Background information for the TW3 (2) Scrutiny Topic Group to be

held on Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Background

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) had spent considerable time over the period 2001-2006 carrying out reviews and introducing programmes of work resulting in a series of operational efficiencies, these included:

  • Introduction of SAP/SHARP programme
  • Reviews of HR, IS and Finance
  • Best Value Review of HR in 2001
  • Cranfield study of IS services August 2004
  • The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Financial Management model review of finance in 2005
  • Vertex high level feasibility study of a shared service model for HCC

This resulted in the HR function being centrally managed under the Director of People & Property on 1 July 2006 and the IS/IT function being centrally managed under the Director of Commercial Services and Information on 1 September 2006.

On Monday 20 November 2006 John Sellgren and Lesley Brockington submitted a Paper to Cabinet.

Cabinet were asked to consider:

  • Endorsement of the centralization of staff engaged in the functions of HR & IS/IT and proposed budget centralization for those staff engaged in the finance function.
  • Approval for funding of £4,265,000 to enable a phased programme of work allowing the authority to gain access to potential savings identified by the Vertex study.
  • That officers be asked to carry out further work and report back to Cabinet onoptions to pursue efficiency savings in relation to administration.
  • Whether to ask officers to pursue discussions with potential external suppliers to outsource some or all of support service functions,once a specification for support services has been developed.

The case for change was based upon 3 Key objectives

  • Efficiency
  • Standardization, leading to improved quality and performance
  • Better utilization of specialist knowledge

The outcomes sought from centralization were as follows:

  • To organize the support functions of the organization to deliver an effective service that best meets the delivery needs of both service departments and corporate objectives.
  • To ensure clarity and consistency of standards,advice,processes,procedures and training of support services staff across the council, and to increase professional support in key specialist areas.
  • To reduce duplication of activity and streamline service delivery, especially of routine,high volume processes and toincrease capacity to provide forward looking services in the areas of business case development and decision support.
  • To clearly define the responsibilities and role of the manager across the council, to define the skills, knowledge and behaviours required and to embed a corporate development and support package for managers.
  • To improve the opportunities for career progression for support service staff and enable better succession planning.
  • To realign HR, IS/IT and finance functions with existing external suppliers to improve connective processes and realize the benefits that this would offer in terms of contractual savings and improved quality in service delivery.
  • To deliver cashable efficiency savings of at least £2.8m per year by 2008/09. (£600,000 from HR, £1.1m from IT and £1.1m from finance.)

HR Service Transformation

The Herts HR service was formed in April 2007 by centralizing the previous departmentally based generic HR teams. Learning and Development (L&D) were excluded pending corporate review which was completed in June 2008. As a result specialist L&D teams remained within service departments and generic training was centralized.

As part of the centralization of HR, a new career grade progression scheme was developed to provide a clear guide for all HR staff on the competencies and skills required at each grade.

The new Herts HR service was split into the following functional teams;

  • Strategy and Policy,
  • Business Partners,
  • HR Transactions,
  • Resourcing,
  • L&OD

The Safe Staffing and personal file management were strengthened as part of the transformation following the Joint Area Review (JAR) in 2007. In April 2009 Members agreed growth to support additional demands of safe staffing regulations and immigration legislation.

In January 2009 a series of proposed changes were announced, which included a revised overall operating model, to improve service delivery by providing a single point of contact and a revised HR management structure. In April 2009 key changes to HR teams included;

  • transfer of HR transactions staff to Serco (approx 40 staff),
  • 2 HR Business Partner teams merged into a single team to become the main focus of support to senior and line managers
  • formation of a new Case Management team to resolve issues more swiftly and robustly with appropriate solutions,
  • transfer of 6 posts to Manpower on a seconded basis to ensure streamlining of processes and single point of contact for candidates and managers
  • introduction of Ask HR – single point of contact,
  • and a review of IT training across the council.

By the end of 2008/09, HertsHR had achieved transformation savings of £600,000. This was through the reduction of 14.32 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) posts as well as the streamlining of processes and reduction of other costs not related to pay.

Appendix 1 provides the current HertsHR service delivery model and organization chart of the latest HR structure

IS/ IT Transformation

  • The new Herts IS/ICTservice commenced with appointments of managers designate at the end of September 2007.
  • Appointment of staff into all remaining roles then took place from October 2007 to January 2008.
  • Relationships with Serco strengthened to ensure the council benefits from efficient end to end business processes.

Features of the new structure included:

Centralized administration, creation of Business Partner teams, information management bringing together Freedom Of Information (FOI) and data protection responsibilities, development team leading all IS project management, service delivery team managing the overall operational service, technical infrastructure activities consolidated. Technical Infrastructure became responsible for developing a rolling 3 year ICT strategy, programme delivery and business support.

Appendix 2 provides an organization chart of the latest IS/ICT structure.

Finance Transformation

The new centralized Herts Finance service was launched in July 2008.

The new service comprised of two divisions:
i)‘Accountancy’ Division consisting of four service-focused accountancy teams bringing together accountancy staff previously devolved to service departments into one division.

ii)‘Strategic & Specialist Services’ Division focusing on strategic advice, forward planning and specialist corporate (whole organization) functions, including tax advice, pension fund administration, treasury management and insurance.

As part of the transformation, transactional activity previously undertaken across service departments was brought together within one team. These activities related to processing payments, income and debt recovery. To improve the effectiveness of debt recovery activity two members of staff were transferred from Serco as part of this move.

Given the nature of work in income and payments teams within Adult Care Services, these teams remained within ACS, as these teams need to work closely with front line social care teams in order to be effective. However opportunities for improving processes and delivering efficiencies in this area were identified as part of the transformation.

