The Homecare Team have undertaken two projects during 2023. The first reviewed entailed a move away from paper timesheets, and migration of over 300 staff on to the Councils Resource Link system. The second saw the removal of hard copy Service User files held  centrally in Spilman street, to Service User records that are now electronically stored on the Councils Eclipse system.

Who are the Homecare Team?

We are a team of registered Social care professionals responsible for providing care and support to citizens of Carmarthenshire enabling them to live in their own homes as independently as possible. The team includes over 300 carers working across the entire county. The carers are supported by a team of Senior Cares, Supervisors and 2 Registered Managers. We support circa 320 Carmarthenshire citizens. We also provide key short term preventative services in the form of a Reablement team, and a Home Based Care Team both of which key pillars of an award winning Intermediate Care. The Homecare team’s workload is managed by an electronic call monitoring and scheduling system called CM2000. This allocates the calls to each carer, and monitors each visit in real time so the service ensures that every service user has had the care they need, at the right time, and by a carer they know.

What were the issues?

1. Overly bureaucratic Payroll systems with duplication of effort.
2. Heavy reliance on paper based systems.
3. Delays in carers receiving overtime payments
4. High printing, stationery and postage costs
5. Difficulty in tracking annual leave
6. Hard copy Homecare Service User files kept in central location in Spilman Street office.
7. Storage space at a premium
8. Requirement to hold records for six years resulted in time consuming archiving of hundreds of case notes.

Paper timesheets.

Despite the use of an electronic call monitoring system there remained some cumbersome processes around how each carer was paid. Each week over 300 carers were required to complete, and post in, a paper timesheet, which detailed the calls they had undertaken, and the time they spent travelling between calls. A separate claim paper form had to be submitted for carers to claim their milage. Once received back by the service each paper timesheet was scrutinised by a supervisor, and again in monthly meetings with Payroll where the timesheets were then entered into the payroll system.

This labour intensive process saw delays on carers receiving payment for any additional hours they may have worked and often times paper timesheets were lost or delayed in the post. A round of postal strikes meant that the service had to put in place systems to physically collect and hand deliver timesheets for a number of months.

The reliance on paper based systems incurred printing and postage costs, the team consumed over 300 paper timesheets each week (circa 16,000pa), print and reprographic costs were high.

Holding hard copy files

A full copy of each Service Users Homecare plans, and assessments must be available both in the Service Users home and in the Homecare head office (3, Spilman St). Storing these notes in the office required a room full of filing cabinets. Updating information or finding information required staff members to attend the office and to produce 2 copies of all documentation one for the office file and one for the Service Users home.

The Service is required to retain all records for six years. Each persons file would hold up to two years of information, while older records were boxed, labelled and sent for archiving. This meant that the service were constantly visiting files to remove old records for archiving.

Similarly, if there was ever a need to produce records, for example in response toe a subject access enquiry, or to respond to a complaint, the service had to request the archived files, and return to archive.

This process was inefficient and costly.

What have they done?

The Homecare management team have used vanguard based methods to review and analyse their systems. This enabled them to identify changes which would support the increased efficiency of their processes.

Working in collaboration with payroll, carers and Trade Union colleagues they have implemented a change to the payroll process which moved staff from manually detailing on paper all activities within their day to reporting only the exceptions ie hours over the standard working day, and milage claims, electronically via the existing ResourceLink system.

This reduced the time taken for staff to complete the timesheet, reduced the amount of checking required by managers, stopped pieces of paper from being moved around the county and eliminated the need for payroll to manually input the provided information.

Utilising the existing Resource Link system meant the team could implement the changes at zero net costs and ensures staff can take ownership for their timesheets, milage claims and annual leave and have access to a clear claim history.

The team have also utilised the existing eclipse system, working with the developers to create a dedicated area on the system for Homecare files to enable all the Service Users records to be stored electronically eliminating the need to duplicate paper records and increasing the efficiency with which records can be viewed and stored.

The Homecare business support team were instrumental to the implementation of both improvement projects. They worked with Payroll colleagues to ensure that carers were properly set up on Resource Link, worked with Homecare managers to develop a training manual for carers, and took responsibility for the scanning of records saving the cost of having an outside company undertake the work and completed the work.

A recent CIW inspection has highlighted this as excellent practice, and the team is looking to continue its digital journey with the digitisation of staff files in 2024.

