An enabling council
Our policy outcome
We will build strong and impactful partnerships to maximise the benefits for residents and our borough.
Our strategic objectives
We will lead the organisation through change by:
- working differently to create a consistent point of access to the council making the most of digital technology, empowering residents to find and access what they need, more efficiently and effectively
- implementing new approaches to engagement, to listen and access support at the right level to assist us to co-create services
- implementing our new operating model and change programme to realise the financial, service and efficiency savings and improvements set out in the improvement and recovery plan (IRP)
What this will do for local people and communities is:
- simplify access, availability and responsiveness of information for residents, providing support in a more accessible format
- place leadership from an organisation with a clear purpose, an improved corporate culture, transformed ways of working and a renewed commitment to work more closely with residents and communities
- improve access to data, information, intelligence, insight and analysis regarding thurrock, our communities and services
- increase opportunities for public engagement and involvement
- improve effectiveness built on stronger collaborative relationships between elected members and officers
Our priorities for 2024-2029 are as follows.
A. Improve clarity of information on services and support enabling residents to access what they need in an appropriate and timely format.
What we will need to do well is:
- produce clear messages and information
- mobilise an effective first point of contact and resolution system
- utilise insights to continually improve information
| Number | What we will deliver |
|---|---|
| 1. | Deliver the IT and digital change project to consolidate systems, support alignment between systems and deliver the technology on which to build the customer contact system. Implement a robust Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. |
| 2. | Implement a new corporate customer service system enabling residents and other partners to self-serve for simple enquiries, freeing resource for more complex issues. Develop robust intelligence and analytics to build insight into resident needs to continue to evolve and improve. |
Directors responsible:
- Executive Director of Corporate Services
B. Articulate clearly the ambition for Thurrock, focusing on the place and people priorities and the services provided and commissioned by the council
What we will need to do well is:
- work collaboratively with partners to build an effective Thurrock communication narrative
- target and monitor the effectiveness of our communications
| Number | What we will deliver |
|---|---|
| 3. | Improve communications internally within the council, and externally with residents, partners, with government and other professional bodies to continue to rebuild trust and to cultivate an openness to input leading to stronger more resilient partnerships, rebuilding reputation and influence. |
| 4. | Improve promotion of Thurrock as an investment location, to inspire business leaders to engage as an active stakeholder, to build private sector confidence and lever their investment potential and to continue to inspire residents of the opportunities they can access to support their career aspirations. |
Directors responsible:
- Assistant Chief Executive
C. Implement a council-wide approach to engagement and partnership working, ensure co-creation of services
What we will need to do well is:
- communicate a clear and compelling purpose and plan
- be responsive to ideas, input and feedback
- be proactive and curious to elicit information and insight that informs improvements in our performance
| Number | What we will deliver |
|---|---|
| 5. | Aligned to the locality priority in Place, mobilise the internal structures and ways of working that enable a consistent and effective approach, and implement supporting information and governance arrangements. |
| 6. | Implement approaches and mechanisms, linked to Your Place Your Voice, for increasing the participation and engagement of the public, businesses and stakeholders in service design and local priorities. |
| 7. | Develop strengthened partnerships between officers, elected members and ward councillors to build momentum and confidence in the changed approach of the council. |
Directors responsible:
- Assistant Chief Executive
D. Implement our change programme ensuring that our operating model and structure delivers our functional responsibilities efficiently and we evaluate this to continue to improve
What we will need to do well is:
- build pride in working for Thurrock Council
- support employees to perform well
- create and embed a culture of self-reflection and improvement
- be rigorous in our approach to performance review and appraisal
| Number | What we will deliver |
|---|---|
| 8. | Implement the council's change programme based on the new operating model and structure, centralising core services and pivoting the organisation from a delivery focused organisation to a commissioning organisation, empowering partners and communities to deliver services. |
| 9. | Develop and embed new ways of working across the council; develop a flexible and capable workforce demonstrating corporate values, expected behaviours and clarity of purpose, investment, performance and cross-team collaboration and communication. |
| 10. | Monitor HR and workforce performance indicators and identify and implement changes and policies that improve the recruitment, personal and professional development review (PDR), and retention of the staff whilst improving the diversity of the workforce. |
Directors responsible:
- Assistant Chief Executive
- Executive Director of Corporate Services
E. Implement our governance improvement programme, ensuring we renew and refocus our processes and procedures to be open and accountable
What we will need to do well is:
- ensure evidence and intelligence is the foundation of programme and project design, service development and decision-making
- create and embed a culture of self-reflection, scrutiny and improvement
| Number | What we will deliver |
|---|---|
| 11. | Implement a rigorous approach to governance improvement with a renewed focus on clarity of strategy, outcomes and organisational capability, using insight and intelligence from data, evaluation and other evidence, to ensure policies and strategies prioritise actions and the rationale for action is shared and agreed. |
| 12. | Implement a comprehensive approach to performance management and assurance, where information and insight is collated, shared and understood and early intervention in areas of underperformance or high risk is mobilised. |
| 13. | Agree new protocols for Officer / Member collaboration, ensuring responsiveness to enable elected members and the decision-making Boards to make informed decisions that deliver priorities and change utilising best in class assurance and corporate governance. |
| 14. | Build performance monitoring and independent evaluation into our processes to subject our services and programmes to scrutiny to ensure we adopt a continual cycle of review and improve. |
| 15. | Embed a new approach to risk management to improve accountability and ensure any likely risks are escalated and a management strategy implemented to mitigate these. |
Directors responsible:
- Assistant Chief Executive
- Executive Director of Corporate Services
F. Manage Thurrock Council's resources to ensure maximum value to the public and deliver efficiency and accountability
What we will need to do well is:
- maximise the impact we make from, our resources and deliver value for money
- increase spend in our local area (where possible)
- ensure exemplary management of investment and project activity and capital and revenue projects
| Number | What we will deliver |
|---|---|
| 16. | Deliver our financial savings programme, mobilising savings identified and other efficiencies through working differently. |
| 17. | Demonstrate good fiduciary and asset management by improving the quality of and access to financial information across the council and relevant partners, including budget setting, monitoring, spending decisions, financial pressures and greater efficiency. Strengthen the embeddedness of financial business partnering in the organisation. |
| 18. | Widen access to procurement and spending across Thurrock especially from local businesses, partners and the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector (VCFSE). Implement social value indicators as an integral part of our business and investment activity and the way we procure and commission our services. |
Directors responsible:
- Chief Finance Officer / Section 151 officer
Corporate Plan pages
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