Have you used HMRC’s app? I did not know it existed until I heard about it recently at an event and signed up as a new user. And I like it. It deals with a lot of my straightforward needs in a simple way. It was probably not so simple to design the service. But I am also sure that not having to answer my questions is freeing up HMRC staff to support people that need more help than I do.
And I know how important that is. I am fortunate in my role. I get to see organisations and their front-line work up close and see what makes a difference for successful operational delivery. It is rare that just one thing matters. It takes everything from designing good services and collaborating across organisations to adapting services to meet different users’ circumstances.
This means that providing government’s services can be difficult and complex work. But with over 290,000 people in government’s operational delivery profession, including those working in prisons, processing benefits claims, and dealing with planning applications, or supporting those that do, it is vital. It is where policy thinking meets reality, and where operational capability either shines or reveals challenges to work on.
That is why it is essential that where good things are happening, other organisations can learn about it and adapt it for themselves. And there is plenty to learn from. Our report, Smarter delivery – improving operational capability to provide better public services, shares a range of case examples including from HMRC, the Home Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, that show how organisations are innovating, adapting, and improving public services.
The opportunities
People expect government to provide good services, but we know that funding is tight. It is imperative to get better value from each of the £450bn government spends on the day-to-day current running costs of public services, grants and administration.
But delivering better services can help to meet this challenge. The Institute of Customer Service estimates the cost of poor service to all UK organisations is £7.3 billion per month. And we see from our own work how frontline staff are often dealing with failures in service and complaints, and fixing things that did not go right first time – a source of frustration for the people using the services, and a cause of extra costs for government.
So the size of the prize is significant. Getting operational capability right will give government organisations a foundation to make informed strategic choices about where and how to change and improve services, to achieve benefits such as:
Better services for users For example, by building the operational capabilities needed to design and manage services, and additional skills such as the digital understanding required to provide well-made apps, you can provide services that adapt to user needs rather than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Government organisations responsible for policy and delivery, need to collaborate so that services focus on overall user outcomes and value.
Meeting demand for services For example, building resilience to meet expected variations in demand as well as responding to unexpected changes, including external shocks and challenges such as international instability, climate change and cyber threats.
Improving productivity or reducing the cost of services For example, making services more efficient by getting them right the first time for users and reducing costly failure demand. Identifying opportunities where user needs can be better met by digitising, or automating parts of services can also free up staff to focus on helping those who need it most.
An engaged and innovative workforce For example, providing a workplace that supports people to experiment and take risks to innovate and improve public services through step-change and day-to-day improvements, so that opportunities are acted on rather than ignored and left on the table.
What is needed?
Making the most of the opportunities relies on a range of operational capabilities, including:
- Taking a whole-system approach: embracing complexity and understanding how the people and organisations involved in different parts of the system connect to provide service outcomes, and adapt and respond to interventions. Our Home Office case example on drugs strategy shows how establishing ministerial and departmental leadership is encouraging joint working and accountability for outcomes across a system.
- Understanding and dealing with demand: designing and running a service so it can absorb variation in demand and provide people what they want, when they want it, right first time. We’ve seen examples, such as in FCDO, where redesigning and supporting processes with different technology means some consular enquires can be answered instantly, rather than within two days, and there is less failure demand.
- Using information to improve: understanding how the service is performing and deciding what to change, why and how. Our examples from Ministry of Justice and Home Office show how better data on capacity and demand is informing decisions that are making better use of assets, removing blockages in processes or helping to meet service users’ needs.
- Embedding a systematic approach to innovation and improvement: knowing where there are opportunities to improve, prioritising what to fix and having an approach for doing that. Organisations can look to learn from how HMRC is embedding daily management behaviours that are generating more staff ideas for operational improvement and may be improving customer satisfaction too.
Perhaps this last example is most crucial. Our work on operational management, and elsewhere, shows the importance of supporting people so they can contribute to their fullest. This is a foundational organisational capability that underpins the other four.
What it will take
When organisations are experimenting to improve services, not everything will go right all the time – your new app might crash, or appointments might be double booked, for example – but even that provides something you and others can learn from.
It is not a straight path and there is no single quick fix, but sustainable improvement in operational delivery is about building capability and learning by using it over time. That is where the operational delivery profession comes in, and why the role of it and its 290,000 members is crucial. Just think what a capable and innovative workforce of this size can achieve.
Alec Steel is head of operational management specialism at the National Audit Office. Read Lessons learned: Smarter Delivery – improving operational capability to provide better public services