Transformation Strategy and Efficiency Plan

Transformation Strategy and Efficiency Plan 2024/25 to 2028/29

Introduction

The Council has historically had a Transformation Plan (since 2010) and widened this to incorporate other efficiencies. The purpose of the Transformation and Efficiency Plan is a measured approach to meeting the emerging financial challenges. The plan was written to identify cost efficiencies, increase income opportunities and develop transformational alternatives for the future delivery of services.

The Transformation Programme since its inception and going forward aims to support the delivery of over £7m in efficiencies. In making our savings, services to residents in some cases have been changed from universally free services towards chargeable choice-based services. Other services have been streamlined, to be even more efficient and leaner. Costs have been reduced through rationalisation of assets and staff, with the sharing of both posts and key services. Concurrently, we have made it easier for customers to transact their business with us at a time and in a way that suits them. We have done all of this without significantly impacting on service quality or resident satisfaction. Our latest resident polling data shows us that 84% of residents are satisfied with Rushcliffe as a place to live and 59% of residents are satisfied with the way the Council runs its services. (2021).

This revised Transformation Strategy sets out the Council’s approach to making further savings between now and 2028/29. It also explains our approach to identifying and working with partners, recognising and maximising opportunities, and leading the way in delivering high quality services that match the needs of residents. It is clear that as the organisation becomes leaner, it will become increasingly challenging to find further savings. Achieving the increased targets requires a bolder and more strategically focussed way of thinking.

Addressing the Funding Gap

Some of the more significant savings already achieved are:

• Service Efficiencies – of services identifying structural and process efficiencies (e.g. Hybrid Mail, Digital Newsletters) in addition to a detailed review of the budgets to identify further savings e.g. WISE (Waste Investigations Support and Enforcement) related to fines for fly-tipping. Streetwise and grounds maintenance was brought back in house from September 2022 to generate efficiencies.
• Thematic – Savings achieved from the Leisure Strategy, including Bingham Arena and offices.
• Income Reviews – Garden Waste, Car Parking and general review of Fees and Charges.
• Additional Savings – Income generated from investment projects such as new offices at Cotgrave precinct and the new Rushcliffe Oaks Crematorium at Cotgrave.
• Funding secured – Including Home Upgrade Grants (HUG) and Local Area Delivery Grants (LAD), SALIX, UKSPF totalling £5m.

Following the impact of two years of Covid and ongoing legacy, the council has been further impacted by the war in Ukraine and resultant costs of living crisis which has caused financial pressure to the council’s budget. Whilst already restricted by tighter controls on how Councils can generate additional income, there has been no long-term Government financial settlement, meaning uncertainty over future funding streams. The Council continues to constrain spending and increase income where possible but also continues to review how it delivers its services for potential efficiency savings. The impact of high inflation rates and reduced funding, means that the council has a need to draw on reserves to a value of £1.6m over the five-year period to 2028/29. Recently completed significant asset investment projects, particularly the development of a Crematorium and the Bingham Arena and Enterprise Centre, make a significant financial contribution to these projections in addition to delivering both socio-economic benefits.

Savings Targets

Savings Targets

Category	2024/25 £'000	2025/26 £'000	2026/27 £'000	2027/28 £'000	2028/29 £'000
Gross Budget Deficit excluding Transformation Plan	4,709	5,334	7,714	7,851	7,927
Cumulative Savings in Transformation Plan	(5,100)	(5,833)	(6,223)	(6,457)	(6,598)
Gross Budget Deficit / (Surplus)	(391)	(499)	1,491	1,394	1,329
Additional Transformation Plan savings	(733)	(390)	(234)	(141)	(240)
Net Budget Deficit / (Surplus)	(1,124)	(889)	1,257	1,253	1,089
Cumulative Transformation Target	(733)	(1,123)	(1,357)	(1,498)	(1,738)

Other arrangements exist with neighbouring authorities such as the Building Control partnership with South Kesteven and Newark & Sherwood, Payroll with Gedling Borough Council, Procurement provision by Nottingham County Council and Eastcroft Depot premises
shared with Nottingham City Council. The Council continues to identify innovative ways of delivering its services more economically, efficiently, and effectively, and provide greater resilience including collaboration or to make savings and efficiencies through outsourcing. For example from November 2023 the IT help desk and support services. Streetwise insourcing is expected to deliver £0.2m of savings by 2024/25.

