The Overview and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the 'No Wrong Front Door' (NWFD) programme, which aims to make Lewisham the most accessible council in London. Councillors reviewed the programme's progress, challenges, and future plans, and agreed to note the report and its appendices. The committee made recommendations for a resident outcomes framework, digital inclusion for residents for whom English is not a first language, a dependency map, and a resourcing and investment plan for phase two.

No Wrong Front Door Programme

The committee convened to discuss the No Wrong Front Door (NWFD) programme, an initiative designed to streamline resident access to council services and fulfil the Mayor's ambition to make Lewisham the most accessible council in London. David Austin, Executive Director for Finance, Digital and Corporate Resources, and Jo Kelly, Programme Director, presented an update on the programme's progress, challenges, and future direction.

The NWFD programme, a key component of Lewisham's wider transformation plan, Transforming Lewisham: Run Well, Serve Well, seeks to address the complexities residents face when interacting with the council. The programme aims to simplify access to services, join up services and improve fairness and inclusion. Councillor Mark Jackson, Chair of the committee, noted that the aim of the meeting was to assess whether the key issues of the programme are realistic, given the scale of change and the pressures the council is under, and how the programme is working across big service areas like housing, adult social care and children's services.

Phase 1 Achievements and Challenges

The initial phase of the NWFD programme focused on establishing corporate foundations and delivering early improvements. Achievements included:

• Customer Service Tools Inventory: Cataloguing customer service tools to identify duplication and areas for consolidation.
• Customer Service Standards Checklist: Developing baseline expectations for service responsiveness, aligned with the council's values.
• Customer Service Principles and Guidance: Co-designing a Customer Service Charter with staff and services, incorporating consistent wording on reasonable adjustments.
• Customer Service KPIs: Designing draft indicators to measure customer service performance.
• Online Contact Directory: Scoping work for an online directory with an AI-enabled triage tool to direct enquiries accurately.
• Website Content Review & Reduction: Reducing the number of live pages on the council website from approximately 3,500 to 2,600, with a target of 1,500 by the end of 2025/26.
• Mailbox & Extension Number Clean-Up: Reviewing and rationalising corporate mailboxes and telephone extensions to improve responsiveness.
• Screens and Kiosks: Installing information screens in Laurence House and piloting self-service kiosks to strengthen digital access.
• Housing Call-Centre Integration (Repairs): Integrating repairs call handling into the Customer Service Centre to reduce wait times and improve service standards.
• Customer Service Floorwalker Pilot: Providing face-to-face support in Laurence House to residents needing help with digital access or complex enquiries.
• Single View of the Resident: Progress has been made on the Lewisham Unique Resident Identifier (LURI) as the foundation for a Single View of the Resident¹.

Despite these achievements, the programme faced challenges, including the scale of change required, the need for systemic reform, and the impact of day-to-day responsibilities on staff capacity.

Phase 2 and Future Delivery

The next phase of the NWFD programme will focus on ensuring consistent accessibility across all channels, embedding earlier support to prevent issues from escalating, and developing a service culture where ownership is taken at every point of contact. The programme has been restructured around five new workstreams:

1. Access & Channel Integration: Modernising the council's online front door, prioritising self-service, and implementing AI-enabled telephony integrated with CRM² systems.
2. Early Help & Community Response: Developing digital triage tools, strengthening protocols with community partners, and establishing early intervention hubs in libraries.
3. Data, Insight & Continuous Improvement: Establishing a corporate data and performance framework, integrating insight into programme governance, and creating feedback loops for continuous improvement.
4. Our NWFD Culture & Behaviours: Finalising and embedding the Customer Charter, training staff, and reinforcing a consistent, resident-first ethos across the council.
5. Resident Engagement: Developing a new engagement framework to support the council in engaging with residents, businesses, and stakeholders.

Resourcing and Investment

To accelerate delivery and ensure sustainability, a revised resourcing model is being developed, including proposals to fund support for key workstream leads. More significant investment may be needed for customer service delivery processes and supporting systems, particularly for website content management and the customer contact centre.

