Directorate Plan Template - Welcome to Shetland … · Web viewProvision of a payroll service to over 2,300 FTE employees and over 1,500 pensioners; Payment of over 80,000 transactions

Finance Service Plan 2015/16

Finance Service2015-16 Service Plan

Supporting Corporate vision:

“Delivering Professional Solutions Together”

Contents

Page 1 of 30


Introduction...........................................................................................................................................................3Vision Statement...................................................................................................................................................3Drivers for Change................................................................................................................................................3About Us................................................................................................................................................................4

Who We Are..................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Organisational Chart....................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Location........................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Governance...................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Regulation and Compliance........................................................................................................................................................... 6

Our Customers.............................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Funding and resources................................................................................................................................................................. 11

Aims and Objectives...........................................................................................................................................12Detailed Actions/Plan for Change......................................................................................................................13

Previous Actions Completed in 2014/15......................................................................................................................................13

Detailed Actions/Plan for Change......................................................................................................................15Ongoing Actions/Projects Started prior April 2015....................................................................................................................15

Detailed Actions/Plan for Change......................................................................................................................18New Planned Actions Due to Start in 2015/16..................................................................................................18

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Risks to Delivery.................................................................................................................................................20Performance Indicators......................................................................................................................................23

Performance Indicators from Council Wide Performance Measures.......................................................................................23

Key Service Indicators.................................................................................................................................................................. 24

Service Performance Indicators from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework.....................................................26

Other Performance indicators............................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

Contact Details....................................................................................................................................................29

IntroductionEvery year, each Service within the Council is required to produce a Service Plan for the following year. This Service Plan provides an overview of the Finance Service for 2015/16 as part of the Corporate Directorate. This plan contains information on major activities,aims, objectives, actions, targets, performance indicators and risks.

Service plans are approved and “signed off” at Director Level as part of the Executive Manager’s Employee Review and Development process.

Vision StatementThe Finance Service is committed to supporting the Corporate Directorate’s Vision of “Delivering Professional Solutions Together”.

Drivers for Change Legislative changes for the Pensions Services (new Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations for 2015) Revenue & Benefits continues management of Welfare Reform Requirement for savings in the Services resulted in more effective cash management process

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Reduction in Government Grants and increase in costs requires strong financial management (for example, Medium Term Financial Plan, Long Term Financial Plan, Investment Strategies and Borrowing Policies)

About UsThe Finance Service has been in place since the Council was established in 1975 and was placed in the Corporate Department following the Council organisation and management re-structure in 2011.

The functions delivered by the Finance Service can be summarised as:

Budgetary Control – revenue budget setting and revenue and capital budget monitoring; Professional financial advice to council services and Councillors; Responding to government returns and consultations; Preparation of the annual financial statements for the Council and its group and the Pension Fund; Treasury Management of over £500m of public money; Provision of a payroll service to over 2,300 FTE employees and over 1,500 pensioners; Payment of over 80,000 transactions (including over 65,000 invoices) each year; Management and administration of the Shetland Islands Council’s £300m Pension Fund; Administer Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Discretionary Housing Payments and the Scottish Welfare Fund on

behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions and the Scottish Government, making payments of over £3.8m per year to some of the most vulnerable people in Shetland;

Billing and collection of Council Tax, National Non-Domestic Rates and Housing Rents, which results in the issue of 17,000 bills totalling £42m per year;

Management of the Council’s Sales Ledger system which issues over 20,000 invoices totalling £42m per year; Management of the Council’s income system, ensuring the Council allocates over £100m of income each year to the correct

codes/charges; Provision of the Council’s cashiers service; Provision of reception service for 8 North Ness and Council Switchboard with over 55,000 received calls per year.

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Who We AreThis Service sits within the Corporate Department is lead by the Director of Corporate (Christine Ferguson) the following Services are also in the Corporate Department: (Capital Programmes, Human Resources, Information & Communication Technology, Governance & Law, & Audit, Risk & Improvement)

Organisational Chart

LocationThe Finance Service is located at SIC HQ, 8 North Ness, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 0LZ.

