The 2024/25 Transformation Plan

Seven change programmes will be delivered to achieve our ambitions and support us in achieving some of our Medium-Term Financial Strategy, which includes a wider range of actions to address budget challenges. Delivery of these will be monitored through operational budget management mechanisms.

Total estimated 2024/25 Transformation Plan savings 1:

• 2024/25 £12.22m
• 2025/26 £16.07m
• 2026/27 £16.89m

Only programmes that deliver sustainable change have been included within this Plan. These are at various stages of implementation, with a number comprising several elements of activity, as set out below. Further work is in progress to fully scope key milestones and deliverables.

1. The Council’s Pre-budget Report (December 2023) sets out a range of additional technical and operational savings plans and actions to the value of £32.7m for 2024/25. The above transformation programme savings form part of this total

Our seven transformation work programmes:

1. Coventry Connects: Seeking to understand resident needs better to improve the design and signposting of future services.
2. Developing and providing a Coventry Advice Service: Creating a more joined-up offer between us and our partners, which can help more people get the advice and guidance they need in the most streamlined way possible.
3. Delivering One Coventry Community Hubs (One Coventry Services): Establishing a range of Community Hubs, which will provide a joined-up service offer for our residents, providing the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
4. Increasing early interventions to reduce demand in services
5. Thinking smarter about service delivery: Taking a fresh look at how we plan, commission and deliver services.
6. One Coventry partnership delivery: Working with our partners to find solutions and use resources in the most creative way possible.
7. Helping our people to grow: Creating an environment that supports our talent to grow, thrive and work in the most innovative and effective way possible

Programme 1. Coventry Connects

Coventry Connects seeks to improve our understanding of residents’ needs so that we can better design and signpost services to meet that need.

Outcomes will include:

• Improving how people access our services.
• Streamlining internal and external processes, to increase ease and efficiency.
• Creating a data-bank across the Council to help us understand community needs and inform future policy and service design.
• Implementing automation and artificial intelligence technologies and techniques to reduce administrative tasks.
• Where possible publishing data to reduce FOI requests and increase transparency.
• Working with partners to reduce the digital divide and increase social inclusion.

Estimated savings:

• 2024/25 £1.0m
• 2025/26 £1.5m
• 2026/27 £1.5m

Contribution to the overall objectives of this Plan:

• Consistent and high-quality service to customers, with different levels of support (self-service, online, automated, face to face etc.) depending on need.
• Greater understanding of resident need to improve signposting and early intervention.
• Increased digital confidence across the city

Programme 2. Developing and providing a Coventry Advice Service

The Council and other organisations in the city, provide information and advice to residents on many different topics, for example, welfare benefits, money management, debt, housing and homelessness prevention, family and wellbeing support and specialist legal advice.

Supported by Coventry Connects, this project will create a more joined-up offer between us and our partners, which can help more people get the advice and guidance they need in the most streamlined way possible.

Estimated savings:

• 2024/25 £0.4m
• 2025/26 £0.4m
• 2026/27 £0.4m

Contribution to the overall objectives of this Plan:

• Clarity of support available to residents, with resource aligned to need and complexity.
• Clear customer journey – for general and specialist support.
•  Using our data to provide targeted and proactive support to residents in the most financial difficulty to prevent residents reaching crisis.

Programme 3. Delivering One Coventry Community Hubs (One Coventry Services)

Over the years, councils across the country have used different buildings and spaces to provide individual services, libraries, children’s centres, community centres, and other locations.

Many different and complementary services have also been delivered in an area, but in a noncoordinated way.

However, joining up the services our residents use either in a single, more easily accessible location or in a more coordinated way ensures and increases their relevance within a community, while being much better for those who need our help, and more cost effective for us.

It makes more sense for our residents, and is financially more sustainable for us, for these services to be more joined-up and we will be exploring how to achieve this in the coming months.

More than just co-locating services in fewer buildings, One Coventry Services will provide a joined-up service offer for our residents, providing the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Estimated savings

• 2024/25 £0.9m
• 2025/26 £1.4m
• 2026/27 £1.4m

Contribution to the overall objectives of this Plan:

• Essential services protected and resources targeted to meet community needs.
• Collaborative support across services and partners resulting in improved outcomes for residents.
• Potential for extended operating hours for some services where co-located (in buildings with longer opening hours).

