Cardiff Council, like many other authorities, has the challenge of effectively managing their licensing, permits and enforcement. Great strides have already been made in the parking service provision in Cardiff. Since 2016 most parking permits can be applied for and paid for online, pay and display machines accept contactless card readers and more locations accept ‘pay by phone’ parking.
However, it was identified that there was limited digital transformation taking place across other services specifically in the areas of Environmental Enforcement and Highways Licensing, where annually, the delivery of 20,000 enforcement processes and 2,500 highways licensing applications were taking place via paper-based systems in 2016.
This document highlights the challenges and subsequent successful digitisation of these key services.
Core objectives and results
| Objective | Result |
|---|---|
| Replace paper-based enforcement and issuing of permits/licences with a digital system. | Paper based system has been replaced by a smartphone app and a cloud based back office system. |
| Change invoicing through SAP to upfront payments. | All payments can be made online for FPNs. Licences/permits can also be paid for online and made upfront instead of being invoiced. |
| Issue FPNs for any environmental and highway offence through a digital system to reduce back office time and increase on street hours i.e. mobile working. | All FPNs can be issued by an officer using a smartphone and Bluetooth printer. |
| Allow customers to access their accounts and purchase licences and services and pay fines, easily and effectively, improving customer service. | Customer service has been improved. Permits/Licences can be applied for and renewed using a customer web portal and new licences can be purchased using an online shopping basket |
| Reduce numbers of calls relating to highway licencing by providing an informative personalised digital solution for the customer. | The number of inbound phone calls has been dramatically reduced. |
| Increase productivity without increasing head count. | Productivity has increased, as shown later in this document. Headcount has actually been reduced by one member of staff. |