Results:

Costs saved and avoided:
• Staff time
• Printing costs
• Travel expenses
• Postage costs
• Stationery Costs
• Reprographic costs

Improved Staff Experience

Improved Business Controls

Staff feel the new process offers increased equity with other care colleagues and they feel valued and respected.

Staff View:
‘Staff were worried about the changes, but they love it now and wouldn’t go back to paper.’, Senior Manager Home Care

This is what some staff had to say about the changes,

‘although I have only been using resource link a short while, the positives for me is the increased control I have over my overtime hours, the system allows me to go back and make sure my hours have been inputted accurately through the summary outline, it also gives me full control of my annual leave, with a press of a button I can see what I have taken and what is left remaining instead of making phone calls to supervisors and then waiting for someone to get back to you. I find the system user friendly and easy to navigate.’

‘As an older member of the homecare team, we don't particularly look forward to change but with the support from yourselves and my Supervisor it has been a relatively easy process. Of course, I have made phone calls to clarify things, making sure I was inputting the correct details. As for negatives I don't really have any.’

Conclusion:
Any department currently using hard copy systems should contact the Digital and Customers transformation workstream and explore the options available for digitising systems.

A Garden waste service and Debtors team collaboration, reduces customer frustration and saves time and money with a hybrid mail solution.

Working together, the Waste operations and Debtors teams have used Hybrid Mail to reduce costs and regain 6 working days in the process of  issuing Invoices and Information about the annual Garden waste service. Read their story and find out how the councils hybrid mail partner can support your department whether you are sending a single letter or a large mailing. 

What is the Garden Waste Service?

The Garden Waste service is managed by the Waste operations team and operates from March to October each year collecting customers green waste and recycling it into compost.  The service is an annual service which must be paid for each year by the service user to secure a place on the delivery rounds. New customers can pay using an online link to ‘book’ their service. For existing customers an invoice is raised by the debtors team for the service user to pay to recommence their service. The Waste operations team contacts all customers to advise of their collection days and weeks. These communication’s can be electronic or paper based dependant on the customers preference.

What was the Issue?

Of the 11,000 garden waste customers approximately 2000 have requested paper communications, this required the each team to produce 9000 email communications with either an invoice or a schedule and to produce, fold, envelope, frank and post a further 2000 documents each. The process of creating the paper versions took 3 people from each team over a day to do resulting in 6 working days lost to filling and sending envelopes

Following the release of the Garden waste schedules and Invoices in 2023 the contact centre, cashiers team and debtors team saw a significant rise in calls from confused or annoyed customers who had only received one or the other of their documents either electronically or via post and were struggling to get their service restarted.  The cause of these complaints was found to be the timing differences between the issuing of the two documents by the two services and the failure of some items electronic and posted to arrive at all.

What have they done?

Utilising the skills of the Marketing and Media team and working collaboratively the two teams have taken advantage of the corporate Electronic and Hybrid mail solutions, Gov.Delivery and DSI. The services arranged for a joint communication to be developed which included the schedules and information for the Garden waste service and the invoice and payment details in one communication.  The electronic versions were then sent via the council Gov.delivery contract and electronic copies of the paper versions were produced and uploaded to DSI who then collated the two sets of documents into a single postage item for each customer and posted them.

Results:

• Improved experience for customers
• Significant reduction in the number of calls to the call centre and cashiers
• Cost Saving £1664 on postage costs, envelopes, paper and printing
• Time Saving 6 working days
• Elimination of a mundane and labour-intensive task.

Time saved and costs trimmed by the Local Taxation Team.

The forward-thinking Local Taxation Team implements ‘Hybrid Mail’ to deliver reduced costs, improved efficiency and the elimination of a very dull task.

Who are the Local Taxation Team?

The Local Taxation team is responsible for the maintenance and administration of Council Tax and Business Rates accounts and the billing and collection of charges due. Their main purpose is to maintain and amend Council/Rate Taxpayers’ accounts because of changes in ownership, the awarding or withdrawing of discounts and reliefs, and any other relevant changes in circumstances and to deal with customer enquiries. They also provide advice and clarification on, liability, charges, entitlement to reliefs and related issues.

What was the issue?

The section sends out a lot of pieces of mail, sometimes thousands of letters at a time. Each of these must be addressed correctly, printed, collated, folded, packed into envelopes, franked and posted. In a year the section sends around 50,000 pieces of mail.
They sometimes need to add in leaflets, or sort through reminders to remove those being sent to Council clients, which needs to be done manually. This is time consuming, dull work, prone to human error.

