Issue - meetings

Surrey County Council (SCC) is responsible for appointing coroners and for meeting all the costs of the Surrey Coroner Service. Coroner’s Officers are in many respects, the mainstay of the administration of the coronial system and a primary link between the ‘system’ and the bereaved. These roles have historically been provided and funded by Surrey Police (SyPol), but are not core policing roles and the current division of accountability does not sit well with a modern Coroner’s Service. 

Since September 2016 discussions have been ongoing with SyPol with a view to creating a single unified support service to the Surrey Coroner Service. This includes investment in a new case management system and transferring the employment of 15 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) coroner’s office staff to SCC with a target date for implementation of the 1 April 2018. The arrangements will be underpinned by formally setting out each party’s expectations of, and obligation to the others in a mutual Service Level Agreement (SLA) or SLAs.

As part of these discussions a five year phased withdrawal of funding has been proposed whereby SyPol continues to meet the full costs of the staff transferring in Year 1 (2018-19) then reducing by 20% a year to the point where SCC meets the full cost in Year 6 (2023-24). The cumulative MTFP pressure over the five years is £1.26m.

[The decisions on this item are subject to call in by the Communities Select Committee]

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet agreed:

1.     to the proposed transfer of staff and noted the associated  MTFP pressures that will commence in 2019-20; and

2.     that Surrey County Council would agree and document future service levels and mutual obligations in a Service Level Agreement or mutual Agreements with Surrey Police and the Senior Coroner.

Reasons for decisions

This transfer will provide a single source of support to the Surrey Coroner recognising SCC’s role in supporting the Coroner Service and the nature of the role of Coroner’s Officer. 

Defining the services that each of the three parties can expect of each other will provide the Coroner with clarity about future support arrangements and ensures transparency of the use of public funds

There is clear evidence from those areas where a transfer has been undertaken that the service runs more efficiently where just one agency has overall responsibility for providing the Coroner with a comprehensive support package and ultimately can lead to improvements to the experience of bereaved residents in line with SCC’s corporate Resident Experience priority.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Communities Select Committee]

The report was introduced by Ms Denise Turner-Stewart who asked Cabinet to agree proposals to transfer staff working for the Coroner’s Office but employed by Surrey Police over to the employment of SCC to agree funding for a case management system. Funding responsibilities would be phased over the of five years in order to mitigate the immediate impact on SCC’s budget. The Cabinet Member stated that SCC was responsible for funding the Coroner’s Service in the County but highlighted that for some years Surrey Police had accepted responsibility for financing some Coroner’s Office staff. They were, however, under no statutory obligation to do so and, given that it was not a core policing role, negotiations had taken place about bringing these staff into the Council’s employment. Ms Turner-Stewart emphasised that bringing all staff under a single employer would help to create a more transparent cohesive and efficient Coroner’s Service.

The Cabinet Member for Property and Business Services expressed his support for the proposal. He suggested that the change could provide an opportunity to reflect on how the Coroner’s Service operates in order to embed improvements and drive out efficiencies.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet agreed:

1.    to the proposed transfer of staff and noted the associated  MTFP pressures that will commence in 2019-20; and

2.    that Surrey County Council would agree and document future service levels and mutual obligations in a Service Level Agreement or mutual Agreements with Surrey Police and the Senior Coroner.

Reasons for decisions

This transfer will provide a single source of support to the Surrey Coroner recognising SCC’s role in supporting the Coroner Service and the nature of the role of Coroner’s Officer. 

Defining the services that each of the three parties can expect of each other will provide the Coroner with clarity about future support arrangements and ensures transparency of the use of public funds

There is clear evidence from those areas where a transfer has been undertaken that the service runs more efficiently where just one agency has overall responsibility for providing the Coroner with a comprehensive support package and ultimately can lead to improvements to the experience of bereaved residents in line with SCC’s corporate Resident Experience priority.