Agenda item

This matter is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Ross Henley, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources.

The purpose of this report is provided the performance information for a range of key indicators for the first 4 months (April – July) of the 2020/21 financial year for Councillors to consider and comment. In addition to the usual report on key performance indicators, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the impact this has had on the council, this report also contains some data to provide an overview of some of the additional work the council has undertaken.

The report was introduced by the Business Intelligence and Performance Manager and the Customer Services Manager.

This report provided the performance information for a range of key indicators for the first 4 months (April – July) of the 2020/21 financial year.  In addition to the usual report on key performance indicators, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of this on the council, this report also contained some data to provide an overview of some of the additional work the council had undertaken.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic started during March 2020, and has been ongoing throughout recent months and has had a significant impact on the work of the Council during the period covered by this performance report (April, May, June and July).

There have been separate briefings to provide detailed updates on the additional work of the council, and this report does not aim to cover the entirety of the tasks undertaken. The information included below provides some facts and figures to give an overview of some of the ways in which the council has supported residents, especially those who are most vulnerable.

1)     A total of 1,384 calls were routed to SWT from the countywide Coronavirus Helpline (April = 484, May = 415, June = 286, July = 199).

2)     A letter was sent to all households where someone was shielding, and these were followed up by telephone calls to the most vulnerable (in excess of 500 homes where up to 3 phone calls were made, and, where no response was received there were 300 home visits required).

3)     Food pack distribution was supported by local hubs and the SWT depot provided over 160 food parcels.

4)     Rough sleepers were supported in new accommodation and 42 were housed at Canonsgrove, and 20 at the Beech Hotel (with ARC and YMCA support).

5)     A new web based process was designed and implemented for Business Grants. SWT have processed over 3,500 applications & have paid out over £41m to eligible businesses.

6)     A new web based process was also designed and implemented for Discretionary Business Grants from 1^st June. SWT have processed over 340 applications & have paid out over £2m.

7)     Over £27m additional business rate reliefs were appliedto 1,300 accounts and removed liability to pay rates for this year. This was completed with 2 weeks and involved processing over 3,000 accounts manually to assess eligibility.

8)     Applied one-off £150 awards to 7,017 working age Council Tax Support claims, exceeding £1m in total.

9)     Reviewed and extended the awards for 285 Discretionary Housing Payment claims to provide ongoing help to people to pay their rent.

10)  Recalculated 1,693 Housing Benefit claimsfollowing the Government’s announcement to increase both the additional earnings disregard in Working Tax Credit cases and Local Housing Allowance rates, providing additional support for people to help pay their rent.

11)  The Councils terms for paying suppliers were changed to enable much quicker payments. During April and May, £6.4m was paid with an average turnaround time for processing invoices of 4.8 days.

The table in Appendix 1 included the councils Key Performance Indicators and set out how the council had performed for the first 4 months of the 2020/21 financial year. 

For the majority of indicators the target has either been met or in many cases, has been exceeded. For the 2 indicators where performance is significantly below target, and the indicator is rated “Red”, commentary is provided below:

Number of complaints responded to in 10 working days:-

The figures shown in the summary cover the first four months of this financial year (i.e. to 1 Aug 2020). During this period we received a total of 449 complaints, which equated to a 19% increase when compared against the same period in the previous year.  Our response rate within ten working days was 41% against a target of 90%.

Number of FOI requests responded to in 20 working days:-

To help improve performance a dedicated case manager was recruited last autumn to manage the FOI process, and a new process for submitting FOI requests has been implemented. This had led to significant improvements in performance and for January, 81% of FOIs were responded to on time. 

            During the discussion the following points and comments were raised:-

·        It was questioned if issues that could lead to complaints were tracked to encompass a bigger picture of prevention of issues leading to the formal complaints process.

·        Preventative action over complaints was recognised as important in not repeating similar complaints. Similarly with FOI requests and similar requests being received.

·        It was recognised officers had done a great job to ensure funding from government is received by individuals. Cases of fraud were questioned and investigating these where needed was requested. Audit were being worked with on to investigate these.

·        The committee thanked all staff and SMT for the combined Covid-19 response and keeping services going throughout the pandemic.

·        Overturned planning applications did not have a target, this was provided as contextual information and no target was required.

The Scrutiny Committee noted the Corporate Performance Report.