside

Five 1

things you need to know about Right for Renfrewshire

What makes Right for Renfrewshire different is it will look at the council as a whole, rather than individual services in isolation—and focus on the most important outcomes for local people and communities

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Liam McGuinness

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The main goals for Right for Renfrewshire are to design services around local people and their needs and the development of a culture that supports and empowers staff and new ways of working

Right for Renfrewshire is about transforming the way we work, not simply reducing employee numbers. It is not about individuals taking on more work—it is a fundamental look at how we deliver our services and how we protect the wellbeing of our staff and the future services should reflect these principles in their design

For more information If you have any questions or would like to know more about the Right for Renfrewshire programme, and how you can get involved, please speak with your manager in the first instance, or visit the Right for Renfrewshire

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No one knows the council better than you and employees will be invited to get involved in the service design process by taking part in various engagement activities to tell us, what we’re currently doing, how well we’re doing it and if we could do it better

Changes to how we deliver our services will be subject to consultation with employees and trade unions and any future changes will be agreed by elected members.

pages on our intranet (intranet.renfrewshire.gov.uk/ rightforrenfrewshire) or public website (www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/right-for-renfrewshire).