How a consortium of local authorities achieved significant efficiencies as a result of a two-year joint training project.

The Client
A consortium of eight authorities. The eight authorities in question covered a wide geographical area, as well as having disparate organisational structures and working practises.

The Challenge
To take advantage of the economies possible through joint training while maintaining stable service levels.

Attracting Resources
To meet the cost of the project, ESP bid for £260,000 (over two years) DWP funding on behalf of the Consortium. This contributed two thirds of the cost of this project.

ESP Solution

Stage One

ESP recommended that 200 staff undertake a web-based training needs assessment (TNA) (click here for more information on ESP’s web-based TNA) to identify the knowledge deficit. A nominated member of staff at each authority was trained to administer the system and within two months a report combining the results from each was produced. Below is one example of the results of the training analysis.

Stage Two

ESP provided a targeted training resource, focusing on the lowest achieving topics and also those areas where lack of staff knowledge was impacting financially on the authorities and their public.

Stage Three

Following the first raft of courses the participants undertook a re-sit TNA and a comparison made between the pre and post training results. Supplementary training approaches were adopted to address the residual areas where there was a continued training need.

Added Value to Client
An average 11% improvement in staff competency was achieved, leading directly to higher productivity across the consortium.