Productivity Experts Programme – Council June 2016

“This work has challenged us in the right way – it has been a helpful challenge”. Clive Wright, Chief Executive

“A really good, helpful piece of work. Staff felt suitable challenged, supported and found the process enlightening”. Karen Bradshaw, Director of Children’s Services

Background

Shropshire is one of ’s most rural and sparsely populated counties with a large geographic area of 1,235 square miles. Situated in the , bordering Wales to the west and to the north, the area has a population of 310,100 (ONS, mid-year estimates 2014). Shropshire’s population is largely of White British ethnic origin. The numbers of residents from minority ethnic groups is low; at 4.6 per cent of the population (this includes white other, gypsy/traveller and Irish). 40.1 per cent of Shropshire’ s population live in the main market towns of , , Whitchurch, Market Drayton, and Bridgenorth (Census 2011).

The council’s budget for 16/17 is a balanced budget, but going forward after that will provide challenges to the council. The costs in adult social care are escalating and, following redesign, the budget has been protected. However, there has been more demand than anticipated and it was important to look at how the council could do things differently, and the pressures this is placing elsewhere in the system. Whilst not the prime focus of the project, this was seen as an important area to look at to see if further focus would be helpful.

Children’s social care have proposed significant savings but there is still a significant funding gap. It was difficult to see how further savings could be delivered without compromising some of the statutory functions of the council.

Page 1 of 5

Support requested

The core aim of the project was to undertake a high level review over 10 days. The Productivity Expert was asked to validate existing savings proposals and identify areas where there could be further potential opportunities. This work would help to inform decisions that the strategic and political leadership need to make going forward.

For any additional opportunities identified, the potential level of saving would be estimated based on the financial and performance information provided by the council. More detailed financial modelling and profiling would form the basis of the next stage of work if the council wished to proceed with a ‘deep dive’ of the areas of opportunity identified.

Anticipated outcomes

The anticipated outcomes from the review were:

 Validation of current savings proposals  Challenge to future savings proposals  Identification of potential further financial efficiencies  Recommendations on how services might be delivered differently while ensuring outcomes are not diminished  A view on what can be delivered with the resources the council has going forward and any impact this might have on the council’s statutory duties.

Expert activity

The methodology for the review included desk-top research and analysis and meetings with key stakeholders and a workshop. The main areas of focus included:

- Educational Services and the use of the DSG - Early Help offer (including Children Centres) - Social Care including placement strategy and execution and use of Havenbrook, a residential provision for children and young people on the edge of care - Two day review of passenger transport services - A half day workshop with Adult Social Care senior managers to consider current and future pressures in the service and explore opportunities for addressing these moving forward.

Education Services: This was an area that the Productivity Expert felt needed further investigation in that some of the council’s proposals to offset savings by increasing services through traded services may not be wholly realistic in terms of recouping true costs and the likely expansion of the provider market as more schools become academies. Suggestions were made about how savings may be achieved by changing the approach and relationship with schools and reconfiguring the delivery of some statutory services. Further modelling and deep dives were recommended specifically in the areas of SEN; SEN transport; Statutory Support Service Functions.

Early Help Offer: There were potential efficiencies that could be achieved through the remodeling of in house Early Help services, exploring the possibility of integrating Children’s Centers, Targeted Youth Support and Parenting support to develop a 0-19 (25) Early Help Offer. It was proposed that there is

Page 2 of 5 likely to be an opportunity to achieve 20 per cent of savings in 2017/18 from the base budget of £2.1m, achieving £430,000 of savings.

Social Care: If a reduction of around 20 per cent in spend on agency staff could be achieved this would save approximately £125,000 per annum additional to savings identified by the council. Further modelling would be required to quantify this but there are opportunities to reduce agency usage. A reduction in spend from base budget on residential placements is proposed by the council and was felt to be achievable with the caution that savings on placements can only be taken so far as they are impacted by demand at any time. However it was identified that there are opportunities to project savings through the number of young people leaving care and preventing others coming in, through robust early help and the use of the ‘edge of care’ Havenbrook facility.

Home to School transport: The Expert found that the transport management team have a strong understanding of the mechanisms to deliver efficiency savings and are working hard to deliver in this area through robust procurement, the development of ‘alternative’ means of travel assistance, an understanding of statutory eligibility criteria, the importance of route optimization and recognizing the important relationship with public transport. Further areas were identified for development but the expert felt that the council was in a good position to maximize efficiency whilst maintaining service quality.

Cost savings

Headlines:

 Savings proposed by the council to achieve a sustainable budget 2016-19 is circa £13m  Savings proposed by the Children and Young People’s Directorate is £7.9m  This leaves a £5.1m shortfall  Savings identified by productivity experts as achievable in relation to the council’s proposals - £5.6m  Additional opportunities quantified - £425,000  The challenge of closing the gap remains.

Potential areas for detailed further investigation to deliver savings were identified across children’s and adult services as a second phase to this project.

Impact and outcomes

The scoping of the work and involvement of the Chief Executive, Director of Children’s Services and Director of Adult Services in the project enabled a whole system discussion about budgets to take place across people’s services in Shropshire.

The Productivity Expert worked with the council to deliver the following additional outcomes and recommendations for further action:

 Provided with assurance relating to decision making relating to financial planning to deliver savings specifically relating to children’s services  Identified key areas of further opportunity to deliver savings in children’s services:

Page 3 of 5

o Reconfiguration of the Early Help Service o Accelerate step down linked to the above o Reduce use of agency workers o Review of business support function o Review of Children’s Centre offer and exploration of the integration of Children’s Centre services with other services o Changing the approach and relationship with schools and beneficiaries of services o Consider opportunities for shared services

 Identified service areas in Adult’s Social Care where more efficient and effective service delivery have the potential to deliver savings:

o Review reablement offer and service o Re-model hospital discharge pathway o Passenger Transport o Review discretionary concessionary fares

The ideas and evidence were pulled together and tested on site with the DCS, amendments made as a result of this consultation and a final report and presentation delivered.

Council Contact:

Karen Bradshaw, Director of Children’s Services Shropshire Council Email: [email protected]

LGA Contact:

Joanne Straw, Productivity Adviser, Local Government Association [email protected]

Page 4 of 5

Page 5 of 5