cHALLENGE:

In 2023, Stockton launched their 'Powering our Future' (PoF) programme with the aim of delivering on the strategic objectives set out in the Corporate Plan and close their projected £9m financial gap. However, they were unclear as to which projects they should focus on to give them the greatest return-on-investment and meet the financial challenges ahead. They also lacked the infrastructure to deliver a programme of this size, complexity and ambition.​

IMPACT:

ICC provided support through two linked pieces of work: ​

• Programme Management Office (PMO) development: we worked with their newly established PMO team to set up fundamental components of their programme (i.e. governance, methodology) and run a 'readiness assessment' to help them identify the key things they needed to do to be confident of delivering PoF.​

• Scoping and prioritisation exercise: run collaboratively, this work involved a wide range of stakeholders across the organisation. Our approach involved capturing existing or planned initiatives, stretching these wherever possible and supplementing these with new ideas that would enable the Council to meet both their financial and strategic goals. ICC then ran prioritisation workshops with the Council to gauge ambition, complexity and conditions for success. This helped Stockton to identify the best blend of projects that could realistically be delivered and close the budget gap, whilst contributing to strategic goals in the Corporate Plan.​

Deliverables and benefits​:

Through close collaboration with Stockton colleagues, ICC supported the Council to:​

• Agree a prioritised portfolio of projects within eight weeks of our engagement and is now mobilising to prepare for delivery.​

• Achieve a much clearer understanding of the resourcing and budget requirements for PoF, now recruiting to several new delivery roles as a result.​

• Developed a long-list of new and 'stretch' initiatives that could save the Council in the region of £14m over three years.​ ​