Agenda item

The Committee considered the HR/Finance systems Implementation - Lessons Learned Report. The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:

·         There was a lack of detail in the report about the impact on staff of the failure of the Council to pay them staff on time. It appeared to represent a catastrophic failure of the Council's approach to outsourcing. In addition, the action plan had not been completed in 100 days. Jo Charles, Head of Commercial acknowledged that the system should not have gone live when it did and recognised the impact on staff and schools as a result. Every effort was being made to ensure that the 100 day plan was being actively implemented, monitored and managed effectively. It was recognised that the title of the plan was misleading because in effect the plan represented a rolling programme of actions

·         What was the logic behind the decision to go live when it did? Jo Charles responded that the decision had been made by a senior officer who was no longer with the Council

·         It was important to receive details of the number and type of wider issues (including complaints) raised by Council and School employees to understand the proportionality of the issues experienced. Richard Taylor, Head of HR and OD commented that the vast majority of staff had been paid correctly. The main issue concerned the usability of claim forms. Every effort was made to resolve these issues as soon as possible. It was important to understand what were system errors and what were other errors, for example user errors

·         What proportion of the staff had not received their correct pay? Richard Taylor responded that this information could be provided to members. The main issues arose from changes to working hours or where staff moved posts. Jo Charles added that the key issue was that where an issue had been identified, the payment was made immediately

·         Any details of complaints made about the system should also reflect the geographical context

·         Jo Charles explained that where an issue had been escalated by a school, work had taken place with the school and Liberata to rectify the problem as soon as possible. In addition, staff training and the cascade of information to staff had been examined to ensure that the issue did not arise again

·         It was disappointing that the report did not reflect the impact on customers and the business community of the failure of the system. As a result, there had been a cost to the Council in terms of lost business and reputational damage

·         Sue Alexander indicated that Grant Thornton had been provided with a report setting out the issues associated with the system. Helen Lillington from Grant Thornton commented that the report indicated that of 22,000 payments made to staff and schools, 147 were incorrect which represented 0.7% of the payroll. All errors had been addressed within 48 hours. Although the impact on the individual member of staff could be significant, in terms of the Value for Money conclusion, the scale was small and did not have a material impact on the running of the Council. On the initial payment run, £5m was recalled, £0.9m of which had been recalled through the BACS system.

·         The number of errors reported to the external auditor did not seem to tally the number of complaints received by local councillors

·         It should be emphasised that staff and schools did not feel adequately prepared to deal with the change of system. In addition there were issues associated with the processing of casual staff 

·         There was no indication in the report of the level of tolerance for errors built into the system. Were the number of errors recorded within tolerance levels and were they proportionally larger than previous years?

·         Jo Charles emphasised that as soon as an employee experienced a loss as a result of an error, they were reimbursed immediately. Problems with the usability of the system had been recognised in the 100 day plan. Training had also been recognised as an issue and Liberata had introduced a programme of training for schools

·         Schools had a particular issue with accessing financial information through the system and paying invoices

·         A motion was put forward to defer consideration of the report until the next meeting pending the receipt of further information about the errors made. In response it was commented that It was unnecessary to defer consideration but a further report should be brought to the next meeting on the basis that the Committee would wish to receive a summary details including categorisation of any under/overpayments since go live; the number and type of wider issues (including complaints) raised by Council and School employees to understand the proportionality of the issues experienced; and a copy of the audit report provided to the external auditor.

RESOLVED that

a)    the governance arrangements associated with the HR/Finance systems implementation be noted; and

b)    a further report be brought to the Committee meeting on 26 July 2018 including:

•       summary details including categorisation of any under/overpayments since go live;

•       the number and type of wider issues (including complaints) raised by Council and School employees to understand the proportionality of the issues experienced, and

•       a copy of the audit report provided to the external auditor.