Release Date:  17-Jun-2008

A massive shake up of the way Bristol City Council works is expected to get the go ahead  from leading councillors later this month (June 26th 2008).

The 'One Council' programme is at the heart of the city council's key priority to make a difference to the way services are delivered to people in our city.

It aims to:

• provide easy 24/7 access to services for customers and clients
• use the latest technology to help staff share information so they can provide better, more 'joined up' services to residents
• enable many staff to work remotely - so they can offer home or local visits to residents who need them
• free up an estimated £17 million to reinvest in front line services by reducing the costs of back room administration and buildings
• create a new 'commissioning culture' so that managers have clear standards to work to - and can get on with the job of meeting them.
• improve the learning and development of staff - making the city council the employer of choice for the best workers in Bristol and across the south west.

The programme is part of a wider Transforming Bristol strategy that includes other initiatives already underway to modernise and improve performance in children and young people's, adult community care and housing services.

The latest proposals follow hot on the heels of new Chief Executive Jan Ormondroyd's restructuring of the top management team to create a 'One Council' team of strategic directors who can lead the change programme.

Cllr John Bees, Cabinet Member for Transformation and Resources at the city council, said: “By 2012 the council will look, feel and operate very differently. This will be the most radical change to the way the council is organised and operates in over a decade and will make an enormous difference to the lives of everyone in our city.”

As part of the programme, customers and clients will be given easier round-the-clock access with more interactive services on the internet and an expanded customer service centre that will be able to take calls on the vast majority of services outside of normal office hours.

Staff across service teams will be able to use new IT systems to share information better - both to plan service improvements and help customers with all their enquiries quickly and effectively.

The technological revolution delivered through the programme will also enable many staff to work remotely using the latest hand held technologies - and be able to offer home visits or local meetings to suit customers' needs and lifestyles.

Back room costs and inefficiencies would be reduced by creating a single team for 'transactional services', such as managing accounts, processing payments and managing workforce records.

And the council would also save costs by reducing its offices from the current 52 sites to around 17, partly by using the latest technology and 'hot desking' to encourage up to 30% of staff to work from home.

Over time the changes could lead to the reduction of between 380 and 450 posts - and the council will work to achieve this without compulsory redundancies, through the removal of vacant posts, early retirement and voluntary redundancy.

Cllr Bees added: “If my Cabinet colleagues approve this 'One Council' programme, we will immediately crack on with the job and by the end of the year will have in place new IT and Human Resources strategies and detailed plans to deliver the rest of the work over the next three years. The trade unions have been consulted on the proposals and we will continue to involve them.

“Significant transformation like this won't be easy and there will be many challenges along the way. However, tinkering with the organisation or doing nothing are simply not options. We cannot deliver the kind of services that the people of Bristol expect and operate effectively as 'one council' without a real shake up of the way we work - and I believe we are now ready to make that change.”

Author:   Matt Smith, 0117 922 3332

For all media enquiries relating to this press release, please contact Corporate Communications on 0117 922 2650.

To link to this page directly, use the URL
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/redirect?oid=PressRelease-id-25713028

Subscribe to our free email bulletin service and get the latest news and information about consultations and events happening in the city - www.bristol.gov.uk/newsdirect