The Council must continue to review its existing transformation projects on an on-going annual basis. The current Transformation plan focuses on the generation of additional income mainly from car parking, garden waste and the digitalisation of home alarms to cover increasing costs of the service. Officers continue to seek efficiencies wherever possible and look for wider projects to improve value for money and several projects are being assessed for feasibility to deliver potential future savings. The current transformation projects which will be worked upon for delivery from 2024/25 are given at Appendix B.

It should be noted there is guidance on the capitalisation of transformation costs where an income stream is generated. It relates to set-up and implementation costs not on-going savings. These should be reported through this document. This Strategy can be revised at any time by Full Council and as part of our Capital and Investment Strategy reporting we must show the impact on our prudential indicators.

Rushcliffe's Core Operating Principles

Rushcliffe has three core principles which underpin its approach to transformation:

• income generation and maximisation
• business cost reduction
• service redesign

Transformation has been achieved to date by focusing on a ‘one’ Council approach and great teamwork between Members and officers to limit the impact upon residents. However, we recognise to be successful in bridging the remaining funding gap it will be necessary to consider and implement large scale transformational change which can generate a large fiscal impact.

The Transformation Strategy is an evolving document and although it essentially covers the next five years it should not be bound by time or scope. To this end and within the emerging complex environment, three partnership models have been identified to provide a framework to generate further efficiencies. These are covered in more detail in Appendix A.

An Integrated Approach to Transformation

This Strategy formalises the Council’s integrated approach to transformation. It highlights the work that has been, and continues to be, done to deliver over £7m by 2028/29 in efficiencies and formalises the Council’s principles of partnership working (detailed at Appendix A). At a strategic level it highlights the important relationship between:

• The Council’s Corporate Strategy – which provides the overall direction of the Council, its core values and its four key priorities,

• The Medium-Term Financial Plan – a defined plan of how the authority will work towards a balanced budget and maintain viability,

• The Transformation Strategy – a document providing direction in respect of the strategically focussed streams of work to meet the financial targets whilst fulfilling the Council’s corporate priorities.

This trio of documents can be influenced by external factors such as central government, public expectation and other stakeholders.

The Transformation and Efficiency plan

This document details the different areas of work officers and Members will focus upon to meet the stretching financial targets set whilst continuing to fulfil our corporate priorities. The diagram below highlights the different work streams and shows how they fit together over the next five years. Underpinning the work we do undertake is a commercial culture.

Management Responsibility with Member Challenge

Each year, officers undertake an internal programme of investigations looking specifically at improving efficiency through different ways of working. We also challenge our budgets every year to drive out further savings whilst minimising the impact of front-line services. We have a strong leadership focused on corporate priorities using regular performance clinics to manage performance and budgets. We also ensure that every large-scale project (where there is deemed to be a significant impact on residents, staff, or budgets) has its own project board and governance structure. Activities are challenged through Leader and Portfolio Holder briefings and constituted and established processes such as Member Groups. Reports on policy changes are passed through the Cabinet, and our Corporate Overview Group and other scrutiny groups regularly scrutinise review findings. Additional Member Groups are created by Cabinet where required.

Service Efficiencies

The culture at Rushcliffe has been to ensure different services are reviewed regularly to make sure they are as focused upon the customer and as streamlined as possible, any identified inefficiency removed from the system and where appropriate services are moved online. The way the service is delivered is also investigated and consideration is given to potential partnership opportunities or alternative methods of delivery to protect the services that residents value without a pre-determined view. Headline efficiency targets have been identified for each area of the Council and these are illustrated at Appendix B.

Management Challenge

The Service Efficiencies are strengthened by on-going management of the services through regular performance clinics and a management challenge as part of the annual budget setting process – each Director is charged with scrutinising their budget to identify any additional savings or remove unused budget. Again, top level targets have been identified where appropriate and these are illustrated in the table at Appendix B.

Members and Officers Working Together

The upper area of the diagram above focuses on activities where Members and officers work together to identify further savings and different ways of working. These aspects of the Strategy have been arrived at through our budget proposals which have continued to be
radical and challenging as we look at ways of bridging the financial gap by 2028/29. Budget update sessions (both this year and in the past), incorporating Members from all political groups, have looked at what has been achieved so far, policy changes that can be made
immediately to save money in the coming year, different ways of delivering services in the future, and more long-term options that could significantly change the face of the Council and the services it delivers.

