Socitm 2010 ConferenceLocal Government IT Excellence Awards

Online Free School Meals “a revolution in public service delivery”

Amanda Derrick, Programme Director

The Connect Digitally Programme is driving service costs down through online delivery

• Led by Hertfordshire County Council and funded by the Department for Education

• Leading 152 English local authorities (LAs) in– Streamlining service delivery

– Realising cashable savings

– Improving quality of service for citizens

• Transforming three transactional services for citizens by moving them online– School admissions

– Free school meals

– Payments to LAs and schools

Online Free School Meals (OFSM) transforms the customer journey from a difficult paper based process…

… to an online service that improves the experience for the family and saves the LA money

OFSM: an innovative use of technology which integrates the back-office and redesigns the front-office

LABack Office

School

Confirm FSM eligibility to school

Paper-based application plus proof of benefits

Application processed by local

authority officer

InternetInternet

Eligibility Checking Service

Home Office

DWP

HMRC

Parent/carer applies by phone

or face to face

Parent/carer applies online

Meal provided soonerPaper-based

application

OFSM is providing an increasingly valued service to English and Welsh LAs …

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul

Num

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f Tra

nsac

tions

2008/2009 2009/2010

Examples of cashable savings reported by LAs

• 10,000 fewer citizen calls to Customer Service in the renewals process, saving £20,000

• Reduction in staff, saving £98,000

• Reduction in office space, saving £6,000

• Fewer queries from schools, saving £5,000

• Improved audit process, saving £18,000 between September and June

• £11,000 savings for one morning’s work including savings for parents/schools/LA/DWP

Increasing take-up drives costs down with ROI of seven to ten fold

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

-40

-30

-20

-10

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10

20

30

40

Proof of Benefit Required Proof of Benefit Removed

Online Application Form Full Online Service

Cha

nnel

Shi

ft

Acr

oss

152

LAs

Dec

reas

ing

Ser

vice

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eliv

ery

Cos

ts (

£m)

Examples of the impact on LAs and families

• Increased take-up of FSM from 20,000 to 27,000

• 95% of renewals needed no further checks

• Service response reduced from 3 months to 3 minutes

• Parent quotes– “Very, very good, I’m not good at reading and writing and I

found it so easy – thank you”

– “I was very impressed that the application was straightforward to complete. I know of people who have not claimed for other benefits as they find it too difficult to complete forms”

– “The system ensured my son had free school meals without the worry …difficulty of paper application and posting issues …a fantastic experience considering the normal stress of form filling, stamping, posting and checking. 10 out of 10. Couldn’t have been easier.”

Online Free School Meals is a project delivering…

• Innovation– Innovative technology– New ways of working

• Return on Investment – Cashable savings for central and local government and citizens– 7 – 10 fold return on investment– Benefits realised exceeded expectations

• Outcomes – Secure, reliable ECS delivered on time and to budget– 162/174 LAs registered to use ECS– Removal of paper proof of benefit on target

• Impact– Transformed citizen experience– Child receives a free school meal by next day– Welsh authorities followed English example– Encouraged DWP to consider use of informed consent– Improvement in data quality

Online Free School Meals…

Delivering ‘more for less’ – a revolution in public service delivery

“Take-up of FSM has increased by a factor of 5 but we’ve been able to reduce staff by more than half”