There is a packing machine to help with the task, but its old and unreliable and needs to be replaced as it is prone to jamming and jams mean that the whole run needs to be repeated.

It takes a team of 25 to 30 people to pack between 5,000 and 8,000 letters in a day.

What have they done?

They have used a hybrid mail tool called GovMail. This system enables to complete a letter template and perform a mail merge in the normal manner to produce a mailshot. Instead of sending the job to print, it is sent to ‘GovMail’, which appears as another printer on the list. That is the last time they need to be involved with the mailshot.

Its then sent to a company that prints, packs, and posts the item of mail for them. As it is automated the system can be set to remove items being sent specific names or addresses, specific leaflets can be added at this point too. All at a cost of 45p a letter as opposed to the 75p a letter for 2nd class postage, it is as simple as that.

Results:
Costs saved and avoided:
        Cheaper postage costs.
        No need to replace packing machine.
        Staff time.
No human errors.
Elimination of a mundane and labour-intensive task.

Find out more:

If you are still printing and posting your own mail whether it’s a single letter a week or a massive mail out there is a Hybrid mail solution for you. To find out how easy it is to move to this time and money saving solution contact Mark Howard, Senior Transformation and Change Officer for a demonstration or you can contact the Transformation team via our webform to let us know where you think hybrid mail could be used in your team's processes.

Following the Transformation Workforce Workstream’s extensive engagement with service managers, heads of service and HR business partners on enabling a flexible workforce, it is evident that an appropriate employment framework is in place which can be ‘flexed’ to enable services delivery in a dynamic way.

Understanding of how this employment framework can be used to facilitate a flexible and dynamic workforce was found to be inconsistent across the organisation. The key is always to have early engagement on your service and workforce delivery plans with your Lead/HR Business Partners so that appropriate solutions and flex can be discussed and bespoke solutions agreed that enables your service delivery plans and keeps the Authority within statutory limits.

You will find details of how the employment framework can be used to address some of the key areas raised in the discussion here

Further advice can be sought from the People Service Team as appropriate.

With the growth of Hybrid working staff are increasingly needing different types of space to meet, work and collaborate.

Following consultation on future accommodation requirements, the Transformation Workplace workstream has been working to rationalise our accommodation portfolio whilst modernising and improving the workspaces in our retained core buildings.

To date we have:

Completed the reconfiguration of office accommodation on 2 floors at Ty Elwyn. Education & Childrens Services staff based in Llanelli are now working together on a single floor of Ty Elwyn with Housing staff from Eastgate based on another floor alongside Health staff with better meeting facilities and flexible working spaces created.

Sold Parc Dewi Sant and relocated staff to Spilman Street, and County Hall.

Relocated staff from Old Library and Ammanford town hall to Ty Parc Yr Hun and future options for these spaces are being considered.

Started a usage study in Parc Myrddin to determine the needs and options for the staff currently based here.

The ‘Workforce’ Transformation Workstream is excited to announce the launch of a brand-new Learner Experience Platform and Learning Management System (LXP-LMS) called Thinqi (“Think-e”).

Recognising this as key workforce priority for our people, Cabinet Member for Organisation and Workforce Cllr Philip Hughes said, “The new system will help us to develop the learning and skills we need to continue to deliver excellent services to our communities and become a more modern, responsive Employer of Choice”.

Paul Thomas, Assistant Chief Executive said: “Thinqi has been procured with a ‘Once for Wales’ approach and it is expected that this will transform our learning across boundaries. The procurement has been carried out jointly with Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s, with all 22 local authorities and other public sector bodies listed on the All-Wales Contract. If we can share the learning, then that combined resource will be able to further develop the offering to our people”.

The new Thinqi system will be rolled out across departments over the coming months, making it simpler to access relevant learning you need, including all our ‘Essential Learning’ within the Council.

Keep an eye out for more updates on the Thinqi rollout from the Learning and Development Team, including training sessions and resources to get you started

In February 2019, we were one of the first local authorities to declare a climate emergency and made a commitment to becoming a net zero carbon local authority by 2030.

We have since been the first local authority in Wales to publish a net zero carbon action plan, which was endorsed by full council in February 2020.

Prosiect Zero Sir Gâr will shine a spotlight on every effort that continues to be made as we work towards being a completely carbon neutral authority by 2030.