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Chief ExecutiveMark Boden

Corporate DirectorateChristine Ferguson

Information & Communication Technology

Capital ProgrammesFinance Exec Manager

Steve Whyte53.52FTE

Team Leader Accountancy Hazel Tait18.77 FTE

Team Leader Expenditure Mary Smith16.59 FTE

Team Leader Revenues & Benefits

Andrew Hall20.21 FTE

Human Resources Governance & Law Audit, Risk & Improvement


GovernanceThe Finance Service is part of the Corporate Directorate and reports to several Council Committees, mainly Policy and Resources, Audit and Full Council.

The Service’s performance is reported to the Directorate Management Team monthly and three Performance Indicators from this plan are reported to the Policy & Resources Committee 4 times per year as part of the Department’s quarterly performance report.

Regulation and ComplianceSection 95 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires the Executive Manager - Finance to ensure proper financial administration throughout the Council. Proper financial administration is further defined in legislation and in external financial regulations and standards (the main ones being the Code of Practice on local authority accounting in the United Kingdom, Statements of Recommended Practice, International Financial Reporting Standards, and the Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities, Benefit Regulations, and Pension Regulations).

Proper financial administration is locally defined in the Council’s Financial Regulations, for which the Executive Manager - Finance is responsible.

Local Government legislation implies requirement for Internal Audit.

Section 96 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires the Council to keep accounts and to publish annually an Abstract of Accounts. The requirement to produce an Abstract by 30 June each year comes from the Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 1985, as amended by the Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1997.

Section 12 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 places a statutory duty on the Council to follow proper accounting practice.

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Section 12 of Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 requires the Council to maintain a Loans Fund.

Section 118 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires the Council to render certain financial and statistical returns to the Scottish Government.

Section 42 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 requires the Council to be registered for VAT and therefore comply with the myriad regulations consequent on that.

The Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) (Scotland) Regulations 2008, The Local Government Pension Scheme (Administration) (Scotland) Regulations 2008, The Local Government (Discretionary Payments and Injury Benefits) (Scotland) Regulations 1998 (as amended) and The Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 1998 (as amended) requires Shetland Islands Council as an administering authority to comply fully with these regulations (including having policies in place to address the discretionary provisions), in respect of providing a pension scheme to employees.

Regulation 31A(2) of The Local Government Pension Scheme (Administration) (Scotland) Regulations 2008, as amended, requires Shetland Islands Council, as an Administrating Authority to publish a Pension Fund Annual Report on or before 1 December following the March year end.

The Local Government Finance Act 1992 provides that each local authority has a duty to levy and collect the Council Tax set by them for their area. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 requires the Council as a rating authority to levy and collect Non-Domestic Rates.

The Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and The Social Security Administration Act 1992 are the primary acts covering the administration of the Councils Housing benefit and Council Tax Reduction service including powers available to prevent, detect and penalise benefit fraud.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 which requires the integration of health and social care budgets.

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What We Do And Why

Our core activities:The core activities of Finance Services are the provision of the full range of management accounting, financial accounting, assets management, treasury management, payments processing (both to employees and creditors), pensions administration and Revenues and Benefits services for the Council. In addition to ensuring best value provision of this range of services, the Executive Manager - Finance is statutorily responsible for ensuring proper financial administration throughout the Council.

Management Accounting: provision of financial management information and advice to Budget Responsible Officers, the Executive, Councillors and

external bodies to assist them in budget preparation, monitoring, control and outturn. This includes the co-ordination of the budget setting process and monthly revenue and capital management accounts process and year end closedown;

provision of costings and other financial analysis of an ad hoc nature for best value reviews and service planning; reviews, comments and provides input into reports through the Agenda Management process; completion of financial and statistical returns for external agencies relating to revenue and capital service expenditure; provides financial training to budget responsible officers and other members of staff involved in financial activities; maintenance of the fixed asset register and carrying out associated capital accounting entries; also providing financial

information and advice on accounting for fixed assets and entries held within the fixed asset register; maintenance of the Following the Public Pound database and providing financial information, monitoring and advice on

entries held within the system and conditions for third party payments;

