The Insolvency Service annual plan 2018 to 2019
The plan sets out our targets and priorities, which will inform all of our performance objectives for the year 2018 to 2019
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As this plan is published, we are handling the largest and most complex insolvency in the agency’s history.
Through its sheer size and scope, Carillion is touching all corners of the agency, from the official receiver, through to our redundancy payments service and across our enquiry lines.
Pausing briefly to reflect on our high-profile work, I am immensely proud of how we have pulled together as one service, delivering swift and high-quality products for both our customers and our wider public stakeholders.
It is, of course, our people who have made this possible; not just those involved with our high-profile obligations, but also those who are delivering our core responsibilities; work that is paramount in supporting our purpose: to deliver economic confi dence.
The impact of Carillion’s insolvency on the agency’s resources is significant, especially whilst we are also delivering a comprehensive change portfolio right across our services. I have every confidence that we will prevail over the challenges that we face, not least because of our highly skilled, professional and diligent workforce; a workforce I am incredibly proud to lead.
Last year saw further improvements to our civil service people survey scores, with increases across most themes, including overall staff engagement. This was particularly pleasing to see when considered alongside the upheaval that change inevitably brings. Such increases would not have been achieved without the hard work and dedication of our engagement champions and the real commitment we have to delivering our services. This year, we will continue to build on those improvements and target top quartile ‘high performer’ survey scores by continuing to nurture our talent, developing our pay and reward offering and empowering our workforce by further embracing continuous improvement.
The agency works in a complex and occasionally volatile sector. The services we provide are demand-led and, therefore, particularly hard to predict. In recent years, this has made financial forecasting and efficient resourcing more difficult; however, our portfolio of change is designed to deliver a new, more efficient and flexible operating model, with our future financial stability, enhanced value for public money and better quality services at its core. Our portfolio is now well underway as we enter the second year of our five-year programme. This year, we will implement several key infrastructure changes, including greatly improved financial and case management systems and more synergised services. Our change portfolio is driving us towards becoming truly ‘one service’, and during my biannual round of engagement visits, which sees me touring the country to engage with staff in all of our locations, I really feel the agency is becoming just that: one service, greater than the sum of its parts.
Such ambitious changes could have the ability to impact our performance; however, it is testament to the resilience of the agency that, in this plan, we are committed to targeting either the same or improved levels of performance. I have no doubt that such expectations will remain stretching for the agency, especially as we continue to work on our high-profile cases and deliver our change activities, alongside maintaining our core duties. We have recently appointed three new non-executive board members, and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome them. Mary Chapman, William Trower Q.C. and Richard Oirschot have joined us following a rigorous recruitment process and I know the agency will benefit from the challenge, knowledge and experience that they bring to our strategic leadership team.
Once again, we have set ourselves ambitious objectives this year, but I have no doubt that we will achieve them with professionalism and enthusiasm. I look forward to the year ahead with eager anticipation, as we pursue even better services for our customers and stakeholders.