Summary
West Lindsey District Council has a population of 88,000 and is situated in Lincolnshire. In 2007/08 the council spent £14.2 million on all council services. During SR04 the council used business process improvement reviews (BPI) to create back office efficiency savings of to achieve back office efficiencies of £1.8 million (91 per cent of total efficiencies) by the end of SR04. The council is planning to use BPI reviews to make efficiency gains during CSR07.
The situation
The Chief Executive of West Lindsey DC had experience of using BPI techniques and realised that BPI could be used at the council to make improvements to back office functions. At the beginning of SR04, the council employed an officer with experience of applying BPI techniques in the private sector. The officer's remit was to use BPI techniques to improve council services from the customers' perspective. The introduction of BPI techniques moved the council away from a transactional approach and into a transitional stage of delivering back office efficiency savings.
Approaches used and efficiencies realised
The officer began by piloting the use of BPI techniques in the bulky waste service and new benefit claimants service.
Bulky waste service
The first of the BPI review pilots was conducted in the bulky waste service. At the start of the pilot the service standard to collect waste items was 14 days. However duplicated back office processes meant that many customer requests took up to 40 working days to be processed. Customer enquiries about delayed collections also caused over 20 per cent of customer complaint calls in the council's contact centre. As part of the BPI pilot, the officer undertook a survey of customers to understand their service needs and worked with staff to identify duplicated work processes. The results of the customer survey identified the need for a booking system to provide customers with a guaranteed date for waste collection. Staff also identified a number of duplicated work processes that could be eliminated by changing the existing appointment system. As a result of the lean pilot, a combined booking and payment system was implemented that guaranteed customers a collection date and reduced the service standard from 14 days to 11 days. The new system also reduced the number of customer complaint calls to the contact centre.
New benefit claims service
The second BPI review was conducted in the new benefit claimants service in June 2007. At the time of the pilot new benefit applications were processed in 40 days. During the pilot the officers worked with benefit assessors to understand the processes involved in approving a new benefit claim. The officers found that factors including the quality of evidence received with a benefit application, and the ability of external organisations to provide information, affected the speed with which an application was processed.
The pilot identified the need for a new application system that was focused on the needs of the customer and reduced duplication of work processes. The new system was implemented and the number of days to process an application fell from 40 days to 23 days by the end of 2007/08.
Taking the lessons forward
West Lindsey DC found that the two pilots were very successful and enabled officers to develop an understanding of the methodologies involved in conducting a BPI review.
The council made BPI reviews a key part of delivering of its efficiency and value for money programmes. The council invested in the resources to train six members of staff in BPI techniques, the aim of which was to embed a culture of Value for Money (VFM) and efficiency savings across the council.
Plans for CSR07
West Lindsey DC is intending to use BPI techniques to identify further back office efficiencies during CSR07. BPI techniques should help the council to move towards a transformational approach to achieving efficiency savings during CSR07.
Learning points
- West Lindsey DC took a transitional approach to back office efficiencies during SR04
- The council employed an officer with experience of using BPI techniques to conduct the pilot BPI reviews
- Two BPI pilots were conducted in the bulky waste service and new benefit claimants service, which realised back office efficiency savings including reduced duplicated work processes and back office systems that met customers' needs.
- The council is integrating the BPI reviews into its efficiency and VFM planning processes and has trained staff in BPI techniques to plan for efficiency gains in CSR07
Questions to consider for your council
- What approach has your council taken to back office efficiency during SR04?
- Transactional
- Transitional
- Transformational
- How might this case study enable you to take a transformational approach to efficiency during CSR07?
- Have you used BPI techniques to make back office efficiencies during SR04?
- If yes, have you conducted a BPI review pilot?
- Are BPI techniques integrated with your efficiency and VFM planning processes (including training staff)?
- Are you intending to use BPI techniques to plan for efficiencies during CSR07?
- If no, have you considered using BPI techniques to make efficiency savings?