In-Depth Scrutiny on the Provision of a Payment Solution for Tower Laundries
North Lanarkshire Council · 18 May 2023
Back to Audit and Scrutiny Panel — 18 May 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Audit and Scrutiny Panel Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref SL/DS/JB Date 18/05/23 In-depth scrutiny on the Provision of a Payment Solution for Tower Laundries (NLC-CPT-21-083) From Stephen Llewellyn, Chief Officer (Housing Management) E-mail Llewellyns@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 01698 274192 1. Background The purpose of this laundry payment solution is to provide a more efficient payment method for tenants who use the 67 laundries across the 24 towers included within this programme of work. This was based on feedback from both members and residents that the current solution was restrictive for tenants and took no account of a tenant’s ability to access the payment facilities available within Libraries and First Stop Shops. The Council are limited by available providers for such payment solutions as the Electrolux system is only compatible with the payment system provided by Electrolux due to the complexity of the software provided within the platform. After review of solutions available from Electrolux the current contract was procured and awarded. 2. Report 2.1 Contract mobilisation commenced in February 2022. Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to respond to the Audit and Scrutiny Panels request for additional information in respect of the Provision of a Payment Solution for Tower Laundries with Electrolux Professional Services. Recommendations It is recommended that the Audit and Scrutiny panel note the contents of this report. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (12) Ensure our residents are able to achieve, maintain, and recover their independence through appropriate supports at home and in their communities
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Site surveys in all locations were conducted in April/May 2022. This highlighted there was the requirement for electrical work to be carried out in some locations for which the appropriate work orders were issued. In addition to electrical work there was also a need for broadband connection to 9 of the towers, this work was passed to the Councils Infrastructure team to arrange for Virgin Media installation. Prior to installation of the hardware, residents were lettered, and information sessions were held by the Tenant Participation team. Twelve sessions covering morning, afternoon and evening were set up and the sessions were well attended. The new payment units were delivered in July and installed throughout August. 2.2 There were delays with installation of broadband due to Virgin Media’s ordering process and issues gaining access to the sites. The ordering process is lengthy and complex at Virgin Media who also deal with BT on the Councils behalf which added to the delays experienced. These delays were also partly due to a post covid backlog of work for the supplier. 2.3 Prior to the units being commissioned a contract was required to be signed with the finance solution provider Nayax. Whilst this contract was being reviewed concerns were raised by Legal and Democratic services regarding the third party clearing agreement (Nayax) and the onboarding process. This resulted in dialogue over a number of months with final agreement reached in March 2023, with final paperwork currently being concluded. The new card system will not be fully operational until all units have been commissioned and a plan established to remove the free vend. It is now projected that the implementation date will be mid August 2023. 2.4 An operational decision following member and tenant enquiries during the Covid pandemic and lockdown resulted in the laundry machines being switched to free vend. This decision required to be made as residents were advised not to travel, libraries were closed and First Stop Shops were only opened for essential business. 2.5 During the transition to the new solution there has been no additional contract costs and loss of use of facilities to the users. There has however been a loss in income received per annum amounting to £0.100m. 2.6 In terms of loss of income, the Council has experienced reducing income generation from laundries even prior to the Covid pandemic. From recovering nearly £0.120m in 2015/16 the recovery reduced to £0.095m in 2019/20. During 2020/21, only £0.017m was recovered given the Covid restrictions. For 21/22 and 22/23 no income was recovered. There is no mechanism to separately identify the cost of electricity used in the facilities. We can however separately identify the ongoing maintenance costs. The reference to a freeze in charges in budget monitoring reports is reflective of the continuation of free vend and the decision taken beyond covid restrictions whilst the business case and process for the new payment facility were being undertaken. It is accepted that the use of the word ‘freeze’ could cause confusion where ‘temporary removal of charges’ would have been more appropriate.
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The under-recovery amount is the difference between the budget for laundry income and the actual income received. See table below. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The solution will provide a more efficient convenient payment method using modern technology for tenants living within the multi storey towers within North Lanarkshire to charge their laundry fobs. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 No appendices Stephen Llewellyn Chief Officer (Housing Management) 5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Income Recovered (£) Budget (£) Difference (£) 2015/16 119,551 126,000 6,449 2016/17 119,546 126,000 6,454 2017/18 112,233 115,000 2,767 2018/19 102,858 105,000 2,142 2019/20 94,528 105,000 10,472 2020/21 17,071 105,000 87,929 2021/22 0 105,000 105,000 2022/23 0 105,000 105,000
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Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Costs will be met within the current HRA capital and revenue budgets. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Broadband and connectivity.
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Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.