1. Modernisation of Student Finance in Wales James Harris Chief Education Officer, Newport City Council Welsh Government Student Finance Programme Board Member Pierre Bernhard-Grout Education Policy Officer, WLGA Local Authority Relationship Manager, Higher Education, Welsh Government

2. History of the Project  England had previously transitioned – but the customer experience could have been significantly better  Initial discussions on this date back to 2008  Centralisation needed to modernise service - live link to HMRC and automatic residency checking with Passport Office not possible at individual Local Authority (LA) level  Agreement by ADEW to centralise rather than move to temporary regional delivery - pragmatic decision

3. Challenges  120+ staff working in Student Finance function delivery in LAs  Different structures in each LA meant different approaches to change  Job roles very different in new service  Ministerial decision to place new delivery point in Llandudno Junction did not match geographical spread of staff and limited transfer meant new employer had to recruit and train large number of staff  Legal documents needed local agreement therefore acceptance of variance in wording was required.  Relationship with customers very different – going from local face-to-face advice and support to a national ‘call-centre’ approach  Timing of wider economic issues meant staff were going into redundancy pools at the same time as others affected by the negative local government settlement.  Making it work in Wales!

4. Approach  Secondment of WLGA Officer to WG to provide LA input and represent LA sector and also to lead transition  Establishment of Workforce Group and Transition Group  Engagement with Unions at most senior level - Joint Secretary of the recognised unions on Workforce Group  WLGA Workforce Adviser representation on Workforce group  LA Student Finance Manager representation on Transition Group  LA HR Manager representation on Workforce group  Regular engagement with LA managers, Corporate leads, HR officers and Student Finance Officers  To protect employees, protect the employers, engage stakeholders, deliver change and limit customer impact

5. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

6. Risks  Students not being paid  Failure to transfer records  Collapse of LA delivery before transfer  Long term bad relations between partners  Damage to reputations

7. Workforce  Long lead-in time allowed very early engagement with LAs as the employer to discuss and plan for change.  Elective redundancy option agreed  LAs to handle redundancy rather than transfer to new employer to be processed for redundancy  Agreement from Welsh Government to reimburse LAs for all severance costs on the basis of usual local policies and approach  Incentives / Allowances for relocation and additional mileage  Unique protection for those staff wishing to transfer, and cooling-off period for staff transferring to allow them to still take redundancy if unhappy with role etc.

8. Physical Transition  Legal documents - data transfer and data processing agreements established  Project Management of transition coordinated by Student Loans Company in conjunction with LA Relationship Manager  Agreement that LAs retain closed files and provide access to documents if required  Resource planning to ensure LAs are staffed to resource the transition  Every LA files and stores information differently - tailored approach to file transfer  High Security in relation to transfer of sensitive data

9. Outcomes  Unique General Principles Document established to protect staff in scope through transition - a "TUPE-plus" approach  Positive engagement of staff-in-scope helped the project achieve a successful outcome  Smooth physical file transition in January  Majority of staff redeployed over the project - redundancies vastly reduced – less than 40 now in redeployment pools on statutory notice

10. How it felt  Initial 'storming' period was stormy - agreement over key issues was difficult  As project went on, some key LA staff left, unsurprisingly as they were in scope for change, this led to resource implications in maintaining service levels  Maintaining relationships was crucial to success - went beyond remit to discuss issues with stakeholders, advise staff in scope and explore delivery and resourcing solutions  Gradual 'handing over' of project responsibility to LA Relationship Manager as elements were agreed.

11. Halford E. Luccock “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra.”

12. Lessons learned  Communication is key - as is project management that is co-owned  Timescale on this project an advantage - although inevitably some staff still need to be made redundant  Don't expect logical decisions to be made  Centralisation does not necessarily mean efficiency savings  Tight Project Management discipline required – risk reviews, rigorous follow-up of action points, minutes etc - resources required to support the practicalities of making the project work  Leadership - was distributed leadership of this project planned or did it just evolve?  Regular communication of change with customers imperative – they collectively are a far more powerful critic in a social media world.

13. Benjamin Lichtenwalner, Paradigm Flip: Leading People, Teams, and Organizations Beyond the Social Media Revolution Paradigm Flip: Leading People, Teams, and Organizations Beyond the Social Media Revolution “Alignment occurs when stakeholders and leaders are engaged in a mass dialogue.”

14. Thank you pierre.bernhard-grout@wlga.gov.ukpierre.bernhard-grout@wlga.gov.ukjames.harris@newport.gov.uk