There is an increasing demand on public sector organisations to work together with neighbouring authorities and stakeholders to improve performance.
But it is difficult to share best practice and benchmark performance across organisations when each one works differently and there’s no common technology platform.
In addition, the burden of upward reporting – in the time and cost spent collecting data - is increased if there is no shared platform or automated process for reporting to central government.
First truly national framework
SunGard Public Sector has set up the Housing Benefit National Performance Management Framework (HB-NPMF) as the first truly national infrastructure for performance and information management that links local and central government.
Initially, it has been set up to establish a performance management framework for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit departments in all local authorities across the UK. As well as improving performance in the administration of benefits the framework also substantially reduces the burden of upward reporting to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Outside of housing benefits the same shared-service model can be used to link any organisation locally, regionally and nationally.
HB-NPMF features include:
- National online collaboration
- National benchmarking
- Strategic priority management
- Local priority management
- Input, output and outcome measures
- Best Value Performance Indicators
- Targets and clear accountabilities
- Cascades to personal performance plans
- Reports and dashboards at every level
- DWP performance standards
- National knowledge sharing
- Risk management
- National online support
- Computer-based training
- Performance improvement tools
- Initiative management
What the HB-NPMF delivers to local authorities
- A shared set of local priorities, indicators and stretch targets developed by stakeholders themselves, not central government
- A shared management review and business planning process that makes performance gaps visible to the right people, increases accountability and presents improvement opportunities based on monthly benchmarks obtained from similar stakeholders
- A shared system for depositing and sharing knowledge, leading operational practices and collaborating on common issues and resolutions
- A shared tool for stakeholders to identify, qualify, initiate and track improvement initiatives and their associated impact
What the HB-NPMF delivers to central government (DWP)
- The provision of a gateway for timely, transparent and robust monitoring that provides all stakeholders with access to information
- A common and secure platform, provided on the most economical basis for all stakeholders, to increase accountability and enable collaborative working to achieve targeted outcomes
- A central data warehouse containing information reviewed and approved by every local authority and released for central use on a monthly basis. This includes contextual data, local indicators and national indicators
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