A new project team for Sutton Borough Council signalled the chance to address the issue of multiple directories for statutory information. What followed was an exploration of best practices from other boroughs, and a whole lot of stakeholder engagement which would pave the way for a local centralised directory.
We spoke to Shona Harris - Commissioning Lead for Health, Prevention and Wellbeing, Charlotte Perry - Commissioning Manager for the Sutton Information Hub and Tricia East - Digital and IT Business Partner, to revisit the process that brought them to a new digital community asset.
The challenge of managing multiple information points #
When we first started exploring the idea of Sutton Information Hub, our aim was to create a single directory for birth to end of life that was easy for residents and professionals to access and explore.
As a local authority, we have to provide a Local Offer for children and families with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), a Care Leaver Local Offer, and also the Family Information Service (FIS). That information has to be provided in an online format which residents can search.
We had different statutory information hosted on one website, with others duplicated on the council website. When reaching the right resource, people weren’t able to search very easily. For instance if you were to search for the SEND local offer on the council website, it searched the whole council website, and you couldn't filter the results, which didn’t meet our users’ needs.
We wanted to get to the point where residents could access that information without having to look through multiple directories or scan through lots of less relevant information to find what they needed.
Exploring a new way to present information #
In 2018/19 a newly-formed project team began reviewing data and legislation, and drew the conclusion that if we had a more streamlined centralised directory of information and advice, it would help create a better experience for residents. Everyone would be able to rely on a single trusted place to go to.
Alongside internal discussions with other council teams who would have a stake in the directory, we started holding big community events to map out what information and advice was there already. What we found was a very asset-rich community, and all the more reason to create something that could capture all that was going on in the Sutton Community, to also support those residents who weren’t looking specifically for statutory local offers.
Finding the right provider #
With all the research we’d gathered, we found that there was a range of things we needed a platform to be able to do, including to be flexible and continue to grow and serve our residents effectively. From there, we went through market testing and procurement.
The use of OpenSource technology and the proven experience in creating something similar for another local authority provided us the confidence that Ayup Digital would be able to meet our demands.
Once Ayup Digital were onboard, they met with lots of the internal stakeholders and partners, building trust with different parts of the council and community, so everyone who needed to remain informed was kept in the loop. It was a continuous process that was very clear, with co-production workshops that allowed everyone to shape what Sutton Information Hub looked like.
Welcoming a centralised hub of information #
The result was The Sutton Information Hub, a centralised hub of information where residents could easily find not only statutory information, but discover other community services and events which could support them in their everyday wellbeing.
The platform has the look and feel of the local area, and is powered by the collaborative efforts of Sutton Council and local service providers, to create a more positive and simplified user journey for residents.
The landing pages played a big part in making statutory information like SEND local offers more visible and easy to find through a simple search. But they also allow us to curate lists around a specific area, such as food poverty. This means residents can go onto the website and find the information they were looking for easily, but also discover something new.
They can also access information in a completely different way; putting in their own postcode to see how far it is, and other filters, rather than just looking at a list of service providers.
Saving time and money with in-built features #
We’ve found the translator function to be really valuable, as we can see on our analytics all the different languages it’s being used for in the area.
Giving service providers the option to update and maintain their own information is really important, while the automated reminders to update information saves us a lot of time if we were to do this manually. This quality of information has a huge impact, because it creates greater trust for residents, and we have the ability to check and approve services to ensure they’re legitimate before they're published on the Hub.
This streamlined process gives us more time to focus on new areas of development in the provision of information to residents, and really prioritise the user and how they find what they’re looking for to improve their lives.
This quality of information has a huge impact, because it creates greater trust for residents
Looking to the future #
Because of the flexibility Sutton Information Hub offers, it can grow with the needs of our residents. We’d like to work with other partners in the future, with Sutton Information Hub acting as a digital front door for a wider provision of services. For example, we’re just looking at a broader project to incorporate information for custodial leavers and a resettlement scheme in the Hub.
Beyond what we do at Sutton, it’s really valuable to us to collaborate with other local boroughs to share ideas, best practices and prioritise new developments, which is something we are able to do regularly within the Ayup Community.
Contributors
Ayup Digital would like to thank Sutton Borough Council and our contributors to this article:
- Shona Harris - Commissioning Lead for Health, prevention and wellbeing
- Charlotte Perry - Commissioning Manager for the Sutton Information Hub within Health Prevention and Wellbeing.
- Tricia East - Digital and IT business partner.