Immediate savings

Each year, Members are presented with a number of policy changes which hit one or more of our core principles of income generation and maximisation, business cost reduction or service redesign. These operational changes form part of the budget setting process each year and generally result in savings or additional income for the following year(s).

Member Involvement and Budget Workshops

As part of the budget setting process for 2024/25, Members discussed the proposed Council tax increases, the impact of inflationary pressures on the budget and funding streams particularly in light of the current Section 114 announcements within the sector. The impact on both capital and transformation programmes of significant capital projects namely the leisure centre refurbishments, decarbonisation of fleet as part of the replacement programme and the pressure form Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) was discussed and that currently projections mean there is no recourse to externally borrow. Over the past few years there have been several long-term initiatives including Bingham Arena and Enterprise Centre and Rushcliffe Oaks Crematorium which have an ongoing contribution to the Transformation and Efficiency Plan. The Asset Investment Strategy has paid dividends although due to Government restrictions, the focus is now on maximising value for money from its existing assets with a review of Council investment or commercial properties t due early 2024. The performance of the Council’s commercial assets is reported to Governance Scrutiny Group and Cabinet Quarterly.

Process Reviews

The Council introduced its digital by design strategy in 2019 with the objective of understanding the Council’s digital needs and delivering a programme of planned improvements. This strategy promoted four areas; Digital Culture, Efficiencies, Customer
Satisfaction, and Security and Privacy, and successfully delivered a total of 18 projects. A cumulative savings of approx. £74k has been achieved in efficiencies per annum due to initiatives such as the ‘My Account’ portal for our residents, the Councillors portal for our
elected Members, improved website, new booking system, new workflow and automation, and Hybrid Mail. There continues to be a rolling programme of initiatives supported by the Information, Communication, and Technology Services department.

The Council has recently approved the Fees and Charges Policy which aims to ensure that fees are set in a transparent and consistent manner. In the current economic climate, fees and charges offer an opportunity for the Council to maximise its financial position, and to
achieve policy objectives, for example by encouraging or discouraging the use of a service or to alter patterns of behaviour. The corporate charging policy covers: Which services should be subject to full cost recovery, and which should be met from the General Fund; Which services should be eligible for concessions within a broader equality and fairness framework; How charges relate to and support wider corporate priorities; and the impact of any competition and whether the Council is or should be competing with local businesses in the economy. Ultimately the balance between taxpayer and service user should be aligned. The diagram below demonstrates this principle.

Transformational Projects 2024-2029

As has already been mentioned above, this Strategy is a continuation of the Council’s original Transformation Programme and as a consequence a number of key projects which influence service delivery and finances over the next few years are already in progress. Good progress has been made with new Transformational Projects as mentioned above.

Going forwards, two major Transformational projects are:

• Increase in fees for garden waste and car parking to cover increasing costs of providing the service.
• Full year effects of the Bingham Arena and Enterprise Centre and Rushcliffe Oaks Crematorium.
• Review of Assets.

Both of these schemes are embedded in the Corporate Strategy and fully embrace the Council’s four priorities:

• Quality of Life
• Efficient Services
• Sustainable Growth
• The Environment.

Bingham Arena and Enterprise Centre by providing high quality leisure, offices and community facilities, as well as employment opportunities, to the growing population in the Borough. Rushcliffe Oaks Crematorium provides much needed community infrastructure and quality service delivery for Rushcliffe and the residents of neighbouring districts.

Leisure Strategy Activation

The new Bingham Arena and Enterprise Centre opened in February 2023 giving even more added value for the taxpayer and the offices providing opportunities for small and growing businesses. The next phase of the Leisure Strategy focuses on improvements to Keyworth
and Cotgrave leisure centres during 2024/25, to improve carbon efficiency though green technology measures, further supporting the Council’s targets to be carbon neutral by 2030. The council has secured £1.2m external funding from SALIX to support these improvements. Longer term renewal of the Leisure Centre Management Contract and the end of East Leake PFI both in 2027/28 may present opportunities to secure further efficiencies.

Summary of the Transformation Strategy Work Programme

The Transformation Strategy Work Programme for the next five years and a framework within which the required efficiencies will be delivered:

• Leisure Strategy
• Fees and Charges
• Rushcliffe Oaks Crematorium
• Streetwise Insourcing
• Asset Review
• Service Review and Efficiencies

Governance

Whilst this strategy establishes a framework and timeframe for the individual projects within the programme, arrangements are flexible to allow for unforeseen circumstances and redirection of resources to maximise opportunities as they arise. It is anticipated that these
same principles of agile working will apply to the 2024-2029 rolling Transformation Programme.

