Background
A Local Authority Client was undertaking a full re-organisational transformation programme with the objective to improve service delivery for residents by moving to an outcomes-based approach. This was to be achieved by focussing on commissioning service delivery in areas where it would improve outcomes over traditional in-house provision. Change management specialist, Ameo Group, were the Council’s delivery partner for the programme.

Requirement
A key element to designing a new delivery model is ‘deep dive’ service reviews to identify areas of potential change and savings opportunities. CMI was appointed by Ameo Group to undertake a strategic review of the transport operations service. The objectives were to benchmark service performance and to identify potential areas for service improvement and cost efficiencies.

The review specifically covered areas such as Home to School Transport, Special Educational Needs (SEN) Provision and Adult Transport services.

Approach
The approach was to firstly identify national sources of benchmarking that were relevant to the service and data and to structure the data analysis phase around those to enable a basis for comparison. 

There were huge challenges to get to meaningful passenger and cost data due to the nature of the systems. An element of creativity was required in the analytical approach to get to meaningful and accurate data that could be interrogated and benchmarked.   

The review relied on working with existing service managers to get to data and information. From the outset concerns were raised around protectionism, so CMI’s consultant used a collaborative approach to the report, making it service-led, which put concerns at ease and secured buy-in from the wider team. 

Outcomes: 
CMI delivered a comprehensive review which identified a range of observations across the service areas. The report outlined a number of recommendations to improve service performance including investment in better software tools and processes to make the service more efficient and accountable. 

CMI also showcased that the service was demand-led and identified where Council policy was leading to areas of discretionary costs. This enabled the Council to review policy against savings targets and to understand the costs of policy decisions in the service.