Agenda item

To consider issues within the Transformation and Finance Portfolio area, including the following report scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 16 December 2020:

•     Organisational Design- Acceleration of Transformation Savings for 2021/22  Budget

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the report and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor Drew Mellor, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Finance.

The Chairman of the Children’s Services and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees have also been invited for consideration of this item.

The Cabinet report is attached for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Organisational Design – Acceleration of Transformation Savings for 2021/22 Budget - The Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Finance introduced the report, a copy of which had been circulated and which appears as Appendix ‘N’ to the Cabinet minutes of 16 December in the Minute Book. A number of issues were raised by the Board in the subsequent discussion, including:

·     In relation to Adult Social Care it was noted that most savings were to be found from pooling resources and significantly more investment would be going into this area. The consequences of the savings would be in back office functions and not frontline services.

·     In response to issues raised regarding communications with staff on the changes to be made the Leader of the Council advised that it was important to get people on the journey quickly in order to actually reduce instability. In the past departments had been asked to ‘top slice’ which had led to issues of capacity, but this approach was about ensuring a transformation across the Council. It was acknowledged that there were areas of the Council where there were capacity issues such as Children’s Services and Planning and investments would be made in these areas. A Councillor commented that it was important to ensure that capacity was measured, and the Leader advised that with the enterprise level approach this could be done.

·     A Board Member questioned whether the Leader had been in consultation with the recognised trade unions. The leader advised that he hadn’t as yet but would be happy to engage with them.

·     The Leader advised the Board that there hadn’t been any change in the overall figure from the previous administrations paper. A Board member commented that there was already streamlining in some areas, for example in licensing all three areas were coming under one policy and there were planning policies moving towards this.

·     In response to a question regarding staff engagement the Leader advised that there was a cultural change and this was being done with people and not to people in order to create something exciting, streamlined and efficient.

·     A Councillor asked about expanding apprenticeship schemes to help young people in the area and the Board was advised that they were looking to extend the care leavers scheme and welcomed more opportunities when we can.

·     There were concerns raised, as outlined in paragraphs 14 and 15 of the report, regarding the reduction in headcount occurring in advance of the adaptation of new technology and ways of working and that by doing so, asking people to do more before the systems were in place to be able to do this well. That by reversing the process was a danger of affecting the mental and physical health of employees.  It was noted that people would be brough together to work more efficiently and that more people were not always needed to do more work. Although it was agreed that this was more challenging, but it would ensure working more efficiently and putting more resources into the frontline. Councillors sought assurance that the impact on staff would be managed.

·     Concerns were raised at the risks associated with the policy particularly in terms of impact on staff and how these would be identified and mitigated. The Leader advised that these needed to be managed properly and acknowledged the risk involved but there was significant savings which needed to be taken into account and that we were in a fortunate position to manage these through the transformation opportunities in the appropriate way with the support of officers.

·     There was a change of process taking place, including that the pay and reward scheme was going to be put back by 3 to 6 months. The Leader was asked to explain the high-level risks and mitigations being taken, including capacity and service level risks and reputational risk to the Council and if these risks were not mitigated what ‘plan B’ would be. The Leader of the Council advised that we were in early stages, but it was fast paced. Risks would be mitigated by having a clear plan and having professional people supporting us in delivering this process in a planned and measured way.

·     A Councillor commented that asking people to do more without giving them the tools to do more is a risk and that this radical transformation of people’s lives required more than a passive communications strategy. The Leader responded that we would have to take a different enterprise level approach to savings and a massive communications programme was underway. Senior officers were speaking on the job family process and how this was going.

·     The Chairman of the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted that there were particular challenges within Children’s Services at the moment both due to Covid and other issues. The staff within Children’s Services were feeling vulnerable at the moment. The Leader was asked if savings made within Children’s Services would be reinvested into Children’s Services? The response was that Children’s Services was the number one priority of not just the administration but for all Councillors. The administration was embracing the change agenda by Children’s Services and there would be materially more funding for Children’s Services next year.

·     The Corporate Director for Resources advised that in terms of communications and engagement there was a structured programme of staff ‘drop ins’. He also explained that the team was meeting with recognised trade unions on a regular basis. in advance of full transformation. It was noted that if it was not done in this way, fully looking at and anticipating the effects across the organisation, savings would need to be found within small teams across the services. It was anticipated that if the new ways of working were applied with teams there was a real opportunity to realise savings. Capitalising on some aspects of the transformation programme.

Two motions were proposed by Board members to recommend to Cabinet that further action was needed on staff consultation and support after further discussion Board members came to agreement to combine this into a single motion as follows:

RECOMMENDED to Cabinet that it notes the proposed new approach and requests that the Council continue to consult staff extensively and ensures that adequate support is available to staff to ensure their wellbeing during the transformation process and that it continuously monitors the Council’s capacity, particularly within Children’s Services and Adult Services.

Voting: For - 9, Against - 2, Abstain - 4