Agenda item

To provide an overview of the work of the Stabilisation Board in addressing the issues with Unit4 / MySurrey. A summary of progress to date, key areas of activity, planned activity and the model which governs the work will be discussed.

Speakers:

Liz Mills, Strategic Director - Customer Service Transformation

Karen Telfer, Portfolio Lead - Unit 4 Stabilisation Programme

Andy Brown, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director - Resources

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Strategic Director - Customer Service Transformation noted that the report provided an update on the work underway and on the progress made regarding the audit recommendations made over the last year. Good progress was demonstrated in line with the stabilisation plan, going forward at the end of March there would be a move from the stabilisation phase to an optimisation phase.

2.    A Committee member highlighted that he had seen a version of the report prior to the Committee in his role as a Vice-Chairman of the Resources and Performance Select Committee.

3.    A Committee member noted that it looked like most of the problems were resolved, she commended officers for their hard work.

4.    The Chairman queried how things were progressing in response to the Internal Audit findings. The Portfolio Lead - Unit 4 Stabilisation Programme referred to the target completion dates set out in Annex 2 for the audit actions. A few Internal Audit reports had noted Substantial Assurance compared to the Partial Assurance received previously and number of other items had been completed, awaiting a follow-up audit.

5.    A Committee member referred to the cover report which noted that there were no direct financial implications arising from the report, he asked whether the financial impact of the remediation activity had been quantified. The Strategic Director - Customer Service Transformation confirmed that over time, the Council had invested additional sums on remediation and to ensure that the teams were resourced to carry out that activity for example needing to have technical expertise. That cost was managed through in-year budget management, making efficiencies elsewhere, the optimisation phase looked to yield the benefits.

6.    A Committee member referred to the 41 tickets outstanding with Unit 4 as of 17 December 2024 and three had been open for over a year, he asked whether the processes to deal with those were all listed in the annex. The Portfolio Lead - Unit 4 Stabilisation Programme explained that those were not necessarily listed in the annex, but were referred to in the report, for example there were twice weekly meetings with Unit 4 to review those items and monitor progress, and there were monthly meetings with Unit 4 to hold them to account.

7.    The Strategic Director - Customer Service Transformation clarified that progress had been made on those three tickets, the Council was focused on strengthening accountability arrangements with the provider, of those three long-standing tickets there was now one ticket remaining. Regarding the 41 tickets, Unit 4 awaited broader upgrades of the system to resolve those, the Council was driving Unit 4 to provide updates and fixes as necessary in the meantime.

8.    The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources noted the huge amount of work underway on stabilisation and the strong governance in place, the Council was holding Unit 4 to account. He noted that a lot of work was done on the contract management side on what the Council could have expected Unit 4 to deliver and what the Council should be paying for, the foundations were being fixed. There was a lot of work to be done in the move to the optimisation phase and the costs attached to that were included in the budget.

9.    A Committee member noted that the Resources and Performance Select Committee had picked up the issue of the three tickets being outstanding for over a year. He provided an offer of support to officers on whether there was anything that the Committee could do to help officers in interacting with Unit 4.

10.  A Committee member asked how many people were paid through Unit 4 in Surrey. The Portfolio Lead - Unit 4 Stabilisation Programme noted that it was between 18,000 and 20,000 people.

11.  The Chairman referred to corporate payroll, noting that the reconciliation with general ledger was outstanding, that was a fundamental system and he asked whether that would be completed by the end of January. The Strategic Director - Customer Service Transformation noted that the Council was pushing hard on resolving that. The Portfolio Lead - Unit 4 Stabilisation Programme confirmed that it was targeted for completion by 31 January 2025.

12.  A Committee member referred to the aim of having a stable system environment, he asked what that would look like and how that was defined. The Strategic Director - Customer Service Transformation noted that the focus was the core functionality of the system: payroll, pensions, finance, and procurement; and to have the governance and policies and procedures in place to make sure the operation of the system supports organisational delivery, escalating issues when those arise. One exception was that a release of an upgrade from Unit 4 was pending, that would be in a test environment in March and would not go live until May or June once those tests were completed, those areas being addressed in the upgrade were not issues of high risk or impact but were important.

13.  The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director - Resources explained that core functionality concerned paying staff and suppliers correctly, when the system went live it was not doing that, there was a backlog issue to resolve and resources in place to address the issues. Eighteen months after the go live, staff and suppliers were being paid correctly and errors had been minimised via the monthly payroll process. There were more core functionality components implemented that needed to be improved through the stabilisation and optimisation phases. He noted that the minutes of this meeting would be shared with Unit 4 and would prompt them to reflect on their performance. The Council seeks to move forward into the optimisation phase, to realise the benefits predicated from its implementation, those benefits were yet to be delivered due to the resources invested and wraparounds and manual processes.

14.  A Committee member noted that given that the Council had a system without core functionality, he asked what claw backs were in place in the contract to seek remediation from Unit 4. The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director - Resources noted that the Council signed off the system as a go live product, work was underway on the matter. The Strategic Director - Customer Service Transformation noted that a review had been conducted to ensure a clear understanding of the technical delivery and performance measures in line with the contract, the contract management meetings picked that up.

15.  A Committee member noted the move to the optimisation phase and requested a report on that to be added to the Committee’s Work Plan, the Chairman agreed.

RESOLVED:

The Audit and Governance Committee noted the content of the Unit4/MySurrey Stabilisation Board Report.

Actions/further information to be provided:

1.    A3/25 - A report on the Unit4/MySurrey Optimisation Phase will be added to the Committee’s Work Plan.