One city for all, 2023 to 2027

Improving customer experience will drive everything we do.

Our focus is the quality of life of York’s residents and businesses. How residents connect and engage with us and how they access the services we provide influences their experience of us. We will be open and responsive to feedback, and will listen to, and learn from, communities, building stronger partnerships.

Delivering the plan required financial stability. We have recognised these challenges and will take the decisions necessary to achieve this. It also requires additional investment and close working with strategic partners. Our workforce are critical to delivery, and we will continue to support and develop our employees, during what we know will be a challenging period, but one that will also provide opportunity for staff to achieve great things.

Key statistics

• 47 elected members.
• Council net revenue budget £141.6m 2023/24, £65m on Social Care.
• £533.3m capital spend forecast to 2027/28 2,602 contracts with local (YO postcode) suppliers.
• 3.7million visits to council website per annum.

Council workforce (data source: democracy.york.gov.uk, Workforce Profile Report 2022 to 23 Estimated Year-end):

• 2,149 (CYC staff only, excluding schools) Council workforce Full Time Equivalent (FTE).
• 16% staff turnover (CYC staff only, excluding schools).
• 7% ethnic minority group (7% residents) (where recorded).
• 7% disabled (17% residents) (where recorded).
• 30% aged 55 years and above (where recorded).
• 62% female (where recorded).
• 0.6% mean gender pay gap across council staff (March 2022).

What we will do

1. Financial Management: Ensure financial stability through a long-term financial strategy, that recognises the major unprecedented financial challenges, takes the difficult decisions needed, and ensures investment is focused upon priority areas.
2. Core Commitments: Embed the four Core Commitments into our decision making, policies and programmes of work.
3. Explore options for key strategic partnerships:
   1. Review options for the city’s historic infrastructure and capital maintenance liabilities such as the Museums, Art Gallery, Mansion House and other historic assets.
   2. Review arrangements with Make It York to promote the city’s destination management role (visitor offer) and city’s cultural offer, event and market management, including considering regional opportunities.
4. Attract additional investment:
   1. Use the Community Infrastructure Levy and S106 contributions, Combined Authority and government funding, to deliver the infrastructure and regeneration set out in the Local Plan, including maximising grant funding,
   2. Establish a York Community Fund, to encourage benefactors to invest in local projects.
5. Improve customer experience:
   1. Co-produce a Customer Strategy improving customer experience across operations.
   2. Develop different ways to engage people at a local and neighbourhood level.
   3. Focus partnership working in a locality model that responds to identified need.
6. Strengthen Regional Partnerships:
   1. Work closely with partners across the Health and Care Partnership, identifying opportunities for greater integration and improved efficiency.
   2. Work closely with the Combined Authority, and North Yorkshire Council to seek to maximise opportunities arising from devolution.
7. Strengthen local community partnerships:
   1. Listen and learn from community expertise and lived experience (including the York Poverty Truth Commission), listening to representative groups and forums when developing processes and policies and related Human Rights and Equality Analysis.
   2. Establish the York Access Standard, deliver the Access Action Plan to support and inform Planning and major project development.
   3. Implement the Social Model of Disability across the Council.
   4. Share how the council works in partnership with city leaders, business and partners.
   5. Refresh the 10-Year Plan to reflect the Four Core Commitments.
   6. Refresh our approach to human rights and equalities impact analysis.
   7. Explore the benefits of the Council as a Dementia Friendly Employer.
   8. Establish a Social Care Forum, giving voice to those who provide unpaid care and are experts through experience, ensuring they or their loved ones are supported.
   9. Value the contribution of our workforce: Refresh the Organisational Development Action Plan to continue the commitment to support our staff’s health and wellbeing, continued training and development, updating the workforce strategies and setting out our recruitment and retention approach.

Key performance indicators

Council delivery:

• Average Sickness Days per FTE - CYC (Excluding Schools) - (Rolling 12 Month).
• Customer Centre Average Speed of answer – Operators.
• % of 4Cs Complaints responded to ‘In Time’.
• FOI & EIR - % Requests responded to In time.
• £££ additional external funding achieved (by category, year on year).
• % of York residents reporting ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ experience with Council.
• % of York residents reporting ‘poor’ or ‘satisfactory with Council.