Financial Accounting: Financial Accounting maintains the general ledger of the Council’s Financial Management System (Integra) including the

reporting tool Seagate. This includes keying journals and virements, creating, amending and deleting codes, creating and maintaining the basic templates and reports within Integra, creating and maintaining Seagate reports that feed off Integra and other systems and co-ordinating the period and year end closedowns for all the ledgers within Integra;

responsible for accounting for the Council’s Loans Fund and Pension Fund and producing the Council’s Abstract of Accounts annually by 30 June;

complete financial and statistical returns for external agencies on all aspects of our work, completing claims for grants from the ERDF, provide financial assessments of contractors bidding for Council contracts by maintaining a Financial Assessment

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Register and provide information and advice on Value Added Tax (VAT) to other services and complete monthly Vat and Intrastat returns to HM Revenue and Customs;

Payroll, Pensions and Payments: maintain and develop corporate Financial Management System’s Purchase Ledger and Purchase Ordering sub-systems; ensure timeous payment of all Council Creditors; provide help, advice and training to all users of the Purchase Ordering and Purchase Ledger modules; administer the Construction Industry Scheme in respect of the relevant creditor payments; process and pay out salaries/wages to employees, pensioners and elected members maintain and develop the Payroll aspects of the CHRIS Personnel and Payroll system; Payroll to administer RTI Reporting in line with HMRC requirements; administer the PAYE settlement Arrangement with the Inland Revenue regarding Income Tax/NI on employee benefits(e.g.

Council vehicles, provided clothing and in-house entertainment); production of Councillors’ Register of Payments for publication by 30 June; completion of all payroll and pensions statutory returns by the various deadlines set including pension data for actuarial

review, valuation and IAS219/FRS17 reporting; carry out the administration of all pensions’ matters in respect of the Local Government Pension Scheme; Payroll to administer pension auto-enrolment legislation in liaison with The Pensions Regulator; maintain and develop the Heywoods Pension System – Altair so as to ensure all pension calculations are performed

accurately; communicate pension legislation changes to local government pension scheme members; Prepare and maintain Policy in respect of the discretionary provisions contained with pension regulations; prepare and maintain a Funding Strategy Statement in respect of Shetland Islands Council Pension Fund; administer teachers’ pension matters in liaison with Scottish Public Pensions Agency;

Treasury Management: manage the Council, Shetland Charitable Trust and Pension Fund cash flows; manage the Council’s borrowing transactions;

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ensure adequate banking facilities for the Council, Shetland Charitable Trust and Pension Fund with subsequent monitoring and reporting. This includes reconciliation of bank statements and acting as liaison to the bank on queries and problems that Council and Shetland Charitable Trust staff have raised;

develop and manage investment strategies for the Council, Shetland Charitable Trust and the Pension Fund with subsequent monitoring and reporting of these investments held with fund managers;

Revenues: Billing and collection of Council Tax, National Non-Domestic Rates and Housing Rents; Management of the Council’s Sales Ledger system, including the raising of invoices and credit notes; Management of the Councils income system, ensuring income is allocated to the correct accounts; Recovery of all Council arrears, including the issue of reminder letters, final notices, instigating legal action and agreeing

repayment plans with defaulters; Provision of the Council’s cashiers service and public reception for 8 North Ness; Processing payments received; Completion of system reconciliations, statistical and government returns;

Benefits: Assessing, processing and reviewing claims for Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefit, Discretionary Housing Payments,

Community Care Grants and Crisis Grants in Shetland; Issuing determination notices of benefit awards and the payments of benefits to claimants and landlords; The completion of system reconciliation’s, statistical and subsidy returns; The promotion of good practices to prevent and detect fraudulent claims.

Our CustomersThe Finance Service provides service to the following: -

Council Employees – we ensure that Council employees get paid every month Councillors – we provide the Councillors with the Budget Responsible Officers - we provide Budget Responsible Officers with the budget reports and we make payments on

over 80,000 invoices annually

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The Public – all payers of Non-Domestic Rates, Council Tax, Council Housing Rents and miscellaneous Council invoices in Shetland and all claimants of Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefits, Discretionary Housing Payments, Community Care Grants and Crisis Grants in Shetland.

