Purpose

The council faces a challenging financial position as a result of rising demand and the government's Fair Funding Review. This paper describes how the council intends to change the way it works to become more resident-focused and efficient.

Decision

1. To confirm its support of the case for change.
2. To agree that the council should continue to develop the transformation programme as a key strand of the MTFS.
3. To note that a draft transformation plan that responds to this paper will go to Corporate PDS panel in September for discussion ahead of adoption at Cabinet alongside the MTFS in November.

Reasons for the decision

B&NES has largely been able to avoid significant cuts to frontline services through a combination of strong financial management, increasing our income and making incremental changes to the way we work. This will not be enough to tackle the challenge we face over the next three years. The council remains ambitious for the local economy and our communities, but we can only deliver those ambitions if we are prepared to work differently.

Alternative options considered

The transformation programme is being designed in partnership with a wide range of officers and stakeholders. Many different options have been considered and we will select the ones we believe most likely to deliver benefits in line with this plan.

We considered bringing in an external transformation partner to deliver this work with us. This was rejected on grounds of cost and control, and because it was felt that working with a partner would reduce the scope for developing the right skills and culture among our in-house team. External support remains an option for specific elements of the programme.

We considered not having a transformation programme at all. This was rejected

because it would force us into deeper cuts to frontline services than might otherwise be necessary.