A funding request that will enable the Council to begin redesigning services to meet the needs of an increasingly digitally savvy population was approved on March 5th.

At a meeting of the Council of the Future Board, a Change Fund bid for £236k, submitted by the Delivering Modern & Digital Services project team, was given the green light by elected members, directors and Chief Executive.

The money will be used to expand the Council’s digital expertise, hiring two additional web developers, two service design analysts and a quality control programme analyst.

It will also fund a service design pilot project that will be supported by external experts. The aim of the six-week pilot will be to arm an initial 10 council officers with the digital knowhow to redesign services to meet the needs of modern society.

Fiona Campbell, Head of Policy, Technology & Improvement, and Project Sponsor for Delivering Modern & Digital Services, said: “Digital transformation is no longer optional for the Council, as the majority of our customers now expect services to be available to them online 24/7. To make that happen, we have to redesign how we operate to drive out efficiencies and deliver services to customers in a way they actually want, need and value. This funding allows us to build the skills needed to become a modern and digitally connected organisation by 2023/24.”

Launched last year, the £700k Change Fund provides project managers with an opportunity to bid for money that will help transformational and cost effective Council of the Future projects speed up change.

During 2018/19, a total of £659k was allocated to the following projects:

• Delivering Modern & Digital Services - £236k
• Closer to Home - £228k
• Services for the Bereaved - £120k
• SWIS Replacement’s bid for £75k was also accepted. This will allow additional resources to be brought on board to drive the project forward.

In February, elected members agreed to increase the amount of funding available through the Change Fund to £1m for 2019/20.