Purpose

To
seek Cabinet agreement to adopt the refreshed Transformation Strategy and OFC
Delivery Model, which builds on existing progress under the Our Future Council programme.
It strengthens our approach to organisational sustainability, targeted
investment and service redesign with continued focus on enabling technologies
and digital delivery to support budget balancing.

Content

(a)          
That
the update for Our Future Council including commitment to the financial and
strategic context for transformation following initial consultation, be noted.

 

(b)          
That
the high-level delivery plan, enabling Dorset Council to continue delivering
critical improvements, modernising services, and preparing the organisation for
future challenges and opportunities, be noted.

 

(c)          
That
the use of reserves to fund the investment of £12.4m in 2025/26, be approved:

·       £7.93m in H2 2025/26 plus additional procurement
costs which must be committed to up-front totalling £4.47m.

·       Allocation of budget required as detailed in
section 6 of the report to Cabinet 9 October 2025, released incrementally every
6 months. This includes investment required for internal and external capacity
and skills, delivery of technology including Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP), contact centre, automation and AI and corporate bookings.

 

The incremental release required for October 2025
to March 2026 is:

·      
ERP:
£1.65m plus commitment to 3 years procurement costs for SI and licensing of
product to the value of £2.98m (out of a total of £14.23m over 3 years).

·      
Contact
Centre: £1.55m plus commitment to software licencing to the value of £0.99m and
contracting of product team to the value of £0.5m (out of a total of £5.64m
over 3 years).

·      
Extension
of existing automation technology, Ui path: £0.057m (out of a total of £0.25m
over 3 years).

·      
Whole
council booking solution: £0.075m (£0.385m over 3 years).

·      
Internal
resource: £2.1m for Transformation Management Office.

·      
Redundancy
costs: £2.5m for voluntary and compulsory redundancies

 

(d)          
That
authority be delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Cabinet
Member for Transformation and Corporate Development and Section 151 Officer to
procure and award contracts for the following (within the budget defined in
paragraph 1.3 and section 6 of the Cabinet report to 9 October 2025):

·       Strategic implementation partner for Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) at a total contract value of £2.1m, licensing costs of
the new product to a total value of £0.98m

·       Digital product team for contact centre of £0.5m
for H2 2025/26 and commitment up front to £0.99m in licensing costs over 3
years.

 

(e)          
That
the strengthened governance and leadership arrangements, with regular
engagement, leadership, and oversight provided by the Chief Executive, Cabinet,
and the wider Members Steering Group, supported by the Design Authority, be
noted.

 

(f)            
That investment
requests, be made to Cabinet every six months as needed and as set out at
section 4.3 of the Cabinet report of 9 October 2025, be agreed, with monthly
monitoring by the cross-party Members Transformation Steering Group including:

·       Delivery progress

·       Evidence of benefits realisation and substantiated
savings

·       An updated request for the next investment
increment, aligned to programme milestones

 

Reason for the decision

 

To confirm Dorset Council’s transformation strategy,
reaffirming our commitment to delivering Our Future Council as a whole-council,
cross-cutting programme. This approach reflects the revised financial and
strategic context and builds on the significant progress made over the past
year.