This meeting was scheduled to include discussions about the potential restructuring of three Chesterfield Borough Council services: the ICT service, the Housing Assets Service, and the Careline Service.

Reshaping the ICT Service

This item was included for discussion on the agenda as a result of a previous decision of the Cabinet. It was previously agreed that the ICT service would be reshaped, and this item requests approval for the proposed new structure.

This report was summarised for the meeting by the Cabinet Member for Customers and Business Transformation, who explained that the changes were being considered to make the service more efficient and responsive to the changing technology landscape.

The new structure aimed to, streamline and improve the effectiveness of the ICT service and ensure that job roles and responsibilities were clearly aligned to the Council’s current technology stack which was being used to underpin service delivery to the borough’s residents and businesses. ¹

The report explained that the current ICT staffing structure was fragmented , and that the changes would lead to a more customer-centric approach, better support arrangements, and better value for money from ICT contracts. The report noted that the current job descriptions did not reflect the work being undertaken or the technological advances being made.

The proposed new structure was included in the report pack for the meeting.

The report explained that, Employee briefing sessions had been held to explain the proposed structural changes and affected staff had received the support of their Trade Unions. It also set out how existing staff members would be assimilated into the new structure or supported through a process of reapplying for their jobs.

Reshaping the Careline Service

The meeting considered a report about the proposed future structure of the Careline Service.

The report, which was presented by the Cabinet Member for Customers and Business Transformation, explained that in a previous meeting, Cabinet took a decision to continue to provide the Careline assistive technology and falls recovery service ² following changes to the way the service was being commissioned by Derbyshire County Council. It also explains that the Cabinet had previously agreed to reshape the service to reflect this change, and to make it more cost effective and commercially viable, while also increasing the number of customers.

The report included an explanation of the review of the existing service, and set out the proposed new structure, which included six operational delivery teams and several specialist roles.

The report explained that the service would be moved into the remit of the Head of Customer Services, who would take over the management of the service. It also explained that all of the 31 employees affected by the changes had attended briefing sessions, and were being supported by their Trade Unions.

Reshaping the Housing Assets Service

This item on the agenda considered a report on proposed changes to the Housing Assets Service.

The report, which was summarised for the meeting by the Cabinet Member for Customers and Business Transformation, explained that the changes were needed to enable the service to meet the requirements of the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards, and to deliver on the Council's commitments on building new council homes and making them more environmentally sustainable.

It explains that the new structure would also give the service the resources to implement new ICT systems.

The report explains that in order to increase the number of new homes being built and to improve the environmental sustainability of the existing housing stock, the new structure would need to be able to bring in funding.

The report explained that the new structure would help the council to deliver on it's commitment to ensuring that all of its housing stock meets the Decent Homes Standard.

The report explained that current staff members would be given the opportunity to apply for the new roles within the reshaped service before they were advertised more widely.