University of East London - Placements shared service

Background

Tribal has been appointed by the University of East London (UEL) to develop and oversee a flagship project to manage a placements shared service for Allied Health Profession (AHP) students from ten universities (HEIs) across London and the South-East. The project was commissioned by NHS London.
Existing approaches to managing placements across the different AHPs within the HEI's were ad-hoc and adapted over many years and required considerable administrative input from academic staff.  Furthermore, placement providers were required to respond repeatedly to requests from multiple universities in varying formats.  A new solution was needed to address inefficiencies and promote a networked system between the different AHPs and HEI's.
The solution 
The project will see the development of a database to maintain details of placement providers and students seeking placements. The database will include placement options for students across seven Allied Health disciplines, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and podiatry. A corresponding software application will be developed to enable intelligent matching suggestions of students to placements across hospitals, GP practices and community practices. Tribal will work with representatives from each discipline to ensure that all discipline-specific requirements, as well as the generic system capabilities, are captured.
Following the system's go live in early 2011, Tribal will provide an administration service to support practice placement organisation for students, working in partnership with the placement providers and the university co-ordinators.
 
The solution is designed to be completely extensible so that additional courses can or HEIs can be added to the consortium.

“We have chosen Tribal to oversee this project because they have the in-depth expertise to tackle what is a very complex brief. The database will make the organisation of students’ placements much more efficient for the academics within the universities, the placement providers, and the students themselves. By centralising details of students at all these universities and contacts at placement providers, the system will allow universities and students greater choice and flexibility in their choice of placement, and will take an administrative burden off the shoulders of academics.”

Jacqui Potter, Principal Lecturer in Professional Health Sciences at the University of East London and project champion.

Cloud and Shared Service Solutions

An event for IT and strategic decision-makers in HE to discuss how to create a level playing field for business and environmental optimisation. This workshop was held at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, London, on Monday 12th December 2011.

Overview

This workshop aimed to give IT and strategic decision-makers in HE a chance to find out more about the potential advantages and disadvantages of cloud and shared services, and the opportunity to reflect on the key factors that are likely to influence decisions in this area
The workshop was been jointly organised by two JISC-funded projects: Responsible Energy Costs led by the Forum for the Future, and Green IT for Science led by the University of Bradford.

Full details: http://storify.com/eventamplifier/cloud-and-shared-service-solutions

Have shared services reached the tipping point?

Three significant factors may have pushed public sector shared services into real viability?

Over the next 12 months we will be able to judge whether 2011 was the 'tipping point' year for public sector shared services. If it is, then three significant factors will have contributed to it.

First, the publication of the shared services map by the Local Government Association. It shows that 219 councils areengaged in 143 partnerships and evidenced that more than 80 of them are up and running, and have made cashable savings of over £80m to date.

This case study of public sector success was added to by the Universities UK report, Efficiency and effectiveness in higher education, which gives examples of over £100m cashable savings in shared service projects over the past five years. For many this evidence of success and 'banked savings' has been the missing element which has heldsome bodies back from exploring partnership working as an option.

The second event was that shared service project management became a profession. During the year more than 400 leaders and senior managers in local government, fire, police, higher education and further education stepped onto the shared service architect's programme, the first module in the postgraduate certificate in shared services at Canterbury Christ Church University. Those who complete the programme can request to be recognised as shared service practitioners. A number of those have gone on to undertake the full, six-month, postgraduate certificate and will become recognised as shared service architects.

Sir Merrick Cockell, LGA chair and leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, presented the first postgraduate cohort with their graduation certificates in July. Talking to the group, Cockell stressed the importance of training and developing the shared service skills and knowledge of both members and senior managers so that they can deliver the benefits of shared service activity effectively and rapidly. In December, the second cohort received their certificates from Baroness Hanham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Baroness Hanham echoedCockell, emphasising that shared services can be complex to develop and deliver, and that building public sector shared service skills and knowledge is very important to the success, and rapid delivery, of partnership projects.

The third change has been the announcement by the chancellor in his autumn statement that the government will introduce a VAT exemption for shared services, between organisations in further and higher Education and charities. The inability of these sectors to reclaim VAT on partnership activity has been perceived as a major stumbling block. The chancellor's statement came on the back of more than £16m in partnership seed-corn grants being released into partnership projects during the year by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Association of Colleges, the 157 Group and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service. Full story see http://www.guardian.co.uk/public-leaders-network/blog/2012/jan/06/public-sector-shared-services-tipping-point?newsfeed=true 

National map of shared services

The  Local Government Association (LGA)  has launched the updated national shared services compendium and map showing that 219 councils across the country are engaged in 143 shared service arrangements resulting in £156.5 million of efficiency savings. http://www.local.gov.uk/better-for-less-po-map 

Shared savings plan to halve admin costs

By Jack Grove of THES

London Metropolitan University is set to cut its administration costs by up to 50 per cent by sharing services with other institutions, bringing "some staff losses and some staff gains".