Each project within the programme has appropriate governance arrangements depending on the size, complexity, and risk. Overall, monitoring of the Strategy ultimately is reported Finance and Performance reports to both Cabinet and Corporate Overview Group and as necessary a relevant Scrutiny Group. will take place quarterly by the Chief Executive and the Executive Management Team. Where it is required by individual projects, consultation, and engagement with members of the public will take place.

The following risks have been identified and will be monitored accordingly.

Funding Analysis for special Expense Areas

Risk	Probability	Impact	Mitigation
Reviews do not achieve anticipated savings	Probable	Greater than £250k	Individual reviews where there is underachievement may be offset by others with higher savings. Regular reporting in budget papers.
Programme slippage	Possible	Greater than £250k	Monitoring of programme and taking early corrective action.
Insufficient capacity to undertake the programme	Possible	Greater than £250k	Procure extra resources – i.e. consultancy.
Insufficient interest from alternative providers	Possible	Negative	Find appropriate savings from direct service provision by quality reduction (probably).
Delay in anticipated savings or a reduction or removal of current savings due to external factors	Possible	Greater than £250k	Accurate profiling of efficiencies. Close monitoring of the environment (e.g. rising prices) that may affect the feasibility of projects and regular reviews on the commercial market (e.g. rental demand) in order to assess likelihood of income falling.

 

Conclusion

The above sets out Rushcliffe’s plans over the next five years and the Council’s commitment towards delivering these plans. This plan supports the Council’s MTFS and is the vehicle upon which the Council will achieve a balanced budget.

Appendix A - Rushcliffe's Accepted Models of Partnership Working

Localised Integrated Working Partnerships

These types of integrated delivery partnerships involve working with other agencies and organisations whose services are delivered to Rushcliffe Borough residents. These partnerships are aimed at improving the connectivity of public services, public regulation, reducing the need to cross-refer people and issues.

Localised Integrated Working Partnerships result from:

• Welfare Reform
• Regulatory Services
• Health and Social Care
• Educational Welfare

The Government has recognised and begun to embrace the value of partnerships of scope and is increasingly looking to realise both financial and customer benefits from these. Central Government policies around community safety, health outcomes, welfare reform and community budget pilots, all demonstrate recognition of the importance of different agencies working together in a single locality to benefit their residents.

The Council’s Customer Services Team operates in locations across the Borough on a remote access basis in buildings operated by
partners such as libraries and health centres. The main Customer Service Centre is in West Bridgford, the largest of the towns in Rushcliffe.

The service is delivered in Bingham where an integrated delivery service model has been deployed and is being delivered from its Health Centre. In addition, there are contact points in Cotgrave and East Leake located in libraries, supporting extended opening times of these
facilities and providing increased remote access for the Customer Services Team.

There are also a range of projects underway involving our locality partners, which embed these principles and take services out into the community, including Positive Futures, Sunday Funday, Lark in the Park and Business Partnership events and networking.

Partnerships of Scale

This term describes two or more organisations joining together largely to benefit from economies of scale. These partnerships can, like localised integrated working partnerships, drive efficiencies but they may not, in themselves, directly improve the way in which the service is delivered to Rushcliffe Borough residents. Opportunities exist in this area to share back office services, such as payroll, reducing costs and removing duplication whilst maintaining and improving capacity and resilience.

If scale partnerships are to be successful, previous experience has shown that there is a greater chance for success if they cover a broad range of services but are focussed and aligned on a small number of culturally similar and willing partners. It is possible to develop these partnerships organically – that is, as opportunities arise.

Shared Service Delivery:

• Professional Access/Influence
• Economies of Scale
• Capacity and Resilience
• Future Employee Operating Models

As mentioned above, to date partnerships of scale have developed organically – the Council has been successful in developing a number of such partnerships in the past, of which the following, mostly back-office services, have come to fruition:

• payroll services (Gedling),
• building control (South Kesteven, Newark & Sherwood),
• procurement (Nottinghamshire County Council),and
• emergency planning (Nottinghamshire County Council).

