Richmond Council has unveiled a comprehensive transformation programme aimed at saving £39 million annually by 2029, as it confronts the loss of more than half of its core funding. The council, facing a £29 million reduction in central funding by 2029 under a new government formula, will redesign services across six major departments, including care and housing, to achieve these savings.
Funding Challenges and Strategic Response
The new funding formula, designed to redirect resources towards areas with higher deprivation, will result in a 58 per cent cut to Richmond's central funding. In response, the council is challenging the cuts alongside Wandsworth, Westminster, and Kensington and Chelsea councils, while simultaneously proceeding with its transformation agenda. The business cases for overhauling the six departments have been published and will continue to evolve in the coming months.
The council's plans include establishing a single 'front door' for residents and businesses to raise service requests and access information, providing staff with a 'single view' of residents to better coordinate support, and increasing automation to boost self-service rates. Additionally, the council will develop predictive tools to anticipate service demand and identify residents who may need future support, enabling earlier intervention.
Departmental Overhaul Plans
Adult Social Care and Public Health: The focus will be on preventing, reducing, and delaying the need for care. This includes overhauling staffing models, improving early help and occupational therapy services, and delivering innovative care technology. A self-service platform using AI will be introduced to reduce demand, alongside policy reviews and increased digital automation. The council also aims to improve reablement services and redesign service acquisition for more affordable deals.
Children's Services: The department will work to reduce the average cost of placements by improving commissioning, maximizing regional collaboration, and decreasing reliance on expensive arrangements. Plans also include improving referrals, triage processes, and reviews, increasing the use of family group decision-making, enhancing the offer to permanent carers, and beginning reunification earlier in a child's journey.
Housing: The council will identify and support residents at risk of homelessness before crisis point, increase the proportion of initial assessments resulting in prevention duty, and reduce those escalating to relief and main duty. It also aims to cut the average time cases remain in relief duty beyond the 56-day deadline, reduce the time households spend in temporary accommodation, and slash the average nightly cost of such accommodation.
Operational Efficiencies and Investment
Corporate Functions: A hub-and-spoke operating model will be introduced to better support frontline services, reduce duplication, and improve efficiency. The council will generate income by selling and leasing assets, reduce running costs through upgrades and decarbonisation, consolidate contracts, and improve internal customer experience and governance.
Environment: Plans include improving traffic enforcement, considering changes to pricing for related services, and running markets and events in parks. Contracts for waste and street cleaning, libraries, and sports will be redesigned.
Growth and Place: The council will increase charges for related services.
The finance committee approved the scope of the transformation programme on September 24, along with an additional investment of £18 million, supplementing the £1.5 million already earmarked. Lib Dem councillor Jim Millard emphasized the need to carry out the transformation 'rapidly and effectively in time because we're facing a very severe pinch point.' He added, 'Many of the proposals are about prevention, early intervention, which not only improves outcomes, improves lives but saves money at the same time. It's about better use of technology, improving streamlining processes, better use of our assets and taking all those sorts of opportunities for helping residents to have greater independence.'
James Wills-Fleming, director of transformation, noted that alongside financial benefits, the programme 'is also about protecting the services that matter most to our residents and ensuring that the services that we provide to those residents promote independence and ensure that we maintain the high outcomes that we already deliver.'
