Elmbridge Borough Council: Community Services Transformation

The ‘Why’

An initial discovery phase with Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC) identified an opportunity to reach and support more residents in the area. With Local Government Reorganisation on the horizon, EBC were keen to safeguard their community model through meeting a wider range of needs whilst identifying cost savings.

What we did

• Validated discovery findings

  Stress-testing the discovery findings with stakeholder previously involved to ensure we had accurately captured their views. This involved working across staff, VCSE sector and service users through developing an accessible, public-facing document, conducting interviews and analysing an online survey.

• Design a new model to deliver community support services

  Using discovery findings and recommendations and conducting best practice research to develop a community support model which met the needs of Elmbridge residents, harnessed the strengths of the area and had proven track record. The model was iterated through design and feedback sessions with key stakeholders (including Councillors) and included user personas, a transition plan and an outcomes framework.

• Profiled and ‘steady state’ cost model

  Working alongside EBC finance team to baseline unit costs and develop a cost model for the new community support model. To provide greater certainty, the cost of transformation was captured and profiled over an 18 month period.

• Cabinet reporting and supporting appendices

  Working with officers to structure and write a compelling cabinet report and supporting appendices to demonstrate the new model reached more residents, delivered cost savings and implementation could begin within 3 months.

The Outcomes

• Decision at cabinet – Through the comprehensive cabinet report and appendices, as well as the extensive stakeholder engagement ahead of cabinet, EBC were able to approve the decision to transform their community services.

• Cost savings – The approved model was underpinned by a conservative cost model which enabled £1 million savings per annum at ‘steady state’.

• Improved VCSE Sector Relationships- the involvement of VCSE partners in capturing strengths and weaknesses of the community services offer and sharing insights on the cohorts who could benefit from support resulted in closer working between Council and the sector.