East Riding of Yorkshire Council introduced home working as one of a number of measures to help clear a backlog of work in 2000/01. As a result, it has made significant improvements in performance and has seen sickness rates drop from 8 per cent to 3.4 per cent. Staff turnover has also reduced from 35 per cent in 2000/01 to 10 per cent by 2003/04. The council estimates that home working has saved it around £104,000 over a three-year period. This was one of a number of measures that helped transform the service, and can be demonstrated by progress shown in the following table:
| |
2000/01 |
2003/04 |
| Staff turnover |
35% |
|
| Sickness |
8% |
3.4% |
| Council tax collection fund |
-£0.9m |
+£1.6 million |
| Benefit Backlog |
7,800 claims |
800 claims |
| Time to assess new benefit claims |
103 days |
26 days |
| Rent arrears |
£1,4000,000 |
£650,000 |
| Council tax collection rate |
95.4% |
97.3% |
| Face-to-face enquires per week |
1000 |
300 |
| Complaints per month |
56 |
26 |
Visit the East Riding of Yorkshire Council website for further details of their revenues and benefit services.
In relation to the Efficiency Challenge, what potential barriers did they encounter?
- risk aversion
- partnerships
- staffing issues
- external pressures