Harmonisation and Improvement in a New Unitary Authority

A Case Study

Our client was a new unitary authority formed in April 2009.  The Development Management functions, which included Planning and Building Control, were continuing to operate independently with structures based on the predecessor council structures. Problems around lack of integration were not just limited to Planning and Building Control and were found in other merged functions across the council.

Management were keen to bring the functions together in a single harmonised manner providing an improved service to customers at reduced cost.

Our approach to this problem involved a Rough-cut Activity Based Costing study, Customer Journey Mapping and Business Process Redesign.  We worked closely with client staff and management to develop the solutions.

Rough-cut Activity Based Costing

Cost and volumetric data were collected for the Planning and Building Control processes in the former councils.  Our analysis then allowed the costs associated with different ways of working to be compared across the authority. Furthermore, we were able to use benchmarking data from more than 20 different authorities collected as part of the National Process Improvement Project and other client studies to identify areas for further improvement. The key findings from the R-c ABC study were:

• The unit costs of deciding planning applications (i.e. average cost per decision) were similar in all predecessor districts, but higher than most other authorities we have studied;

• Opportunities for cost savings were evident from the harmonisation of administration functions, the evaluation of applications and the committee processes;

• Further savings could be made through reducing the number of applications decided by committee, introducing electronic processes and eliminating the practice of managers checking officer reports.

The study provided key insights to the areas of high cost and allowed the focus of our subsequent analysis to be placed on particular parts of the process.  A series of workshops then followed in which staff from the various sections of the council examined their own processes in detail; identifying the causes of high cost, delays and poor customer service before developing ideas for harmonisation and improvement.

Customer Journey Mapping

In the workshops staff were asked to consider their services from the viewpoint of customers and the experiences that they have when dealing with the council.

Staff agreed that although there are a large number of different stakeholders in the planning applications process to consider, the primary customer was the applicant seeking permission. The key conclusions staff drew from the Customer Journey Mapping exercise were:

• Guidance and advice available can be inconsistent and confusing;

• The council website is difficult to navigate;

• The distinction between Planning and Building Control can be confusing;

• Different Customer Services Agents give different levels of support;

• Pre-application advice is not of a consistent high quality;

• Fees can be confusing;

• Customers are often routed through numerous different departments;

• A high proportion of  planning applications are returned as invalid;

• Conditions attached to applications can be onerous on the applicant;

• As far as customers are concerned the planning application process is slow.

The groups then moved on to agree the principles of what the ‘ideal’ customer journey should be:

• Contacting the council should be straight forward for customers;

• Information available should be comprehensive and easy to understand;

• The service and advice provided should be of a consistent high quality regardless of the channel they use;

• Pre-application advice should benefit customers in terms of more timely decisions and positive outcomes;

• Applications should be valid and thus not returned to applicants;

• Good decisions should be made in a timely manner

Business Process Redesign

Following the Customer Journey Mapping exercises, the workshops moved on to consider the underlying processes in detail.  Staff studied process maps that had been developed, paying particular attention to three key questions:

• What are the causes of poor experience and frustration for customers as identified in the Customer Journey Mapping exercise?

• What are the causes of high cost identified in the Rough-cut Activity Based Costing study?

• What are the differences in working practices between the predecessor councils?

ValueAdding.com consultants concluded the workshops by getting staff to identify the key harmonisation and improvement priorities moving forward.

The Results

With the outputs from the workshops and our own expertise in both planning and process redesign, our consultants were then able to:     

• Make a series of recommendations for harmonisation and improvement;

• Identify the associated cost savings;

• Develop a comprehensive plan for the client to implement the recommendations.

The total savings identified enabled the authority to meet its efficiency targets.