The changing landscape for local government - a new working model to deliver integrated services in the run-up to 2025 and beyond.

In a rapidlychanging world, standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards

At a recent roundtable event, Civica brought together a group of pioneering leaders to discuss what the local authority would look like by 2025 and paint a picture of the changing citizen. They not only looked at the demands of the citizen and the role of the local authority but also at what the council of the future’s business models, partnerships, technology, senior management and culture will be like.

Introduction

Contributors

Kim RyleyFormer Chief Executive, Hull City Council and Shropshire Council and Chair at SOLACE in Business

Vic AllisonDeputy Managing Director, Wychavon District Council

Jack HegartyManaging Director, Wychavon District Council and Chief Executive of Malvern Hills District Council

Julian WainConsultant and Interim Former Chief Executive, Gloucester City Council

Graham CookConsultant and Former Deputy Chief Executive, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council

Gerard DoyleManaging Director, Canons Associates Ltd

Steve ShakespeareManaging Director, Civica Services

Paul BradburyGroup Business Development Director, Civica

The report provides a vision of the future, supported by comments from the roundtable to outline a new working model to deliver integrated services. An online survey of 80 council leaders and chief executives from across the country was also conducted.

The report discusses the cultural and behavioural changes required in order to successfully implement new business models and partnerships for change. It reviews the implications these changes will have and proposes a maturity model that should be considered to meet the behaviours of citizens and the demands and needs of authorities over the coming years.

Transformational change is front and foremost of future local authority service delivery.

The requirement for improvements is being driven by a variety of political, financial and people factors. The government has set out its ambition to balance the nation’s books by reducing public sector costs by approximately £40 billion over the next five years so it can then pay off the deficit. And so, the next decade promises to be a complex and potentially challenging one for local authorities.

Like any other organisation they need to react to increasing pace of change and adapt their business models accordingly. As the CBI states, “we must overhaul services in ways that match the needs of tomorrow’s society.”

1. The changing citizen

Includes demographics, the generational mix, their social interactions, service expectations and how they group around issues, plus the challenge of an expanding, ageing and more demanding population for whom convenience trumps everything.

2. The role of the council

From community guardian to commissioner of services. Councils will increasingly be able to interpret their data to derive citizen insight, take a more commercial approach, incorporating baseline and top-up services, and realign their focus on automation and targeted intervention.

3. Staff, skills, partnerships and resources

Encompasses how councils will develop and retain the necessary staff, skills and resources to deliver quality services and achieve their objectives in conjunction with partners, in an increasingly joined up, and commercially complex environment.

4. Pervasive technology

Technological advances are having a profound impact on how we all deliver and consume services. Local authorities will have to embrace digital public services, for example, facilitating new voting behaviours while automation and social media will continue to shape the way that people engage, interact and work.

Our working group believes that a council of 2025 will be shaped by four main themes:

Executive summary

E-mail: report2025@civica.co.uk

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