The largest event on the Revenues & Benefits calendar, the 2022 IRRV Annual Conference & Exhibition in Telford, held at the beginning of October was as usual well attended, vibrant and informative with many brilliant speakers delivering their thoughts on most important topics impacting local authorities. We’d like to thank the Institute for organising such a valuable event.

We'd also like to thank everyone who stopped by our stand. It is always a pleasure to meet delegates from councils all over UK and catch up with existing customers in person (regardless of how many Teams calls we've had).

City Of Wolverhampton Council

The conference offers the ideal setting for Revenues & Benefits practitioners to exchange ideas, talk about problems affecting their profession and explore new possibilities. Learning from these conversations and experiences over the years, we developed our cutting-edge digital process automation solutions, which fully automate up to 80% of the workload otherwise associated with online transactions. And we continue to look at ways to enhance our services.

Harrow Council

We spoke with numerous councils during the conference who came looking for solutions to problems they face while trying to support their communities in an increasingly difficult economic climate. The constant demands placed upon them as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, staff shortages and increased business-as-usual workload have only increased pressure on their resources.

THEY REALISE, AUTOMATION IS THE WAY FORWARD

We also talked to many of our existing customers who, having used our services for several years and grown used to what automation can accomplish, have come up with new ideas, or were simply looking for further ideas to improve current practices.

Plymouth City Council

Our conversations with customers enable us to identify and explore new initiatives. So, over a cup of tea at the conference, we finalised new functionality for our long-standing customer – Kirklees Council – for Household Support Fund (HSF) applications. We strive to establish a working partnership rather than a buyer-supplier relationship with all our customers and we like to think of Kirklees as precisely that, a partner who has worked with us to deepen and enhance the scope of our solutions, including most recently – our Discount & Exemption Form. This single, highly intuitive web form will replace 20-30 other, disparate application forms and make it much easier for citizens to obtain the help that they need.

Kirklees Council

Kirklees asked if we’d like to work with them on a new HSF form in early September. Now, two months later, Govtech's Discretionary Payment Service is operational and enabling Kirklees residents to apply for grants with the Council approving or rejecting (the decision is made by officers) applications and making payments. Everything before and after the officer’s decision is automated.

All it took was a conversation. Of course, Govtech’s no nonsense analysis, scoping, development and testing came after, but it all began with an idea and an informal discussion.

We are always ready and eager to listen. We make it our mission to understand each council's unique challenges, and we take pride in assisting them in reaching their objectives.

Salford Council

We'd also like to congratulate all the Institute’s Excellence Awards winners – thank you for all your hard work and efforts in providing the best possible support to your citizens!

Cheshire East Council	Nottingham City Council

And thank you, to each and every one of our customers, those who joined the Govtech family recently or have been with us for many years, who have allowed us to become a part of their team and have placed their trust in us as their automation partner of choice on their transformation journey.

We value these relationships above everything else