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All councils face financial challenges in these turbulent times, but Wokingham Borough Council has bigger challenges than many, as it receives less core revenue support from central government than any other comparable council. This has been our lot for many years, but this year we experienced a reduction in that support by £1 million. A difficult situation has been made worse.
The temptation when times are tough is to become introspective; but we have decided to take the opposite course, looking outwards and embracing the opportunities that partnership with others can provide. We have tried to work more closely with other councils, the voluntary and charitable sector, and business. The aim has been to pool expertise and resources – material, human, and financial – to make our collective efforts go further and achieve more together than any of us could achieve on our own.
We have also sought to engage more thoroughly with the users of our services, to ensure that they help to shape our priorities and make sure our spending is targeted on the areas of greatest need.
A great example of working with the users of our services is the Tenant and Landlord Improvement Panel (TLIP). It brings together council officers, elected councillors, and volunteers from amongst the council’s housing tenants to receive reports on projects and key performance indicators, and help develop policy. TLIP is chaired by a tenant volunteer, Steve Bowers from Finchampstead. It embodies what partnership should be – a collaboration between equal parties to achieve a mutually beneficial result. All involved, whether council officers, councillors, or tenant volunteers, want to ensure that the council provides housing security for all those who are excluded by price from market housing to buy or rent.
TLIP has been in existence for many years, but recently we have tried to apply its methods more widely to council services. A great success has been the drawing up of the Social Care Future Charter. This co-produced document sets out the ambition of the council and the users of adult social care to enable everyone to live their best possible lives, whatever their disabilities.
Meetings with the volunteer service users who helped draw up the Charter revealed a wish for better opportunities to travel to work for disabled people. The council responded by funding the extension of hours of operation of bus passes, enabling disabled passengers to use buses early enough to get to paid work in the morning. For a relatively small cost, the council helped to open a new world of opportunity for disabled members of our community.
This is an instance of a big impact for a small spend. Lives have been enriched, confidence built, and needs addressed.
Working in partnership, including with the users of our services, contributes to the council’s spending its limited resources to best effect.
That this approach is the right one has been confirmed by external validation. A survey of councils by the Impower consultancy identified Wokingham as the fifth best council in the country for efficiency of spend, measured by outcomes achieved per pound spent.
An analysis of the top ten councils in Impower’s survey reveals that all are committed to partnership working. It looks as though we are doing the right thing.
Cllr Stephen Conway is the leader of Wokingham Borough Council
