Next week, Cabinet members will discuss our Productivity Plan for 2024-25. Our new productivity plan demonstrates our achievements in increasing productivity and efficiency and our plans for future improvement.

Our plan, developed with guidance from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), focuses on four key areas, which are:

1. How we are transforming services.
2. How we are taking advantage of technology and data.
3. What we have done to drive efficiency over the last 13 years.
4. What barriers the local government sector is experiencing that we want Government to help with.

Over the past 13 years, we've transformed how we provide services leading to the delivery of £140 million annual savings, resulting in a 40% reduction in the workforce without stopping critical services that our residents and communities rely on the most.

We’re a well-run council with strong leadership, and robust financial management which have enabled the delivery of significant annual savings and an agreed strategy to deliver a further £32 million over the next three years.

Some of the examples include:

• Redesigning early years provision, creating more accessible and integrated family-focused support, saving £2.5 million.
• Digital transformation of customer contact to provide more efficient and convenient methods of contact, saving £0.8 million.
• Partnership with South Yorkshire authorities for waste management, delivering better value for money, saving £0.6 million.
• Remodelling Adults Social Care, enhancing support at the first point of contact, saving £1.3 million.

Our current plans include a council-wide transformation programme, targeting £17 million per year in efficiencies through to 2026, with a focus on service delivery reviews, digital transformation including being one of the first councils to adopt the use of AI to support service delivery, and a refreshed Asset Management Strategy.

Read the cabinet papers here.

Sarah Norman, Chief Executive of Barnsley Council said: "As we navigate and adapt to the ever-changing landscape, our unwavering commitment to our vision for Barnsley as the place of possibilities has led to transformative achievements.

“Despite these successes, we acknowledge the challenges ahead. We have strong financial management arrangements, aligned with our Council Plan priorities ensuring we’re bold, brave and innovative in how we deliver our services, drive efficiency while achieving value to make sure we continuously provide the best possible services for residents.”

This plan is a new requirement intended to support decisions made by Government around changes to the local government funding system. The plan will be reviewed by Government to assess how well we are taking actions to improve productivity and performance.