Decision Maker: Executive

Outcome: Recommmend Forward to Council

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: July 17, 2025

Purpose: To consider whether the delivery of People & OD services to Waverley Borough Council, and to create a joint team for delivery of the service

Content: Decision: 1.       Delegate the People and Organisational Development functions to Waverley Borough Council for delivery of services through a joint team with effect from 1 September 2025. 2.       Approve the creation of new joint posts to deliver People and Organisational Development services to both Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council and to delegate authority to the Joint Assistant Director for People and Organisational Development to implement a joint staffing structure within the approved budget. 3.       Approve a supplementary estimate of £66,469 to be funded from the MTF reserve/budget; and 4.       Recommend to Council (meeting on 29 July 2025) that it resolve to:              i.      Note the Executive’s delegation of the People & Organisational Development functions to Waverley Borough Council for delivery of services through a joint team with effect from 1 September 2025.            ii.      Note that the joint staffing structure for delivery of the People and Organisational Development functions will include staff transferred from Guildford Borough Council on 1 September 2025 and Waverley Borough Council staff.          iii.      Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Democracy, Law & People, in consultation with the co-Chairs of the Joint Governance Committee, to update the Inter-Authority Agreement to include provisions that ensure all decisions in relation to any delegated functions are made by both Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council. Reason(s): 1.       To enable the People and Organisational Development functions to operate in an efficient and cost-effective way, with the ability to provide more specialist skills across both authorities leading to increased efficiency with an expansion of knowledge for individuals and sharing of best practice in the delivery of services. 2.       Recent years has seen a huge drive of people related initiatives with a lack of strategic resource to lead and guide the teams in a consistent and compliant way.  This has led to gaps, risks in application of processes, complaints and delays in delivery. 3.       The previous restructure through ‘Future Guildford’ resulted in the whole Guildford Borough Council team being referred to as ‘Specialists’ and paid on the same salary band, with no recognition to the varying levels of responsibilities held and outcomes.   This has resulted in a lack of professional identity and leadership of the functions, and based on the level of roles, responsibilities and performance, has resulted in the function having reduced engagement in strategic and transformational thinking. 4.       To provide increased resilience across both authorities as there will be a larger pool of officers delivering the services across Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council.  The current structure has many single points of failure when staff go on agreed leave of absence. An outcome of this puts serious strain on the resources that remain to cover and increases the risk of service delivery failure.  The proposed structure will provide additional resilience to cover sickness absence, annual leave, vacancies and increased workload, should this be required. 5.       The proposed structure addresses the gaps in delivery, for example Attraction and Resourcing, Data and Analytics, and builds resilience with the two teams coming together. It also brings the skilled resource from the Case Services team. 6.       There will be opportunities to combine systems that will provide both cash savings and give consistency in our approach to reporting on key people metrics and readiness for Local Government Reorganisation (‘LGR’) with usable functionality thereby reducing manual interventions. To ensure that joint working is undertaken in a consistent manner and in accordance with existing HR policies for such posts, and the Inter-Authority Agreement between the two authorities for the sharing of staff. 7.       The current function does not have the collective capability to drive and deliver transformational change around collaboration.  There are many identified changes to be made in relation to ‘getting the basics right’.  The proposed structure will deliver the capacity and capability needed to embed successes in ongoing collaboration efforts and enhance the pace of future collaboration and LGR, continuous improvement in service delivery and non-cashable savings. 8.       The proposed structure will continue to support the ongoing preparation activity to support LGR, including data cleansing, building connections across the District, Borough and County Councils.  Following a unitary decision, a more structured programme of work will be required to support the change, requiring significant people resource, including supporting our people through the change process, implementing strong retention policies, preparing for TUPE, harmonisation of Terms and Conditions, and appointing senior leadership for new shadow unitaries. 9.       To reduce dependency on expensive external resources and further implement succession planning and career development which have already seen an increase in internal promotion appointments to vacant posts. 10.  Cost savings will not be made through the proposed structure, but service quality and a modest investment in technology will enhance the employee experience and that of the line management roles to support their staff and therefore supports the vision of the collaboration between the two authorities. Other options considered and rejected by the Executive: Options 1, 2, and 3. Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted: None.