IN A response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Royal Borough has unveiled plans to transform services and create a ‘community-centric borough of opportunities and innovation’.
Last year, senior councillors approved ‘radical’ draft plans in the transformation strategy 2020-2025 to rethink the way the council operates and how it and residents interact with each other.
The paper emerged from the pandemic and will put communities at the forefront and change a number of services the local authority delivers such as adult social care and children’s services.
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Speaking at a cabinet transformation sub-committee on Tuesday, October 2, council leader Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams) said: “I think it’s absolutely right that we look at services and not a buildings approach.
“By doing so, we can potentially release some assets that can be repurposed, redeveloped, call it what you will into providing alternative and better accommodation than we are able to procure via the market.”
Adult social care and children’s services
Kevin McDaniel, the council’s director for children’s services, told panel members they are seeing more families and an increase in complex cases as a result of Covid-19, adding pressure to staff and finances.
The council had 228 children in protection in their care in 2020/21. Only 92 were in the council’s systems three years ago.
Rising costs have also added pressure, such as spending more on children who need additional support in their homes. The Royal Borough is spending up to £6,400 a week, equating to a £1.3m overspend.
Due to a lack of social care workers, 25 agency workers have been brought in to cover 62 posts resulting in a cost of £340,00 a year.
From the data, a range of transformation ideas has been developed that could help ease off financial and staffing pressures.
The Royal Borough has about 50 foster care families – but the council want to increase that number by offering discounts to council tax and access to leisure facilities. Expert coaches could also be hired to offer young people or families with children on the edge of care advice and guidance – instead of the council assessing their needs as the first step.
This could be intertwined with wellbeing and mental health services to intervene early and stop the situation in becoming a crisis.
The council’s assets could be looked at and transformed into children’s homes as the commercial market is ‘too expensive’.
Cllr Stuart Carroll
The lead member for adult social care and children’s services, Cllr Stuart Carroll (Con: Boyn Hill), said: “It really is a critical focus across children’s services to see where we can transform further.
“Of course, in accordance with the principles of safety and quality, because we are dealing with very vulnerable young people and that will always be our principal priority, it has to be.
“But that’s not to say there aren’t opportunities to be innovative and enterprise. I think we’re already showing that, and we’ve had some fantastic achievements already.”
On adult social care, the council is looking to ‘expand’ its day opportunities for community-based activities. Hilary Hall, director for adult social care, said the only choice is to go to a day centre.
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Training for call centre staff could be provided on how they can deal with residents in crisis. Meanwhile, community and service contact details are to be ‘streamlined’ to make it easier to access the right organisation quickly.
New technologies could also be piloted as well such as My Sense, which is a hidden sensor that monitors and predicts if someone will experience a ‘crisis’ in their home and will notify their family or the service that they may need help.
The council structure
Chief executive Duncan Sharkey said the key to transforming the way the council operates and delivers its services is to change its ‘culture’.
This involves encouraging staff to take their own action and take lead in their own jobs by giving them the authority, toolkits, and sharing good practice.
Mr Sharkey said: “We’re not opposed to people taking risks or trying new things, but we want them to do it sensibly.
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“We want them to do it in a way that even if it doesn’t work, it is not catastrophic or certainly not hurting people or putting them at risk.
“If we’re not prepared to try new things or give people permission to fail then the transformation programme is always going to be fairly limited.
Council services could be remodelled and co-created with the community. This will involve looking at how it interacts with residents and improving areas response times for customers.
Cllr Helen Price (TBF: Clewer & Dedworth East) said: “Some of the experience I have when I’m working on behalf of residents who try to access services and don’t get a response, is that I too find things going into a black hole and nothing comes out.
“I am dogged and determined but even I end up giving up because there’s no response and that’s totally wrong and very frustrating.
“It’s good what you’re trying to achieve but there are pockets within the organisation where that doesn’t happen.”
Staff will also be able to share ideas on a digital staff space platform called Engagement HQ, developed by the council.
The transformation work is still ongoing where the full strategy should be implemented by 2025.
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