To achieve this we’re asking you all to be involved - every effort and change made - large or small - will help towards the target of becoming net carbon zero

We generated 1,317,121 kWh of renewable energy during 2022/23 an increase of 1,106,902kWh from the previous year

The Council’s Total Energy Consumption (kWh) decreased by 5.65% from 67,694,145 in 2021/22 to 63,869,172 kWh in 2022/23

As a council we report annually on emissions deriving from four key areas; Non-domestic buildings, Streetlighting, Fleet mileage and Business milage and we have successfully reduced our carbon emissions by 36% since 2016/17

What we have been doing?

Prosiect Zero Sir Gâr involves everything from ensuring that all new major build projects such as homes and schools are energy efficient and incorporate renewable energy, to retro-fitting older buildings with an extensive range of energy conservation measures, including solar PV panels, LED lighting replacement, lighting controls, pipework insulation, building fabric improvements, boiler upgrades and water and heat saving technology.

As non-domestic buildings account for 70% of our reported CO2e emissions, ‘smart’ meters are in the process of being installed in all Council buildings to enable greater control and monitoring of our utilities consumption. This will also enable automated electronic billing for our utilities to be introduced, thus removing the need for intensive checking of paper-based invoices and credit notes.

How can you make a difference ?

Prosiect Zero Sir Gâr is about everyone a lot of us doing little things can make a big difference.
Energy - Use as little Energy as possible
• Turn off lights and appliances when not in use
• Do not leave computer screens on standby
• Do the lights need to be on? If there is enough natura light, turn the lights off.
• If you can use the stairs instead of a lift
• Encourgae everyone to have a hot drink at the same time. This prevents the kettle being boiled serval times.
• Do not have windows open and the heating on at the same time
• Ensure the building is only being heated when people are occupying it
Find out more about Net Zero Carbon by 2030 and Prosiect Zero Sir Gâr

I’ve got an idea

If you have an idea, or your already playing you part no matter how small. Share your Idea

The schools workstream led by Director of Education and Childrens Services, Gareth Morgans, meets monthly with the aim of identifying cost reductions and better ways of working, and supporting the development of more sustainable school budgets to help protect front line provision.

Sharing and disseminating good business practice.

To support consistency and promote best practice in school administration a series of networking opportunities for administrative staff have been developed.

It is recommended a member of the administrative team from each school should attend these events, which will include information advice, guidance and training from a range of county officers, external presenters and experienced colleagues.

Networking, advice and development meetings will be held termly. These sessions are designed to support the sharing of good practice and dissemination of information, advice and training for all personnel with responsibility for school administration.

Primary Business Managers and Administrators
17/10/2023, 21/02/2024, 15/05/2024 9am-12.30pm Neuadd Y Gwendraeth

Secondary Business Managers and Administrators
19/10/2023, 22/02/2024, 16/05/2024 1-4pm Neuadd Y Gwendraeth

Efficiency and Benchmarking

A range of Benchmarking and Efficiency matrices have been developed to support School Leaders and Governing bodies in identifying areas in which adjustments can be made to promote operational and financial efficiency.

Following the agreement of Secondary Headteachers to share data, a Curriculum, Staffing and Financial benchmarking exercise was undertaken. The findings of this review have been shared with Headteachers for use as an aid to local decision making and school development planning. The documents enable Senior Leaders to compare key areas of structure and expenditure with other similar schools and to explore the reasons for variances, with a view establishing if a change of approach to an area could result in higher levels of efficiency for the school. Following the success of this pilot consideration is now being given to the best format for a Primary based exercise.

For schools facing more specific financial difficulties the transformation team are supporting Headteachers and Governing bodies with the preparation of detailed efficiency matrices which seek to identify areas of cost saving for schools by undertaking detailed analysis of curriculum and staffing models, and school expenditure patterns.

Following these reviews key actions are identified to support schools in adjusting their processes and practices to support them in moving towards increased efficiency. The workstream is currently prioritising schools who are in, or are facing, deficit positions. If governing bodies of other schools wish to access this support, please contact Allan Carter in the first instance.

SLA’s

Following consultation with School stakeholders work has been undertaken with SLA leads to develop a consistent framework for SLA data and information. The first phase of this work was completed in readiness for the start of the financial year 2023 -24 with the annual SLA costs being collated into one document for each school. The documentation for Annual SLA’s has been brought into a consistent format and Work is ongoing to bring all multi year SLA’s into the same format. This consistent approach is intended to support schools in being able to quickly and efficiently access information about their SLA’s and to support the monitoring of effectiveness and value for money moving forwards.

All SLA documentation has been centralised and can now be found on Porth, individual schools financial information relating to SLA’s is available via My School on the CCC Sharepoint.