Programme 4. Increasing early intervention to reduce demand on services

Prevention is better than cure and we know that preventing the need to access long-term help is preferable for residents - enabling people to be independent for as long as possible and reducing demand for services that support people with high needs.

We spend over 80% of our net budget every year on social care and housing, where we have a legal duty to support residents. This demand is increasing and is a nationally recognised challenge for all councils.

We are keen to look at how we can support our residents more and reduce overall demand for services – for example, if we can help an older person live independently, in their own home, for longer, it’s better for them and more cost effective for us – and our work in developing the One Community Hubs will support this.

There are also projects across our areas of greatest spend and demand that will also deliver specific improvements:

For adults, we will take action to support hospital avoidance, reduce hospital stays, and enable more cost-effective support solutions, with improved outcomes and increased independence for residents.

For children, our approach to placements will be reviewed, with a focus on continuing to safely reduce the number of Looked After Children through our family valued approach, reduce long term residential placements (particularly those out of the city) and growing internal fostering opportunities. We will also continue to work with partners and other professionals to identify, assess and address the needs of children and families at an early stage to prevent issues from escalating and empower families to thrive.

Estimated savings:

• 2024/25 £4.84m
• 2025/26 £6.16m
• 2026/27 £6.47m

Contribution to the overall objectives of this Plan:

• Ability to support people more effectively, reducing dependency and demand on higher cost services.
• Improved outcomes for people who may otherwise become reliant on statutory services.
• Ability to provide the best outcomes for children in our care.

Programme 5. Thinking smarter about service delivery

The needs of services and the users they support change over time, which is why it is important we continue to think differently about how we provide and procure all our services to improve quality and drive costs down. Supporting our most vulnerable residents - for adults, children and young people, and those in need of housing support - is a core priority.

The cost of living is impacting many of our services and we are experiencing significant increases to prices in some areas, such as the cost of children’s and adults' placements.

We need to think smarter about how we commission services. Taking a joined-up, One Coventry approach gives us the chance to align multiple contracts or challenge current contracts, so we recommission based on what we need rather than what we have done previously.

We are also looking at how we develop our property portfolio to improve and increase temporary accommodation for those who need it most, particularly for adults and children in care.

Estimated savings:

• 2024/25 £1.82m
• 2025/26 £2.99m
• 2026/27 £3.19m

Contribution to the overall objectives of this Plan:

• More efficient and effective service delivery.
• Opportunities to test and learn from new approaches and if successful, to further embed in other parts of the Council or with partners.
• Opportunity to influence and develop local, regional and national policy thinking.

Programme 6. One Coventry partnership delivery

The Council has a history of strong partnership working. Our partnership arrangements have been tested and further strengthened as Coventry has responded to recent crises including the pandemic, increasing cost of living and the financial challenges faced by the public sector.

These foundations create opportunities to do more together under the One Coventry banner through sharing resources and being innovative in our approach to support residents differently - enabling city-wide resources to be used to best effect.

Estimated savings:

• 2024/25 £2.68m
• 2025/26 £2.68m
• 2026/27 £2.53m

Contribution to the overall objectives of this Plan:

Co-ordinated, citywide and One Coventry approach to ensuring that Coventry continues to be the best it can be, recognised for its collaboration and commitment to focus on residents and not organisational boundaries.

Programme 7. Helping our people to grow

Our people are our greatest asset, and we are committed to creating opportunities for growth and development within our2024/25 Transformation Plan. This will continue to improve colleague satisfaction, but also support us in recruiting and retaining our people.

We also need to maximise our capacity and minimise duplication by working smarter, managing our vacant posts and common roles better and making best use of technology.

This will, inevitably, lead to a leaner and more agile workforce (in roles and working location) but also one that is more reflective of our diverse communities and meaningfully embraces inclusivity. We will be more creative in our use of office space and buildings to maximise occupancy and encourage collaborative working.

Estimated savings

• 2024/25 £0.60m
• 2025/26 £0.94m
• 2026/27 £1.4m

Contribution to the overall objectives of this Plan:

• Motivated, focused and engaged people who recognise their role and contribution to the delivery of priorities.
• People who feel valued and heard, able to raise issues and confident that they will be responded to.