The university announced the transformation after governors agreed on 21 December to redesign support services.
It has identified more than 70 different areas, such as payroll, procurement and careers, that could be made more efficient over the next five years by collaborating with other London-based institutions.
The proposed changes follow chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement on 29 November, which announced the removal of the 20 per cent VAT surcharge on shared services between VAT-exempt bodies.
This tax made it prohibitive for universities to share back-office functions, vice-chancellors had argued.
Malcolm Gillies, vice-chancellor of London Met, said that the university "aims to reduce its support-service costs over the coming five years by up to 40 to 50 per cent".
Professor Gillies, who is chairman of London Higher, which represents more than 40 London-based higher education institutions, added: "If every university tendered together for insurance, payroll or careers, you can see that would drive lower unit costs."

He said that "a lot of universities" are asking how they can do the same.
"There may be some staff losses and some staff gains, but if you run it into shared services, you grow a business."
Administrative support services cost the UK higher education sector £10 billion a year, Professor Gillies said, and the bill for London institutions is close to £2 billion.
The administrative shake-up follows radical action by London Met in response to the government's changes to undergraduate tuition fees and funding.
It reduced its course offering by 70 per cent to focus on high-demand areas such as business, while setting some undergraduate tuition fees for 2012 as low as £4,500.
jack.grove@tsleducation.com.

VAT shift could open back door to mergers

By Simon Baker, THES 

But as tax rules ease, institutional unions still face cultural hurdles, say experts. Simon Baker writes

Credit: Kobal

Want to do business? A VAT reprieve for institutions and their shared-service providers will encourage joint ventures

Mergers between universities may become more likely once they see the benefits of sharing services under new rules that remove a crucial tax barrier, it has been suggested.
It follows the announcement by chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement that institutions will be able to work together to provide services without incurring a VAT cost.
University leaders have long argued that current rules deter them from sharing "back office" provision because they must save at least 20 per cent to make the project worthwhile.
But under the new proposals, which could come into effect next year, higher education institutions can provide a service together without imposing a tax burden.
Under the detailed plans set out in draft legislation by the Treasury last week, universities would run services via separate "entities" that are wholly owned by the institutions involved.
Although there had been some concern that this in itself could create a large administrative burden, the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG) has said that the proposed rules appear to be a user-friendly solution that would keep such costs down.
Andrew McConnell, finance director at the University of Huddersfield and chair of the BUFDG, said that even before the announcement had been made, there had been "active" discussions between institutions about potential sharing of services, particularly in the area of ICT.

But he added that it remains to be seen whether the Treasury's announcement would finally lead to an explosion in shared services or "whether it's just that people have been using the VAT obstacle as an excuse".
Jon Wakeford, director of strategy and communications at University Partnerships Programme, a firm that has long argued that the sector could save billions through sharing services even with the VAT barrier, said long-standing cultural barriers had always been a "key hurdle".
"The stumbling block tends to be the notion that somehow institutions will lose what is essential about them, that they will lose part of their character," he said.
He added that he did not see the sense of this argument with respect to sharing purely non-core services such as day-to-day procurement, accommodation and facilities management.
Meanwhile, Damian Shirley, partner and head of indirect tax at legal firm Eversheds, said that once institutions went down the road of clubbing together in certain areas, it could open the door to more full mergers as leaders came to realise the potential to make savings by working together.
"If universities begin to find efficiencies in sharing some of their back-office services, it could raise the question, 'Why aren't we going further and merging our core operations?'" he said. "One can already see those kinds of conclusions starting to emerge."
Mr Shirley also suggested that other factors, such as the threat to jobs among middle management, could come to the fore.
"It will be an interesting time to see if what were seen as incidental issues in the background are now thrown into the foreground and become the reasons why universities are not sharing services," he said.
simon.baker@tsleducation.com.

Removal of VAT barrier to encourage shared services

29 November 2011

By Simon Baker

A major barrier to universities saving money by sharing services is set to be removed by the government.

In his autumn statement today, the chancellor George Osborne said that the government would introduce a VAT exemption for services shared between organisations that are already exempt from the tax, such as universities.
In the past, universities have been deterred from saving money by sharing services such as payroll and procurement because any new operation would have to charge VAT back to the partner institutions.
This would mean that a shared operation would need to save at least the cost of VAT – currently 20 per cent – to be worthwhile.
However, the new arrangements – which had already been consulted on following the 2011 Budget – suggest universities could set up a new joint organisation to run services without facing an extra tax bill.
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said the move was “good news” for the sector and met a key recommendation from the recent Diamond Review of efficiency in higher education.

“Universities have wanted to develop more cost-effective operating models, and more creative collaborations with external partners.
“But to date, the VAT rules have acted to block this. We hope today's announcement will address this issue,” she said.
Meanwhile, the chancellor announced the launch of an online portal called HE Global to provide information and advice to universities on expanding overseas and also a vehicle to help the sector, government and business work together in selling “education offers” abroad.
Paul Marshall, executive director of the 1994 Group of smaller research-intensive universities, said: “Having ready access to insight and advice through a resource like HE Global will help institutions implement their own international strategies.
“We’ve also called for a collaborative approach to promoting cross-sector opportunities overseas. The new vehicle proposed in today’s statement will no doubt play a big part in making this a reality. We look forward to helping to take this forward.”
simon.baker@tsleducation.com