Our Costs and Income

The Finance Service has 53.2 full time equivalent staff, annual revenue expenditure of £ 2.173M and no capital budget. As detailed below:

Service Number of Staff (FTE) Net Budget

Executive Manager – Section 95 Officer 2.08 426,865

Management Accounting 11.30 528,303

Financial Accounting 4.32 206,973

Treasury 3.15 -236,811

Revenues 12.28 347,022

Benefits Administration 7.93 404,369

Payroll 8.27 348,804

Pensions 4.14 N/A – not general fund

Payments 4.18 148,091

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Funding and resourcesThe Finance Service is aiming to make the Council an additional £370,000 per year through a more effective cash management process.

Aims and ObjectivesThe main priority areas for this year are to maintain the service already provided and to support the organisation to deliver the budget savings as set out in the 2015-16 budget. In addition, there are a number of significant statutory and regulatory developments that will require financial input. The key activities will be:

Service Aims/Priorities Objectives/Actions (Details below)

Medium Term Financial Plan Re-fresh the Medium Term Financial Plan to reflect progress made, changing financial environment and evolution of the Corporate Plan.

Long Term Financial Plan Undertake Long Term Financial Planning exercise, in line with SOLACE recommendation, including funding for key infrastructure.

Health & Social Care Integration Ensure robust financial arrangements are in place to comply with the Health & Social Care Integration legislation which is effective from 1 April 2015.

Pension Scheme Reform Ensure robust administration arrangements are in place to comply with Pension Scheme Reforms which are effective from 1 April 2015.

Welfare Reform Continue to implement statutory and regulatory changes required as part of the Welfare Reform agenda.

Delivery of the 2015-16 Council Budget Support the delivery of the 2015-16 budget through the provision of high

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Service Aims/Priorities Objectives/Actions (Details below)

quality financial information.

Development of the 2016-17 Council Budget Lead on the development of the 2016-17 Council budget, in line with the parameters of the MTFP.

Financial Modelling Undertake 25 year financial modelling for the HRA and model the Harbour Account up until 2050, to enable financially sustainable decision making.

Annual Accounts Production of high quality, unqualified annual accounts that apply proper accounting treatment to new transactions.

CHRIS version 8 Ensure, in collaboration with Human Resources, the successful migration of CHRIS version 7 to CHRIS version 8.

Detailed Actions/Plan for Change

Previous Actions Completed in 2014/15

Description Delivered Early/on-time/late

Achieved original intention?

Re-fresh Medium Term Financial Plan to reflect progress made, changing financial environment and evolution of the Corporate Plan.

June 2014 Updated Medium Term Financial Plan

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Undertake Long Term Financial Planning exercise, in line with SOLACE recommendation, including funding for key infrastructure.

March 2015 Long Term Financial Plan

Ensure robust financial arrangements are in place to comply with the Health & Social Care Integration which is effective from 1 April 2015.

March 2015 Clear financial arrangements set out in Integration Plan? And Financial Regulations.

Lead on the development of the 2015-16 Council budget, in line with the parameters of the MTFP.

Support the delivery of the 2014-15 budget through the provision of high quality financial information.

December 2014 Suite of fully integrated plans developed, approved and reported on.

Undertake 30 year financial modelling for both the HRA and Harbour Account, to enable financially sustainable decision making.

September 2014 HRA & Harbour Business Plans

Production of high quality, unqualified annual accounts, that apply proper accounting treatment to new transactions, such as the Mareel lease.

March 2015 All projects properly initiated, managed and documented

Develop and implement a Pensions Investment Strategy which seeks to deliver a fully funded pension scheme by 2027

December 2014

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Seek to continue to retain debtor recovery rates at their current high level despite the current economic climate.

March 2015 Collection rates % does not fall on 2013-14 level

Continue to implement statutory and regulatory changes required as part of the Welfare Reform agenda.

