Following Cabinet approval of the Council’s new transformation governance structure, we are taking stock of transformation activity across the Council to establish the starting point for the corporate transformation portfolio and pipeline.

The Council’s agreed definition is: “Transformation is deliberate, coordinated change to services, systems, operating models and ways of working that creates value for residents and communities.” For this stocktake, include work that makes a material change to what a service delivers or how it operates, requires coordinated change across people, process, technology, data, partners or resources, and is sufficiently significant to require active governance and oversight.

Continuous improvement is the routine, incremental improvement of an existing service or process through normal service management. It should not normally be submitted as a separate transformation initiative. However, include an improvement programme where the combined scale, complexity, investment, risk or cross-service impact means that it needs coordinated governance and corporate visibility. If uncertain, include it and explain the nature and scale of the change. Transformation and Digital will classify it consistently during consolidation.

The return will inform what is formally considered for adoption into the corporate transformation portfolio and pipeline. Significant work that is not identified through the stocktake, or subsequently brought through the agreed portfolio-entry process, will not have been formally adopted into the corporate portfolio. It may therefore be operating outside the agreed corporate governance arrangements and should not assume access to central transformation support or capacity. Please err on the side of including material work where there is uncertainty.

The stocktake covers significant work already under way and work likely to come forward over the next 6–12 months. This includes service-led activity as well as work already receiving corporate support. We are seeking a reliable corporate-level picture, not every small local improvement.

Alongside establishing the portfolio and pipeline, the stocktake will help us understand the capacity and capability available to deliver this work, where different initiatives are competing for the same specialist resources, and where additional support, training, mentoring or other development may be needed. This will allow the Council to compare the scale and timing of its transformation ambition with its realistic ability to deliver it.

Each Head of Service should coordinate one return for their portfolio, drawing on Group Managers and delivery leads as needed. Brief answers and existing information are sufficient. Approximate dates and financial bands are acceptable where precise information is not readily available.

Please complete the return by 22 October 2026. Transformation and Digital will reconcile the responses with information already held, resolve material gaps or overlaps, and prepare the initial portfolio, pipeline, financial, risk and capacity views for the new governance arrangements.

A practical test: transformation or continuous improvement?