The launch of the new service was accompanied by the introduction of a new career scheme for finance staff.

During June and July 2008 induction sessions took place for all budget managers explaining their responsibilities and the support that they would receive from Herts Finance. In the autumn of 2008 a compulsory training package for all new budget managers was launched, which now forms part of the corporate suite of manager training. Self-service budget manager monitoring reports were launched in the autumn of 2008.

As a result of transformation, the cost of finance services was reduced by £1.1m (14%) and staff numbers were reduced by 25 Full Time Equivalent (FTE). These savings were achieved by increasing spans of control, removing duplication of effort and reengineering various financial processes.

Appendix 3 provides an organization chart of the latest Finance structure.

Service Support Implementation (SSI)

Background

The SSI programme set out to achieve a more effective use of the 800 (600 Full Time Equivalents) staff across the organisation that provide administrative support to front line and managerial staff and had a clear vision for the future. The vision being to have more effective and efficient processes in place using structures that would provide better outcomes for service users as well as more structured, fair progression opportunities for the staff that provided the support.

A 4-phased implementation took place that enabled the momentum to be maintained and to ensure consistency and maximum benefit across the organisation and to realise the estimated savings. This firm foundation would then enable further savings opportunities as the new ways of working were established in teams and services.

Phases 1-3 have now been completed, and phase 4 (Children, Schools and FamiliesHertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service) is due to be completed October 2010.

Staff Progression Scheme and NVQ Qualification Scheme

More than 170 different job titles existed through the HCC payroll system which was in effect business support and administration functions. In some cases the same job title spanned a range of pay grades with no separating responsibilities identified making career progression difficult within and outside departments that administration employees worked.

The introduction of a Service Support Career scheme offered career progression opportunities to employees within the SSI job family. The scheme clearly lays out transparent criteria for progression and supports employees by offering development opportunities to progress through the organisation.

The Career scheme covers grades H2 to H6 and is divided into three levels as shown above

NVQ Qualifications for Service Support Staff

An on-line skills survey for support staff was completed in June 2009. This provided a clearer picture of the existing level of qualifications staff have and the potential interest in completing an NVQ. There was an excellent response rate of 55%.

The results were analysed and discussed at the Performance and Planning Group (PPG) and the decision was taken to support staff eligible for government funding through Train To Gain to achieve their first Level 2 qualification in either Business Administration or Customer Service as appropriate.

Currently we have 33 on NVQ programmes and feedback from NorthHertsCollege is that all are progressing well. Most of the learners are expected to complete by September.

The current position in terms of the funding is that Train to Gain is coming to an end and there is little or no funding available for NVQ training for adults.

Business Support Manager (BSM)/Business Support Officer (BSO) posts

The posts of Business Support Officers & Business Support Managers were introduced as part of a Service Support Implementation programme within the Hertfordshire County Council’s The Way We Work Programme. Post holders are responsible for supporting teams to deliver ongoing performance improvement by challenging existing work practices and providing support and guidance.

The update from services on how the BSM/BSO role has developed since implementation has been extremely positive. Examples have been given where those in post are making a direct impact on ensuring efficiency and effectiveness of systems and processes resulting in clear savings being gained. It is felt that if these posts were not in place, business would continue as usual but less efficiently and savings would not be reached at their optimum level. The value of these posts therefore, particularly in light of the Council for the Future transformation is clear.

Project Officer job roles

Working with departmental leads generic Project officer job outlines were produced which suited departments across the organisation. These outlines were based on grades from H7 to H9 and completed the generic job family.

A three level career progression scheme was put in place with entry to the scheme at any level; this provided a consistent approach to recruiting and developing employees through the grades.

Learning points and recommendations

  • All in scope staff have been assimilated.
  • The toolkit, which included stage by stage process guidance as well as templates and documentation, was felt to be extremely helpful.
  • Good HR support and advice to departments.
  • The BSM/BSO roles have proved invaluable in achieving and optimising efficiencies within departments.
  • More robust senior challenge needed in some departments during the in scope/out of scope exercise.
  • More time with managers to support their understanding of the implications of SSI at the start of their phase of the programme.
  • Possibility to revisit and review roles – Are people aligned to the SSI role (especially within areas that had recently transformed; ICT, HR, Finance). In addition, monitor and challenge new job roles that may emerge that could instead be aligned to the SSI role.
  • Wider re engineering of end to end processes would have maximised the benefits. It is hoped that this will instead be achieved through the Council for the Future transformation.
  • Report back on the benefits of the BSM/BSO role and review whether an adequate number are in place across the departments.
  • Create an opportunity for BSMs and BSOs to meet across departments periodically to share best practice and lessons learnt.

Views on the new TW3 Working Arrangements

The Way We Work Project Topic Group comprising Ken Coleman (Chairman), Geoff Churchard (Vice Chairman), Steve Holmes, Ian Laidlow-Dickson (Vice Chairman) and Tony Mitchell carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness to date of the TW3 Project in 2008. Particular reference to the move and new working arrangements at Apsley were taken into account and early progress at Stevenage was scrutinised.

Overall the members felt the TW3 project to date had been very successful and they welcomed the changes that it had brought about. They felt many of the approaches used could be applied to projects the County might undertake in the future. Members agreed a number of recommendations, in particular:To resurvey all staff a year after each move has taken place to ascertain their views on the new working arrangements and publish the results.

Appendix 4now provides a final review report of the TW3 Office Transformation programme.

1

100915 05 Report