Transformational tech delivering better services for West Lindsey community

West Lindsey District Council has transformed its back-end processes to prioritise community experience and citizen welfare by adopting agile new technology by global software vendor TechnologyOne – preventing a major budget shortfall in the process.

In 2020, the Lincolnshire council launched Together24, a transformative program to provide excellent services and deliver good value for money to its community of 44,737 households. As part of the initiative, the council implemented TechnologyOne’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) OneCouncil solution to consolidate its financial, procurement and performance management applications, which has brought numerous benefits, including enhanced cybersecurity, seamless updates, and improved accessibility for staff.

West Lindsey District Council’s director of corporate services and section 151 officer, Emma Foy, said: “After years of manually inputting data into spreadsheets and working across silos, we held our hands up and said that our longstanding finance system wasn’t very good. Our small and stretched finance team had to manually input and manipulate data to put information into reports, which took time away from providing insights needed by the organisation, decision makers and councillors.”

“Having accurate insights into our finances is so crucial. It gives confidence public money is accounted for in an appropriate manner so members of the public, stakeholders, and other interested parties can be assured the financial position of the council is sound and secure."

At a time when many local authorities are on the brink of declaring bankruptcy, OneCouncil, which was specifically designed for and prioritises the long-term financial stability of local councils, facilitating real-time reporting, analysis, and forecasting across all departments.

“It used to take us almost three weeks and a lot of perspiration to produce our annual budget and there were a number of times we missed the budget deadline all together. With OneCouncil it takes us just three days,” Ms Foy said.

West Lindsey was one of only three local councils in the UK that submitted its FY2023/24 accounts on time, setting a benchmark for digital transformation in the public sector in the process.

The finance team were also able to identify and remedy a budget shortfall of £150,000 by redistributing spending to ensure it could fulfill vital community programs, including the Disabled Facilities Grant, which enables residents with disabilities to live safely and independently in their own homes.

The newfound digital agility has also fostered a better work-life balance by enabling employees to provide uninterrupted operations anytime, anywhere, on any device.

TechnologyOne Executive Vice President, Leo Hanna, said: "West Lindsey District Council’s decision to move from its legacy software to our OneCouncil solution showcases their commitment to embracing innovation for the benefit of their community and we are thrilled to partner with them on their journey toward digital excellence.”