Worcester City Council identified the opportunity to assess its Community Service provision and define the most sustainable future delivery model for Worcester.

Worcester City Council wanted to review its Community Services delivery model, where services were delivered by a local charitable trust, in the context of their council’s City Plan and strategic direction of travel to evaluate whether community service provision delivered in its current form was meeting local community need.

We used our Construct™ methodology to review the current model and assess whether a new delivery model was required and what future options for service delivery were available to the council.

We took an inclusive approach, consulting a wide range of stakeholders including members, council officers, community trust officers and trustees through a combination of site visits, meetings, and observations.

We visited community services sites, during which a number of further stakeholders were consulted, including service users who provided context to the ‘as is’ delivery model and allowed us to see facilities in use by community groups and services being delivered by the community trust.

Following our analysis of the current model and its suitability for future service delivery, a final report and a range of alternative community service delivery models were developed for the council’s consideration. Our options appraisal identified a number of alternative models for delivery, assessing the risk, potential benefits and dis-benefits of each model in line with the council’s City Plan and strategic direction of travel.

Based on the evidence we gathered, we recommended the most sustainable future service model and method of delivering services to maximise benefit both for the community and the council’s assets.

Following our recommendation, we provided the council with next steps to achieve our proposed model, outlining the steps required to support the trust to develop a mixed funding model of commissioned service, social enterprise, grant funding and other charitable donations.