The Director of Adults and Health has approved -
To agree to carry out consultation, including with Trade Union
colleagues and staff, in relation to the review of the service and
structure and any potential staffing reductions arising. This paper
builds on numerous conversations with internal partners in the
Council and with NHS partners via the Partnership Executive Group
to ensure the the Health Partnerships Team remained responsive to
the needs of the health and care system and the move to more
integrated approaches. There are a number of challenges for the
system in Leeds and there is a need for clearer definition of the
delivery of this service both strategically and operationally
within both Leeds City Council and the wider health system. A
series of conversations with senior staff have taken place over the
last six months and it is proposed that the new draft structure be
fully in place by the 1st June 2021 or earlier if we can find
alternative options for affected staff.
Health Partnerships is a relatively new service in the Directorate
and council and has been in place in its current form since 2017
(previous iterations of the team have been in place since 2012).
The service has grown and developed during that last 4 years and we
are now in a position to review our many achievements but also to
consider our challenges, particularly during this very difficult
time across West Yorkshire and the UK.
We now need to move to a structure and delivery model that is
reflective of the developing and future demands being placed on
this team. The proposed new structure will mean a reshaping and
reduction of the level and focus of resouces. We acknowledge this
will put some of our staff at risk of redundancy however we aim to
do everything we can as a service to support the staff affected and
we are committed to avoid compulsory redundancies where possible,
when all reasonable alternatives have been explored.
The need to review the service stemmed from conversations taken at
the Partnership Executive Group (PEG) in February 2020 about
partnership working in Leeds and feedback from partners including
NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group. For a period of time now
the Partnership Executive Group has outlined a number of challenges
for the health and care system and the need for a clearer
delineation between the strategic and delivery arms of the Health
Partnerships Team and of the wider health and care system. These
challenges and the direction provided in terms of our key partners
has been taken into consideration as part of a review of our
delivery model and provided services. Furthermore, these were
placed in the financial context outlined in the financial challenge
sessions (August-Oct 2020) and the requirement initially to cut
10-20% of the overall budget and additional challenges related to
NHS partner budgets, for example the £50m deficit in the
Clinical Commissioning Group budget for 2020/21. The paper
presented to the Executive Board 18.11.20 outlined the budget ask
with the accompanying Service Review Form providing the
detail.
The paper proposes deleting three x PO4 Project Leader posts. The
postholders for 2 of these roles have been on secondment elsewhere
in the organisation for 12-18 months. These posts were not
backfilled when the staff were seconded. Upon review of the overall
structure and the required outputs of the team now and into the
future it has become apparent that there is a reduced need for
system support and roles at this level both for the Leeds Plan and
more generally across the system. It has been hard to clearly
define the Project Leader role and their place between Project
Officers and Programme Managers. Senior leaders and partners have
advised that delayering of the team and removing these posts would
provide a more focused approach better able to deliver.
It is also proposed to remove a senior manager at Director 60, the
Head of the Leeds Plan. Feedback from partners described how
reviews of CCG and wider NHS capacity coupled with the desire for a
programme management approach focused on delivery, has
significantly reduced the need for this post. The governance
structure has been reviewed after key partners described the need
for a more agile, less bureaucratic and more responsive structure.
This led to the removal of the Leeds Plan Delivery Group and
subgroups.
Options for current staff: staff have had informal ‘heads
up’ conversations and the Chief Officer has had an informal
information meeting with the unions. We will then move to full and
formal consultation and additional conversations with unions.
We aim to work closely with HR and our union colleagues so that we
can both support the employees concerned and hopefully find
additional roles without the need for compulsory redundancy.
Options include exploring opportunities for redployment in the
talent pool at pre-notice, ELI and severance. Through meaningful
consultation we will consider all alternatives presented by the
unions and staff as per the MSR policy. The MSR process is to be
determined.
Savings are in the DDN attached (full year impact – it is
envisaged, after all consultation timelines under the MSR policy
that the new structure will be in place from 1.6.2020 or earlier if
other options are found for affected staff).
Brief details of any alternative options considered and rejected by
the decision maker at the time of making the decision -
As decribed above this proposal seeks to meet the need of both the
future demands and partners involved in this delivery area and it
is not financially or strategically viable to maintain the existing
structure.