Following continued encouragement from Central Government, there has been an increased willingness and determination from the Leaders within Nottinghamshire to forge closer partnerships of scale – agreement with Nottingham City Council to relocate Depot Services to operate out of Eastcroft, now housing a shared depot for refuse fleet maintenance. Further opportunities will be assessed as opportunities arise. The Council is actively involved with the East Midlands Combined Authority Devolution discussions which will provide opportunities for collaboration with all councils across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Partnerships for Governance

There has been a growth of place-based and themed partnership arrangements. These have largely been designed to implement and administer arrangements within defined areas focussed upon common objectives including: The Joint Planning and Advisory Board (Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire County Council, Broxtowe BC, Gedling BC, Erewash DC and Rushcliffe BC).

An interim vehicle for the establishment of the East Midlands Development Corporation remains in place. Rushcliffe has currently paid over £400k with a further £100k committed over the next 2 financial years.

The Council is also working with partners on the power station site as part of the now approved East Midlands Freeport. along with East Midlands Airport and East Midlands Intermodal Park in South Derbyshire. To support the development of the site the Council worked with Uniper and others to adopt a Local Development Order for Ratcliffe on Soar, this is intended to accelerate the planning process to meet the challenging timescales of the EMF incentives.

The emergence and growth of other forums has restricted the representation and influencing role of individual districts. The Health and
Wellbeing Boards and Local Enterprise Partnerships are prime examples where representation is restricted to one district or borough council. However, Officers ensure that regular updates are received and sent between district and borough councils to keep colleagues
informed and good relationships are maintained with these organisations so we remain aware of opportunities as they arise. However, to further combat this, other supporting arrangements are in place. For example, the Council has created the Strategic Growth Board, Development and Community Boards and task and finish groups focused on particular areas or themes to either facilitate local economic growth or deal with the challenges growth creates. There is also the City of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Economic Prosperity Committee to drive future investment in growth and jobs in the City and County. At a regional level there is a Development Corporation Board which focuses on, for example agreeing joint objectives, allocating resources and monitoring outcomes which will impact regionally.

Joint Committees / Partnerships:

• Housing Growth
• Employment
• Business Growth
• Infrastructure Delivery

As these develop, there will be an increasing reliance upon forging relationships which can influence outcomes for Rushcliffe residents; for example, agreeing key infrastructure requirements which benefit not only Rushcliffe but neighbouring boroughs, districts, and the
City. These models of partnership working provide a framework within which officers can be swift to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. They build upon our existing core principles model highlighted above and provide a clear map for the future.

Appendix B - Transformation Savings

Transformation Efficiency Plan

Category	2024/25 £'000	2025/26 £'000	2026/27 £'000	2027/28 £'000	2028/29 £'000	Total £'000
Thematic	-	-	-	-	-	-
Leisure Strategy	(207)	(35)	(28)	23	0	(247)
Crematorium	170	(47)	(70)	(64)	(40)	(51)
West Park NCCC (Special Expense)	-	(39)	-	-	-	(37)
Customer Contact Centre	-	(50)	(1)	(1)	(1)	(53)
Additional Income	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rushcliffe Country park car Park Charges	(50)	-	-	-	-	(50)
Charging for New Bins	(50)	-	-	-	-	(50)
Car Parking	(164)	(15)	-	-	(100)	(279)
Green Bin Scheme	(238)	(98)	(100)	(100)	(100)	(626)
Bingham Enterprise	(35)	-	(8)	-	-	(43)
Cotgrave PH2	(1)	(1)	(6)	-	-	(8)
Marketing Services	(2)	(8)	-	-	-	(10)
Charge for Street Naming and Numbering	(1)	-	-	-	-	(1)
Edwalton Golf Course	(21)	-	-	-	-	(21)
Home Alarms Digitalisation	57	(81)	(21)	-	-	(45)
Savings	-	-	-	-	-	0
Streetwise	(100)	-	-	-	-	(100)
Young	(26)	-	-	-	-	(26)
Remove T4	(8)	-	-	-	-	(8)
Grantham Canal	(26)	-	-	-	-	(26)
Reach Rushcliffe	(5)	-	-	-	-	(5)
Public Conveniences	(15)	(15)	(1)	-	-	(31)
Rushcliffe Community Voluntary Services	(8)	-	-	-	-	(8)
Mayor's Christmas Party	(4)	-	-	-	-	(4)
Total	(733)	(390)	(234)	(141)	(240)	(1,738)
Cumulative Savings to date	(5,101)	(5,833)	(6,223)	(6,457)	(6,598)	-
Cumulative Savings carried forward	(5,833)	(6,223)	(6,457)	(6,598)	(6,838)	-