The UK Experience by Malcolm Morley*
A study by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary entitled Valuing the Police identified that in larger police forces, uniformed police staff availability was only 6.4 per cent on a Friday night at half past midnight, 11.3 per cent at 9:00am on Monday morning and 10.9 per cent at 7:00pm on Wednesday evening.
In smaller forces, the corresponding figures were 10.7 per cent, 11.4 per cent and 10 per cent.
These statistics tell us a number of things. The first is that the scrutiny of public sector operational decisions has never been higher (and is likely to increase).
The second is that while there may be very good reasons for the statistics, the fact that they have not been communicated proactively creates a shock value and reaction when they become known.
The third is that it is easy to create a perception that the allocation of resources is not consistent with community/customer demand, but in favour of public sector staff.
The fourth is that too much staff time is taken up by processes/activities that remove people from the customer interface.
The private sector is very good at tracking/managing demand and ensuring that accessibility to goods and services is in place where and when it is profitable.
While many public sector organisations arrange for out of normal working hours emergency services to be available on an exceptional basis, normal office hours apply for most services.
Access outside of normal office hours has increasingly relied upon technology.
While it is now easy to pay for council services, to find out about planning applications and to find information using websites outside of normal office hours, talking to someone to get advice or help is much more difficult.
Significantly reduced resources create major challenges to a council’s operating model.
New ways of working are required to maintain or transform productivity and effectiveness with less money.
Improving flexible access to services for communities/customers is a key part of this challenge.
Councils need to segment their different community/customer groups and work with them to find out what they want in terms of output, outcomes and access to services.
They then need to prioritise those segments and requirements and communicate this prioritisation to stakeholders and what it means for service provision.
Resource allocations then need to be consistent with these priorities, as do the ways of working to remove bureaucracy.
This may mean that some staff work normal office hours and some don’t.
Councils working together to aggregate their demand for out of hours services, for example licensing inspections and noise complaints, can create a critical mass of demand to justify the employment of specialist staff working outside of normal working hours. This can result in improved services at lower cost.
Councils are starting to think differently and introduce new ways of working. The key is to ensure that this thinking starts with the needs of communities and demand.
In this way, it is more likely that innovation and partnerships will result in improved services at less cost, and councils will be seen to match resource availability to demand.
Is your Council available when your customers want it to be?
*Malcolm Morley is Chief Executive of Harlow District Council and can be contacted via the Editor, email info@lgfocus.com.au The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of his employer.