Councillor Questions and Recommendations

Councillors raised questions and concerns about various aspects of the NWFD programme, including:

• Breaking down silos: Councillor Luke Warner raised concerns about working between different agencies, accessing information, and data collection.
• Resourcing and digital infrastructure: Councillor James Rathbone questioned how the council would overcome challenges related to resourcing and digital infrastructure.
• Quick win improvements: Councillor Luke Warner sought clarification on the mailbox and extension number clean-up, expressing concern about unread messages in corporate mailboxes.
• Engagement framework: Councillor Joan Millbank emphasised the importance of co-design and involving residents and outside bodies in the engagement process.
• Accessibility for diverse communities: Councillor Aliya Sheikh highlighted the need to publicise the integrated neighbourhood teams and ensure provision for diverse communities, including those with learning and physical disabilities.
• Access to information for frontline staff: Councillor Joan Millbank stressed the importance of ensuring that frontline staff have easy access to the information they need to answer resident queries.

In response to the discussion, Councillor Mark Jackson, Chair of the committee, proposed several recommendations:

1. Develop a resident outcomes framework with clear, measurable indicators to show how the programme delivers real improvements for residents.
2. Ensure that residents for whom English is not a first language are involved in the design and testing of digital tools.
3. Create a dependency map to illustrate how the programme is linked to critical service areas and wider programmes.
4. Develop a resourcing and investment plan for Phase 2, setting out where additional capacity is needed and how it will be resourced.
5. Ensure that problems are being identified and that members are briefed regularly on the programme's progress and challenges.

Councillor Aliya Sheikh supported the recommendations, emphasising the need to make it clear to residents how they can participate in the process and provide feedback.

The committee agreed to note the report and its appendices, and thanked David Austin, Jo Kelly, and other officers for their participation. The committee is scheduled to return in December for a discussion on growth and resident engagement in policymaking.

Review of the Budget Scrutiny Process

The committee discussed the budget scrutiny process undertaken by each select committee in June 2025. Key points included:

• Increased data usage within the Children and Young People (CYP) directorate to ensure savings were well-evidenced.
• Negotiations with the health team to ensure they were funding their statutory obligations.
• The importance of reviewing the NHS's capacity to deliver required work and funding.
• Optimising home transport for vulnerable young people.
• Financial uncertainty within local government making budget planning challenging.
• No expectation of increased funding for Lewisham Council.
• Reducing agency staff within the Place Directorate.
• A national shortage of planners creating challenges for the planning service.
• The need to recover planning appeal costs where the council has won.
• Significant savings expected from the parking contract, but the final amount is not yet known.
• Hopes for more revenue opportunities from filming within the borough.
• A creative proposal from the CYP directorate to move vacant buildings into revenue-generating meanwhile use³.
• Temporary accommodation costs and repair job savings representing the bulk of savings proposed within the Housing Directorate.
• Scepticism around the scale of saving proposed within temporary accommodation (£2.5 million).
• The importance of maintaining legal duties regarding temporary accommodation while delivering savings.
• Potential changes to section 21⁴ impacting the temporary accommodation landscape.
• Monitoring progress against the £1 million proposed saving on 'Repairs' by the Housing Committee.
• The Safer Stronger Communities Committee not receiving the relevant report for equalities impact assessments, making it challenging to review equalities implications.
• Concerns that savings from Adult Social Care may lead to cost shunts within Health.
• Potential costs associated with meanwhile use of properties needing to be monitored.

The committee resolved to note the reports and pass the feedback discussed to relevant officers.

Select Committee Work Programme

The committee discussed the draft work programme, noting:

• The Public Accounts Committee's work is driven by the council's financial process.
• The Housing Select Committee work programme includes annual repeat items, with specific reviews of Disabled Facilities Grants and HMOs⁵, and briefings on changes to the law such as the Renters Rights Bill.
• The Children and Young People Committee works through a thematic process, focusing on prevention and outcomes, with an emphasis on data, and will be reviewing the Youth Offer and studying inequality and attainment gaps.
• The Sustainable Development Committee has reviewed Sustainable Streets, and desires to review Lime Bikes and Forest Bikes, and will take an update on Lewisham and Catford Town Centres, focusing on climate change and flood risk management, and the role of Thames Water.
• The Safer Stronger Communities Committee has already considered the Main Grants Consultation, and will review Anti-Social Behaviour with a particular review on young people, focusing on engagement with residents.
• The Overview and Scrutiny Committee will focus on the 'No Wrong Front Door' programme, growth, and engaging with policy makers to ensure effective stakeholder engagement, and consider how residents could become more engaged with Scrutiny.

The committee resolved to approve the contents of the work programmes of the Select Committees.