The Wokingham Borough Council Service Improvement Plan
Ryan Smith, Highways Lead, Founds Group
Local authorities across the UK are facing a familiar challenge: how to deliver better services with fewer resources, while maintaining strong governance and public trust. Against this backdrop, Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) has piloted a fresh approach to highways service delivery that demonstrates the power of collaboration, data and cultural change.
The Wokingham Service Improvement Plan (SIP) is more than an operational efficiency drive. It is a bold intervention that brought together client, contractor and independent advisors to reset behaviours, modernise processes and build a stronger, more resilient highways service. Crucially, it created a transparent evidence base to determine whether the existing Highways Term Maintenance Contract should be extended, ensuring Members and senior officers could make an informed, accountable decision.
Why a Service Improvement Plan?
Ordinarily, a three-year contract extension would have been judged against traditional KPIs. But WBC recognised that the data was not robust enough to stand alone as the basis for such a significant decision. Rather than revert automatically to re-procurement, WBC, Volker Highways (VHL) and Founds Group (FG) co-designed the SIP: a short, targeted programme to measure whether immediate, demonstrable improvements could be achieved.
This approach offered dual benefits. First, it provided objective evidence to validate whether an extension was merited. Second, it allowed WBC to relieve pressure on procurement teams who were simultaneously re-tendering other critical contracts in Waste and Parking Services.
Collaboration as the Catalyst
The SIP placed people at its heart. Years of embedded ways of working can create invisible barriers to progress, so the programme began with open staff workshops, underpinned by a Contract Maturity Assessment survey. Independent facilitation created a “safe space” for honest reflection, while also surfacing issues that might otherwise remain hidden.
Six shared aims were agreed, ranging from improving responsiveness to strengthening governance. These were channelled into five practical workstreams—covering culture, systems, commercial alignment, customer experience, and performance. Each was co-owned by WBC, VHL, and FG, reinforcing the principle of shared responsibility.
The result was a genuine partnership model: quarterly staff forums to share updates and gather ideas, co-location of key roles to foster joint problem-solving, and a Strategic Partnership Board to oversee delivery. End-to-end process mapping reduced duplication and embedded efficiency, while shared digital dashboards provided a transparent view of performance accessible to all.
Measurable Change, Real Impact
The SIP was not an exercise in long-term transformation. It was designed to deliver visible, measurable change within three months – enough to test whether improvement was possible. The results speak for themselves:
- Operational efficiency – Defect response times improved, supported by new asset management policies and streamlined approval processes.
- Customer experience – Complaints were reduced through clearer contact scripts, tracking tools, and an expanded Public Liaison Officer role.
- Cultural improvement – Staff engagement scores and Relationship Trust Index results rose sharply, reflecting improved trust, collaboration, and morale.
- Commercial value – Process alignment delivered resource efficiencies and freed capacity for higher-value tasks.
For Wokingham residents, the benefit was clear: faster, “right-first time” repairs, more consistent communication, and a service that feels responsive to community needs.
A Blueprint for the Sector
Perhaps the most powerful outcome of the SIP is its transferability. By documenting workstreams, governance, and results, WBC has created a framework that can be applied by any authority facing the extension-versus-re-procurement decision.
The model provides a structured way to test improvement potential quickly and objectively, using independent facilitation, measurable metrics, and shared ownership. In a climate where local authorities must balance service quality with procurement priorities, this approach offers a pragmatic path forward.
Moreover, the SIP aligns neatly with sector-wide imperatives: efficiency, digital transformation, customer focus, and collaborative governance. By proving that meaningful change can be achieved within existing contract structures, WBC has opened the door to new thinking about partnership-based delivery.
Looking Ahead
The SIP is not a one-off intervention; it has become the foundation for continuous improvement. Future ambitions include greater use of digital monitoring tools, closer alignment with neighbouring authorities, and exploring joint procurement opportunities.
For highways authorities across the UK, the message is clear: transformation does not always require tearing up the rulebook. By investing in collaboration, culture, and data, authorities can unlock significant value from existing contracts, strengthen partnerships, and deliver better outcomes for residents.
The Wokingham SIP stands as a case study in what is possible when public and private partners embrace transparency, shared accountability, and a common vision. It demonstrates that even in the final years of a contract, services can be reinvigorated, relationships can be reset, and communities can reap the benefits.
👉 Key Takeaway: The Wokingham SIP proves that highways contracts don’t have to stagnate over time. With the right focus on collaboration, data, and culture, local authorities can turn existing arrangements into engines of improvement -building resilience, trust and value for the future.