Agenda item

Report of the Head of GO Shared Services , Jenny Poole

The Head of GO Shared Services introduced herself and the update that had been circulated with the agenda.

She explained that such updates would be provided to each of the GO Shared Services partners, each report would follow the same format and she apologised for any instances where another partner was referenced in place of Cheltenham Borough Council in error.

On the 1 April 2012 Cotswold District Council became the employing authority for the GO Shared Services partnership.  The governance arrangements in place to manage the development of the ERP system and the development of the shared service had now been superseded by a Joint Monitoring and Liaison Group (JMLG) and a Client Officer Group (COG).  The first meeting of the COG was held on the 25 May and the first meeting of the JMLG was scheduled for a date next week.

There had been a number of achievements to date including the savings that had been driven out from CIPFA and the Audit Commission were being lobbied to reduce the fee for External Auditors given the expected economies of scale.  Implementation was complete or nearing completion for 5 of the 6 organisations (including Cheltenham Borough Homes and UBICO) and whilst there had been some minor issues, fundamentally the system was working, paying staff, etc.  She felt that these were good achievements given the pace of implementation. 

TUPE transfers were successfully carried out at the 1 April 2012 and all employees transferred to Cotswold DC.  The restructure and shaping of the service was on target for October and this would bring about further efficiency savings.  A variety of methods were being utilised to ensure that staff were kept informed and engaged, including letters, briefings, the website and workshops.

It was a testament to the hard work of officers that the current stage had been reached and implementation continued and she took the opportunity to thank staff for all of their efforts.  She was confident that GO Shared Services would deliver what it had set out to do. 

The GO Shared Services Manager gave the following responses to member questions;

• All staff other than the senior management team were at risk and all had been provided with an information pack.  Staff, were currently being invited to 1-2-1s to discuss the structure and therefore there could be changes as a result and until this time it was not possible to provide figures for staff that would exit the organisation.  This documentation would be available on the 18 July 2012. 
• There was a sum of monies set aside for one-off compulsory redundancies. 
• The business case was regularly reviewed, delivery was largely on cost and she was confident that it would be delivered within budget.  The new system was already delivering savings and further savings were being actively progressed as part of the restructure.  She was happy to provide further updates and envisaged final close down by Autumn.
• The Head of Audit Cotswolds would next week be setting out how and what internal audit would report and to whom.
• There was every confidence that the ERP implementation would resolve the payroll issues that faced Cheltenham Borough Council. The issues would continue to be monitored. 

The Chairman thanked the GO Shared Services Manager for her attendance.