Kent County Council The Kent Registration Service Giles Adey Head of Registration & Coroners Shared Services – Bexley and Kent

Background So what do we mean by the term ‘shared services’? The Gershon Efficiency Review placed the sharing of services across multiple agencies at the heart of efficiency reform going forward Shared services is most commonly used to refer to back office or corporate support functions such as finance, human resources, information technology and procurement Shared services offers local authorities a clear way to reduce costs, meet central government's transformational agenda and improve service quality by centralising services and encouraging streamlined performance within and between organisations. But while the key drivers are financial, legislative and political, the successful adoption of shared services involves changes at all levels within local government.

Shared Service Models Centralisation - One organisation with multiple departments centralises their own corporate support capabilities into one single shared service Collaboration - Two or more public sector organisations collaborate to develop a shared solution, sometimes with external funding Commercialisation - A public or a private sector organisation (perhaps both) develops a shared service centre and then takes it to market.

Drivers for Shared Services Central government demands Increased freedom and flexibility for local authorities Sharing cost Improved local delivery for citizens Leading local authorities

The Bexley-Kent Solution How did the proposal come about and what were the goals of the collaboration? Access to a wider range of registration services offered to Bexley residents Opportunity to reduce overheads for Bexley registration service Utilise Kent’s expertise and infrastructure Reduce the cost of the Kent’s registration service

The Benefits to Bexley No need to invest in appointment booking software (estimate £30K) – utilise Kent’s instead Bexley members and officers retain overall responsibility for provision of the service Dedicated specialist marketing expertise through Kent’s Licensing & Marketing Manager 4 new services and 3 new income streams – Civil Funerals, NCS, ‘Got Something to Celebrate’ and Tell Us Once KCC Contact Centre to handle all telephone calls and manage appointment bookings Dedicated senior officer standby duty rota for dealing with emergencies at night and over weekends Storage of registers at Tunbridge Wells Register Office in a secure, fireproof and temperature controlled environment Potential future development of service delivery points through Libraries using Kent model To realise budget savings

The Financial Model Open book arrangement All of Kent’s fixed and variable costs met Kent fees and charges will apply to all Bexley activity All income in excess of expenditure shared 50:50 Fees and costs reviewed quarterly Mutually agreeable targets set to develop income streams

Service Level Agreement (SLA) SLA sets out the following: A description of the registration services that Kent will provide to Bexley How the services will be organised and managed The locations where the services will be provided The funding model and financial reporting The governance arrangements New Governance Scheme and performance reporting to GRO

Considerations and Challenges New governance scheme and GRO Uncertainties of staff and different ways of working Different pay, terms and conditions Chief Officer and member buy in Agreeing the financial model and activity data The SLA Identifying start up costs The appointment and employment of staff The discharge of statutory functions

What next? Bexley aiming for a new governance scheme from 1 July 2011 Hope to resolve the appointment, employment and discharge of function issues shortly with GRO Obtain final Member approvals by both councils Finalise the formal contract Kent has all the necessary arrangement in place to deliver the service now Formalise the arrangements for the transfer of staff Agree a contract start date