Shropshire successful in Government’s Transformation Challenge Award

Shropshire Council, along with the Shropshire Association of Local Councils and Shropshire Voluntary and Community Sector Assembly, have been successful in winning a share of the Government’s £89.4m Transformation Challenge Award.

The partnership will receive a grant of £520,000 to support the “Our Community Hub” project.  The aim of the project is to provide places that residents can easily get information and advice that both helps them, and enables them to help others within their community.

The funding is awarded to public sector organisations who have set out how they intend to improve services for residents, at the same time as reducing the cost of those services.

The Our Community Hub project will be underpinned by the redesign of existing face-to-face customer-focused services, notably Shropshire libraries and Customer Service Points, by:

• Investing in the development of Community Hubs within Shropshire’s six main market towns
• Creating a business investment funding pot that the community, parish councils, town councils, and the voluntary and community sector can bid into to support local ‘start-up’ investment in the development of community hubs, and in the transfer of services and buildings from Shropshire Council
• Supporting the introduction of new technology, including freephones to council services, computers, library self-service machines, and electronic book tagging
• Supporting the introduction of new Community Co-ordinators / Connectors, who can help signpost people to the right support within their communities, and in certain cases provide mentoring and bespoke support to individuals.

The award follows the announcement by Local Government Minister Kris Hopkins last week that 71 councils will share £89.4 m investment as they join up services and reduce costs for taxpayers.  The winners of the Transformation Challenge Award will receive funding for demonstrating their ability to remain at the cutting edge of service transformation, while delivering efficiency savings.

Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for resources, finance and support, said;

“We are absolutely delighted we have be awarded this funding.  The way that people are using services is changing dramatically.  Libraries are a treasured and trusted resource, but their usage is decreasing.  Shropshire’s rising older population is putting unsustainable demands on our health and social care services.  Everyone who is active in our communities – local groups, charities, public sector services, and private enterprise – will work together to use all the local assets to create better outcomes for individuals.

“We currently work closely with our local partners to deliver services that meet the needs of the local population, and we welcome any initiative that strengthens this approach.

“Investment in the development of Community Hubs will enable us to build ‘teams around the community’ that will emphasize prevention and early help, and will reduce the overall demand on the public sector.”

Karen Roper, County Secretary, Shropshire Association of Local Councils, commented:

“Shropshire Association of Local Councils is committed to effectively engage and enable parish councils and town councils to develop their role and help them to have a bigger say in shaping the way services are delivered in their communities.  We are delighted to be part of the partnership which will enable us to play a bigger part in building the capacity, developing a better understanding, and inspiring the confidence of both clerks and councillors to take on future challenges.”

Jackie Jeffrey, Chief Executive of the Citizen’s Advice Service, and Chair of the Voluntary and Community Sector Assembly, added:

“Shropshire Voluntary and Community Sector Assembly recognises the challenges of service transformation, and is happy to be a partner with Shropshire Council in finding solutions to these challenges.  So, our members welcomed the opportunity to work with Shropshire Council and Shropshire Association of Local Councils to support the establishment of hubs.  It is vital we explore new ways of working to ensure people can continue to access the services and support they need in community buildings and local public spaces.”

Neil Willcox, Shropshire Council’s local commissioning manager, added:

 “Whilst the new service model is not fixed and will vary from location to location (following detailed local consultation), the expectation is that it will be based on the transfer of local library and, where appropriate, Customer Service Points to local voluntary organisations and/or town councils and parish councils.  We also want to explore every opportunity, where this is possible and is appropriate, to transfer existing Shropshire Council buildings to the same organisations, although the former is not reliant on the latter.

“We want to work in this way because we believe that community enterprises, in differing guises, will be the best people to develop local services for their communities: they will, for example, be able to draw on all the knowledge, resources, skills and assets within that community, and will be able to shape services to best reflect local individual circumstances.”