In 2019, a fundamental review of councillor development was carried out in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to revolutionise the learning offer for elected members. Digital skills and confidence amongst elected members varied greatly, so the review included a workstream for digital skills and service transformation to bring everyone to a baseline of digital confidence and modernise how councillors work.
An important part of the work that councillors do is representing the needs of ward constituents. In large, this involved raising and advancing resident issues with disparate council departments to ensure residents in their ward get the outcomes they need to prosper across various social and economic issues. This is known as ‘casework.’
Historically, councillors have had great difficulty managing casework effectively. Cases moved forward via email, which relied on councillors knowing who to contact. This meant a councillor’s ability to efficiently progress casework relied on their knowledge of the council, creating a disadvantage to those new or less experienced councillors. Ultimately, a councillor’s knowledge level impacted residents who relied on their councillors to resolve issues that they felt strongly enough to escalate, including those having a significant impact on their quality of life.
One of the key outcomes of the review was the need to modernise how casework is managed with the implementation of a new casework ‘portal.’ This project, which has significantly changed the way councillors in Sandwell work, was recently recognised in the Granicus 2022 Digital Public Sector Awards as a finalist in the ‘Operational Efficiency’ category and the winner of the ‘Digital Achievement’ award.
THE PROCESS
As part of the initial programme design, including workshops, councillors identified 26 key requirements of an effective portal. These requirements included:
Officers from the Council’s Digital Transformation and Civic & Member Services teams utilised this information to create a solution that would be fit for purpose to get the best outcomes they can from their casework for their residents. The project that ensued culminated in the development and deployment of the MyCouncillor Portal.
The MyCouncillor Portal is a purpose-built online digital system, building on Granicus’ govService ‘Councillor Portal’ product to develop a system for councillors, with councillors. It is used by councillors to manage all their constituent casework in a secure environment with easy access to a range of useful council and partner information.
Furthermore, the platform works seamlessly with MySandwell, the council’s online resident portal, also powered by govService. This integrated digital service channel allows councillors to report problems in their wards proactively or on behalf of constituents and be kept updated on the outcome.
By selecting the service they require, MyCouncillor creates an automated workflow to ensure that councillors can get casework to the right council department quicker and easier than ever.
RESULTS
Following vigorous piloting to a portion of the councillors, roll out for this portal began in March 2021 and all councillors were trained by October 2021. Since then, the system has provided new data insights to help the council understand the operational significance of this customer contact and review operational practices across all departments. Data showed that the portal had improved the support offered to residents and supported councillors in brokering the best outcomes for them in the most efficient way available. Just a few of the reports have shown:
