Aberdeen City Council launches new framework to meet the needs of Aberdeen citizens

Councillors have launched an ambitious new framework to transform the operating model of Aberdeen City Council.

The framework aims to address the growing challenges of the council. A new target operating model aims to create a customer-focused structure and a series of digital platforms that will change the way the organisation currently works.

The framework will remove the existing directorates of Education and Children’s Services, Communities, Housing and Infrastructure, the Office of Chief Executive and Corporate Governance, and these will be replaced by the functions of Customer, Commissioning, Delivery and Resource. This will enable the workforce to be organised in fewer management layers and will be less static in relation to specific roles or services.

Angela Scott, council chief executive, said: “Over the last 12 months, we have repeatedly stressed the need for this organisation to change in order to meet the many challenges we face. While there are many challenges, there are also many opportunities to embrace a modern way of working and to focus on outcomes that meet the needs of our customers as well as the wider economic region.

“Our duty as public servants is to ensure we can protect the people and place of Aberdeen from harm and to enable people to prosper. We need to change in order to continue to do this.

“This new framework is the first milestone on our journey of transformation and sets out a vision which we will now strive to achieve. This new operating model will ensure that our customers receive the right support, at the right time, in the right place through one single function. It will remove time consuming working practices thereby releasing time for our staff to care for our customers. And it will ensure the financial sustainability of the council.

“Services will be commissioned in a more formal way ensuring transparency of the outcomes we are seeking to contribute to, thereby ensuring the city council’s contribution to the Community Planning Partnership Local Outcome Improvement Plan.”