March 2015 Compliance with new statutory and regulatory requirements.

Ensure effective streamlined administration arrangements are in place for the processing of expense claims following the introduction of the new policy.

March 2015 Largely positive feedback from customer satisfaction survey

Ensure robust administration arrangements are in place to comply with Pension Scheme Reforms which are affect from 1 April 2015

March 2015 Compliance with new statutory and regulatory requirements.

Ensure that creditors paid within 30 days improves by 3%

March 2015 88% of payments made within 30 days

Detailed Actions/Plan for Change

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Ongoing Actions/Projects Started prior April 2015

Title/Heading Team Start End Output Expected Outcome/Supported Aims/Objectives

Re-fresh Medium Term Financial Plan to reflect progress made, changing financial environment and evolution of the Corporate Plan.

Executive Manager – Section 95 Officer

Y

June 2015

Updated Medium Term Financial Plan

This will support the Council’s Aim of “Being a properly led and well managed Council” and “Living within our means.”

Re-fresh Long Term Financial Planning to reflect progress made on recommendations in the 2015-2050 report.


Y

June 2015

Update Long Term Financial Plan This will support the Council’s Aim of

“Being a properly led and well managed Council” and “Living within our means.”

Ensure robust financial arrangements are in place to comply with the Health & Social Care Integration which is effective from 1 April 2015.


Y

March 2015

Detailed financial arrangements to form part of the Integration Plan.

This will support the Council’s Aim of “Being a properly led and well managed Council”.

Undertake 30 year financial modelling for both the HRA and model up

Management Accounting

Y June 2015

HRA & Harbour Business Plans

This will support the Council’s Aim of “Being a properly led and well managed

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until 2050 for the Harbour Account, to enable financially sustainable decision making.

Council” and “Living within our means.”

Continue to implement statutory and regulatory changes required as part of the Welfare Reform agenda.

Benefits Administration

Y

March 2016

Compliance with new statutory and regulatory requirements.


Ensure effective streamlined administration arrangements are in place for the processing of expense claims following the introduction of the new policy.

Payroll

Y

March 2016

Largely positive feedback from customer satisfaction survey


To successfully implement statutory and regulatory changes required as part of the Pensions Act 2013

Payroll Y April 2016 Compliance with new statutory and regulatory requirements.


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for both Teachers Pension Scheme and LGPS.

Ensure robust administration arrangements are in place to comply with Pension Scheme Reforms which are affect from 1 April 2015

Pensions

Y

March 2016

Compliance with new statutory and regulatory requirements. This will support the Council’s Aim of

“Being a properly led and well managed Council”.

Detailed Actions/Plan for ChangeNew Planned Actions Due to Start in 2015/16


Lead on the development of the 2016-17 Council budget, in line with the

Management Accounting

N December 2015

Suite of fully integrated plans developed, approved and reported


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New Planned Actions Due to Start in 2015/16


parameters of the MTFP.

Support the delivery of the 2015-16 budget through the provision of high quality financial information.

Support 2015-16 Building Budgets exercise.

on.

Implement Loans Fund and manage borrowing in line with Borrowing Policy.

Management Accounting / Treasury

NMarch 2016

Manage and fund capital expenditure.


Production of high quality, unqualified annual accounts that apply proper accounting treatment to new transactions.

Financial Accounting

N

March 2016

All projects properly initiated, managed and documented


Develop and implement robust cash management.

Treasury N March 2016

To achieve higher investment returns.

This will support the Council’s Aim of “Being a properly led and well managed

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New Planned Actions Due to Start in 2015/16


Council” and “Living within our means.”

Seek to continue to retain debtor recovery rates at their current high level despite the current economic climate.

Revenues

N

March 2016

Collection rates % does not fall on 2014-15 level This will support the Council’s Aim of

“Being a properly led and well managed Council”.

To ensure successful migration from CHRIS 7 to CHRIS 8.

PayrollN

November 2015

All projects properly initiated, managed and documented.


