Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

The population in the UK is getting older with 18% aged over 65 and 2.4% aged 85 and over; with this places increasing pressure on many local authorities to support those who may not be able to do things that they once could i.e. in this context a simple task such taking their bin out.

Equally, the most vulnerable members of our society may not be able to complete such tasks due to failing health or an interim or longer term disability.

Currently in order to register an interest for an assisted bin collection within Barnsley, you need to complete an application form and have this verified by a health professional placing additional strain on the health service and indeed the customer; this is something we wish to eradicate through an holistic application process.
We are keen to explore joining up the application process for a Blue Badge Disabled Parking Permit with the request for an assisted bin collection service owing to the fact that much of the information to assess if an assisted bin collection is needed will be already be on the Blue Badge Disabled Parking application; thus negating the need for vulnerable members of our communities to complete unnecessary application forms.

It also provides a real opportunity to focus on the customer needs at initial point of contact and provide almost a “prescription of services” linked to personal circumstance – it becomes much more about the person than the process.

Using co-design and service design techniques we propose to document existing process, existing pain points and opportunities for improvement. Additionally, we propose to consider what other available services could be serviced through one application to truly open up the discovery of this work. Once mapped we will then consider whether there are opportunities for existing processes to be streamlined.

To complete the service design process we will establish a Service Design Team which will consist of a mix of service users, staff members and other key stakeholders (hopefully including DfT).

We will then provide facilitative support to undertake a series of Sprints to first capture existing processes and then develop opportunities for service improvement.