What lasting legacies of COVID-19 will local government take forward?

Lorraine Smith, Divisional Managing Director at Civica, discusses how the pandemic has not solely re-shaped native authorities relating to new methods of working but additionally in reworking citizen engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic has remodeled the way in which that native authorities providers are delivered. The sheer quantity of extra work meant that councils wanted extra sources urgently. Whereas the implementation of latest applied sciences has helped native authorities organisations overcome a few of the challenges, it’s the resilience, adaptability and tenacity of the workforce that has gotten all people by.

In keeping with a survey of world public sector leaders, almost half of respondents stated they’d no distant staff previous to the pandemic. But the legacy of COVID-19 implies that some staff might by no means return to the workplace. The pandemic has not solely re-shaped native authorities relating to new methods of working but additionally in reworking citizen engagement. This text will discover these adjustments, utilizing examples following our collection of roundtables in partnership with CIPFA attended by native councils, together with Cheshire East Council, Manchester Metropolis Council, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), Surrey County Council and London Borough of Merton.

Delivering pressing providers at velocity and scale

Having to adapt shortly has pushed councils to turn out to be extra agile. Propelled by the strain to roll out life-saving programmes resembling native contact tracing, as seen in Redbridge, or neighborhood assist, like Liverpool’s Group Helper, councils have needed to bolster funding within the cloud to maneuver extra providers on-line to extend availability.

This agility was additionally mirrored in the way in which councils responded to distant working. Outdated, guide processes have been shortly changed with extra revolutionary, cloud-based collaboration instruments resembling Microsoft Groups. Councils like Cheshire East needed to ship out hundreds of units to permit staff to earn a living from home – they usually did so in lower than a month. Most councils are additionally now contemplating standardising hybrid working patterns. For a lot of, even citizen-facing roles resembling contact centre and entrance of home, staff will have the ability to apportion a few of their time to dwelling working sooner or later.

A renewed deal with psychological well being

One other optimistic is that the pandemic has improved and elevated the profile of native authorities, giving councillors a much-needed confidence enhance. That stated, staff’ resilience has been examined. In recognising this and the chance of worker burnout, native authority leaders at RBWM and Cheshire East are already taking a look at methods to delineate between work and life and improve worker wellbeing. At RBWM, options have included strolling conferences and decreasing the variety of pointless video calls, however extra will must be carried out to scale up psychological well being initiatives within the public sector. Regardless of not eager to return to full-time workplace work, staff are additionally reporting lacking the social elements of council life. The truth is, virtually all of the individuals in a latest roundtable, hosted by Civica and CIPFA, expressed a need from staff to get again within the workplace as quickly as is possible, with many recognising that having all citizen providers by telephone or video shouldn’t be sustainable long-term.

Digital-first however not by default

Manchester Metropolis Council not too long ago identified that ‘digital by default’ doesn’t swimsuit all demographics, significantly when digital exclusion stays an enormous societal situation within the UK. The pandemic has highlighted the significance of expertise entry to satisfy fundamental wants, resembling work, college and searching for necessities. In response, as mentioned through the roundtables, Manchester has put a digital exclusion technique in place for its 17,000 residents who don’t presently have entry to high-speed web or units.

Nonetheless, the swap to digital communications has introduced many advantages to native communities. For starters, it has widened viewers participation in native council issues. RBWM has seen a major enhance in engagement with council conferences, as residents can now be part of remotely. Councils have additionally tried out new types of communication to higher goal completely different age teams. For instance, RBWM has trialled utilizing Snapchat to have interaction with youthful audiences by way of its youngsters’s providers while digitising library occasions has seen elevated participation. Going ahead, native authorities should proceed figuring out how folks wish to be engaged with and sustain with the tempo of digital change in response to this.

Retaining tempo with an evolving technological panorama

Nonetheless, whereas the adoption of latest applied sciences to ship quicker and higher providers has been the focus, the pandemic has additionally compelled native authorities to recognise the significance of resilience testing and strengthening cybersecurity protocols. Amid intense strain to proceed delivering essential citizen providers, councils merely wouldn’t have been in a position to afford an outage or cyberattack. As mentioned all through the roundtable periods, that is one space that council leaders might want to hold an in depth eye on post-pandemic, as they appear to combine much more revolutionary instruments, resembling AI or VR, which can widen the scope for IT providers to turn out to be compromised.

A vibrant post-pandemic future

Native councils have proved themselves to be true heroes of the neighborhood all through the disaster, from quickly responding to native outbreaks to onboarding neighborhood volunteers for the vaccination programme. We anticipate to see a renewed sense of confidence in native authorities, from each residents and staff as soon as the pandemic subsides.

The previous yr has taught us that native authorities might be as agile as non-public sector organisations, and revolutionary applied sciences might be trialled and applied quickly and successfully within the public sector. Trying forward, native authorities leaders should make sure the tempo of change continues and the revolutionary mindset stays, whereas additionally sustaining stability and prioritising worker wellbeing and psychological well being assist within the years to return.