Ensure that creditors paid within 30 days improves by 3%

PaymentsN

March 2016

88% of payments made within 30 days


The Directorate level actions or most strategically significant operational actions to be delivered are set out in the Directorate Plan and will be monitored each quarter by the Directorate Management Team and Committee Members as part of the quarterly reviews. The key actions for this service are set out in this operational Service plans.

Risks to Delivery

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Gross Risk Rating

Risk Resp Officer

Management Action Residual Risk

H Financial Sustainability

Shetland Islands Council had developed a culture of poor financial control which had led to its reserves reducing by 40% since the turn of the century. If this downward trend is not reversed, then all the oil reserves will be depleted, which will result in severe cuts in public services.

Steve Whyte

The Council has adopted a Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) which seeks to set financial parameters that will result in a financially sustainable position.

The MTFP will be updated again to ensure that it reflects financial developments, but continues to set a course towards a sustainable financial position.

M

H Welfare Reform

The current UK Government is in the process of implementing wide ranging reforms to the Welfare system. The key element to this is the implementation of Universal Credit. This will have a significant impact on the way in which the Benefits team undertakes its business, and any errors in its implementation will have a negative impact on some of the most vulnerable people in the community.

Andrew Hall

Training courses, ring-fenced budget for system upgrades etc.

L

H Workforce Planning Issues

The Finance Service has a number of unique and specialist posts, which would be very difficult to fill at present if a member of staff were

Steve Whyte

Finance Management Team regularly discusses where gaps are going to appear to address this.

Promoting professional development amongst staff so that they are more equipped to move into different roles in

H

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to leave the organisation. the future.

The Employee Review and Development Scheme are used as a tool to identify training needs and promote progression through the finance service.

Gross Risk Rating

Risk Resp Officer

Management Action Residual Risk

M Housing Revenue Account Finance

Following the changes in 2014-15, there is a need to complete the financial modelling that will set the course for the HRA into the future.

It is important that robust financial modelling is produced so that decision makers are fully aware of the financial implications arising from any decisions that are presented to them.

Steve Whyte

Develop a 30 year financial model that clear sets out the interrelated choices between rent levels, repairs and maintenance levels and capital investment levels. This will allow Members to be fully informed prior to agreeing on a 30 year Business Plan for the HRA.

M

H Public Service Pension Act 2013

In order to meet the legislative requirements of the above Act, a reformed LGPS (Scotland) Scheme requires to take effect from 1 April 2015. This will have a significant impact on the way in which the Payroll &

Mary Smith

Training courses, Pension System Upgrade M

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Pensions Teams undertakes its business.

Performance Indicators

Performance Indicators from Council Wide Performance Measures

Indicators / Measure

Council Corporate Directorate Finance Service Performance Statement

Improvement Statement2014/15

(Projected)2015/16Target

2014/15(Projected)

2015/16Target

2014/15Performance to date

2015/16Target

Sickness Absence Rates 3.9% 3.9% 2.2% 3.7% 2.2% 2.5% Ensuring staff are aware of the policy

Reinforcement of policy compliance

Employee Review and Development Meetings held in Policy Period (Mar-

26% 100% 51% 100% 83% 100% Ensure the remaining reviews are


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Indicators / MeasureCouncil Corporate Directorate Finance Service Performance

StatementImprovement StatementMay) carried out

Employee Review and Development Meetings held in the previous 12 months (as at Jan 2015)

57% 100% 81% 100% 100% 100% Make progress on compliance


Return to Work Interviews N/A 100% 65.4% 100% 62.9% 100% Ensure Return to Work Interviews are carried out

Ensure Return to Work Interviews are recorded

Key Service Indicators

Performance Measure Performance 2012/13

Performance 2013/14

Performance 2014/15

Target 2015/16

Performance Statement

Improvement Statement

Audit Scotland/ Annual

No. of Audit Qualification on Statement of Accounts

0 0 0 0 Maintain standards in preparation and attention to detail.

Learn from External Audit annual report and feedback on audit process.

