Like many local authorities, St Helens Borough Council had to radically alter the way it operated as an organisation within a matter of days when the first lockdown was announced. Unlike most, it's not going back to 'normal'.Introducing almost wholesale homeworking at an old-fashioned council - dubbed traditional and resistant to change by a 2019 LGA peer review - was no mean feat. It had only recently begun the arduous task of replacing outdated IT systems and processes and agile working seemed a world away.But having made the shift, explains assistant chief executive Rob Huntington, the leadership team asked themselves: why go back?The borough needs a modern, agile council to help it drive regeneration and economic growth, develop a more empowering and enabling relationship with communities and businesses and, ultimately, reverse widening inequality.
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