Stockport Council
Digital by Design Programme
Briefly describe the initiative/ project/ service
Our Digital by Design programme is redesigning Council service delivery & building new digital tools to support this:
Digital for citizens:
• 3 new mobile friendly websites: stockport.gov.uk, ‘BetterOff Stockport’ (help with Benefits & jobs) & ‘Healthy Stockport’
• ‘My Account’ – secure interactive account for personalised access to services
• Online tools for reporting & tracking faults
• Online appointment booking
• Self-service digital reception at our Contact Centre: free to use devices, Wi-Fi & charging points, staff trained to help use the Council websites
Digital for communities:
• Digital festival, roadshows & events
• Online Directory of Community Groups, activities & events
• Digital Inclusion Alliance – Council, businesses, public sector, community & voluntary organisations, schools & colleges – pooling collective resources to improve digital skills & access to IT
Digital for staff:
• New mobile working processes & equipment
• New Case & Contact Management system
• New ‘Signposts’ application for staff working in child safeguarding that pulls together data from different services & quickly displays them side by side in a single view
• New data warehouse
• New business intelligence tools
Why do you think it should win this award?
Each new digital tool we introduced has been based upon Service redesign, rather than IT redesign.
We have taken down the traditional walls between IT & Services. At the inception of each project we all came together to talk about the user’s needs & how this translates to priorities for our services. Throughout development our Heads of Service, managers & officers have regular contact with our development teams. They attend regular ‘stand-ups’ & Showcases, talking together to really understand what is required & develop a shared mission.
Our agile approach has allowed the early release of our new digital tools & services in minimum viable form so:
• we can test the user experience & refine or redesign to ensure they are fit for purpose
• the citizens of Stockport see significant improvements to Services
• we deliver value early to our business.
We have established communication channels across the Council’s workforce ensuring staff are kept up-to-date with developments, can use the tools confidently & will be ambassadors for the new digital services. The online offer has been effectively communicated to the citizens of Stockport & we have evidence that adoption of the new digital services is well established & rising.
What are the key achievements?
Delivering routine services online saves time & money which can be better deployed meeting the more complex needs of citizens.
• 60% of contacts with the Council are now digital
• Waiting times reduced for a home visit from 10 – 2 weeks
• 13,992 My Accounts opened
• 2018 faulty street lights & blocked grids reported online; 4,004 reports tracked online
• 1104 appointments made to register a birth or death online
• Online reporting, tracking & appointments already potentially saved £18,966 – £60,650 & 159 staff days
• My Account efficiencies saving £20,629 per year in postage/staff time over previous methods
• Page-views for stockport.gov.uk up 30%; pages per session up 25%
• Response time for website improved by 35%; website has 99.99% uptime
• Mobile visits up 21%, session duration up 18%, pages per session up 46% and bounce rate down 23%
• Groups & Events listed online rising every month
• Over 50,000 visits to BetterOff Stockport website, over 4,000 accounts created, over £12 million monetary gains assessed
• Users of Contact Centre, libraries & Community hubs building their digital skills, reducing digital exclusion
• Digitally enabled workforce quicker to respond & anticipate customer need