Monthly / Services & Partners

% of quarterly management accounts

100% 100% 100% 100% Key function of finance to

Identify any gaps in

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Performance 2013/14

Performance 2014/15

Target 2015/16



reports to committee advise and inform the Council on financial position.

information / data seek to link finance and service performance.

Quarterly % of Purchase Invoices paid within 30 days

85% 85% 85% 88% Delivery of automated purchase to pay process on an increasing number of invoice transactions

Identify with services process improvements to reduce the time taken from receipt of invoice to payment.

Monthly Collection Rates % 96.5 96.6 95% 95% Use a variety of means to enable customers to make prompt and accurate payments to their accounts.

Ensure recovery actions are undertaken in a consistent and timely manner and facilitate

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Performance 2013/14

Performance 2014/15

Target 2015/16



ways of enabling payment to the Council.

Monthly % of employees paid on time

100% 100% 100% 100% Deliver a robust and timely payroll service that ensures staff and councillors are accurately paid.

Identify improvements in the processing of payroll related data and paperwork to make the service more effective and resilient.

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Service Performance Indicators from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework

IndicatorScotland 2013/14 Shetland Performance

StatementImprovement StatementMin Avg Max Year Value Rank Target

Corp 1 - Support services as a % of Total Gross expenditure 11/12 7.84 32 Can be

found In the Corporate Directorate Plan

Overall the Council performance in regard to the proportion of expenditure is incurred on support activities is positive, being both lower than the Scottish average and lower than the other island authorities, to which direct comparison is often made. This is the result of the active management of support service activities.

The Council will continue to ensure that it works to provide efficient and effective support services and recognise the strategic direction taken in the Medium Term Financial Plan to increase, in percentage terms, the share of the budget spent on Children’s Services and Community Care Services

12/13 2.08 1

2.23 5.15 8.40 13/14 4.53 13Same as above

CORP 4 - The cost per dwelling of

11/12 12.81 17Same as above

During 13/14 significantly reduced operating costs due

Continue to monitor collection costs and discuss at monthly

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collecting Council Tax

to relocation to 8 North Ness and reduction in Revenues staff.

Revenues and Benefits team meetings any issues or means of improvement.

12/13 15.75 25

5.45 11.96 23.20 13/14 8.67 8Same as above

CORP 7 - Percentage of income due from Council Tax received by the end of the year

11/12 96.55 8

Same as above

During 13/14 slight improvement on collection rates, this resulted in best ever Council Tax collection levels.

Seek to maintain current high income collection rates through effective income recovery processes. Continue to monitor collection levels on a monthly basis and discuss at monthly Revenues and Benefits team meetings any issues or means of improvement.

12/13 96.49 8

92.66 95.46 98.46 13/14 96.64 7Same as above

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CORP 8 - Percentage of invoices sampled that were paid within 30 days

11/12 81.92 30

Same as above

Our performance improved marginally from the previous year. We have been introducing new software to improve the flow of orders and invoices around the council. The benefits with regard to the payment of invoices on time is starting to be felt.

The new software will be fully rolled out by the 1st quarter of 2014/15. I would expect the KPI to remain static or show another marginal improvement in that year.

12/13 84.84 26

76.88 90.77 99.13 13/14 85.02 29Same as above

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Contact Details

Name Job title Available Telephone Number

E-mail address

Steve Whyte Executive Manager – Finance 9-5 (Mon to Fri) 744607 [email protected]

Jonathan Belford

Executive Manager – Finance 9-5 (Mon to Fri) 744607 [email protected]

Andrew Hall Team Leader – Revenues & Benefits 9-5 (Wed to Fri) 744649 [email protected]

Mary Smith Team Leader – Expenditure 9-5 (Mon to Fri) 744669 [email protected]

Hazel Tait Team Leader – Chief Accountant 9-5 (Mon to Fri) 744612 [email protected]

Finance Service8 North Ness Business ParkLerwickShetlandZE1 0LZ

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Documents

Directorate Plan Template - Welcome to Shetland … · Web viewProvision of a payroll service to over 2,300 FTE employees and over 1,500 pensioners; Payment of over 80,000 transactions