Procurement

Schools are encouraged to access the savings available through using the Councils Corporate buying contracts.

The following contracts are open to all schools and recent benchmarking has identified schools accessing the contracts have secured substantial savings. In addition, should any school have issues with any framework suppliers not meeting the service levels required of the contract the CCC procurement team will be able to support in resolving issues and disputes.

   This contract offers free next day delivery on a range of items. They also offer simple compliant online purchasing options and full invoicing and credit facilities. Products available include paper and envelopes, stationery and equipment, exercise books, office supplies and furniture, hygiene and facilities products and PPE.

  This contract offers free next day delivery on a wide range of educational supplies. Please note this is the approved supplier for Schools in Wales. The previous contract holder Consortium is no longer operating under the framework and are under no obligation to meet the delivery and price agreements linked to the framework. The council is also unable to support with service related issued pertaining to the use of Consortium as a supplier.

  This contract offers significant reductions on line rental and equipment costs for telephony. Please be aware there are a number of companies attempting to agree independent contacts with schools at present using the 2025 changes to BT lines as a pretext for initiating contact. Adept is the only approved supplier for schools, they are working in conjunction with the IT department to ensure all schools hardware and infrastructure can support the changes. Schools are strongly encouraged not to sign contracts with other suppliers.
Any school not already using Adept for all phone lines are advised to contact Allan Carter for support in moving to Adept.

The contract for the provision of photocopying devices and services for schools in CCC has now been awarded to Canon. If you are currently in contract to Konica, please contact Allan Carter for advice on the steps required to transition to Canon at the end of your current contract, there is a significant lead time for machines and therefore it is advised all schools start the transition process at least 6 months before their current contract is due to expire. Please DO NOT renew your contract with Konica. The IT department will work with schools at the appropriate time to support a smooth transition to the new systems.

The council has a corporate contract with PHS for hygiene and washroom services. To access the council specific pricing for this contract please contact Dominic Boyle. Please be aware contracts agreed directly with PHS may not be benefiting from the reduced pricing available to schools under the corporate contract. It is recommended all schools establish their current contract expiry date and contact Dominic at least 6 months prior to expiry to allow the more competitive pricing to be applied to future contracts.

If you have any ideas for contracts which could be explored corporately to support schools in accessing improved pricing through group purchasing, please contact the Transformation team.

Waste and Recycling

From April 2024 all commercial waste including schools waste and recycling will by law be required to be sorted at source and collected by type. The council recognises this will present a challenge to schools. To support schools with this change, the council is currently working with CWM environmental to develop a new contract which will provide both efficient services and appropriate storage receptacles both in bin areas and within schools. Schools who are already with CWM will be included in this corporate approach.

Any schools currently using alternative suppliers are encouraged to review their contracts for waste and recycling and to ensure their suppliers are offering appropriate support.

Any school wishing to obtain a quotation for service by CWM should contact Allan Carter for support.

Agency supply

The high cost of agency supply has been recognised as an area for review across all departments in the council. There are currently several pilots and reviews being undertaken to establish the reason for the high agency supply demand and to look at options for supporting departments in reducing the costs involved. To support in this the transformation team are currently undertaking a review of agency supply in schools. We will be approaching schools in the Autumn term to request information and discuss supply needs to support us in ensuring the requirements of schools are understood and to seek any good practice which can be shared to support reduction in costs for schools.

New Supply Framework Pricing

The Welsh Governments’ Commercial Procurement Section has issued a revised Supply Framework for the Engagement of Agency workers for schools. Details of the confidential pricing have been circulated to Headteachers and Senior Administrators via the weekly bulletin. If you manage Supply in your school please contact your Headteacher/Senior Administrator for access to this information.

Have your say

The purpose of transformation is to improve, to become a modern, innovative, and dynamic organisation we all want to work for.  If you have any ideas for ways to make something within the council even better, let us know, all ideas are welcome, transformation is for everyone.

We welcome ideas and suggestions from all members of staff. Even the most outrageous suggestion can sometimes be unpicked to find some very useful ideas which wouldn’t otherwise have been thought of!

• What do customers complain about and how can we stop it from happening?
• Where are the areas of waste or inefficiency in the current process?
• How can the process be improved?
• Can the whole process be done differently?
• What are the essential parts of the process? Can the other bits be stripped out?
• Is there a reason for what is currently being done? Keep asking “Why?” until you get to a reason, or “because we’ve always done it”.
• What wastes your time?

Have your Say