Case studies

Kirklees Council have re-organised their services to have greater capacity and a clearer focus on adult skills and local growth.

BetterOff has been designed and commissioned to help reduce the welfare advice budget, improve service provision, encourage self-service and digital skills, maximise monetary gain and - crucially - embed the link between benefits and employment by combining them in one digital space.

Kirklees have taken a ‘right worker, right support, right time’ approach to engaging young people involved in the criminal justice system and affected by criminal exploitation. Their Youth Engagement Service brings together colleagues from various youth services and through their consistent engagement approach, has allowed Kirklees to provide support to previously unreached children who are at risk of offending or are already involved in the criminal justice system.

Developing a cost of living action plan at Kirklees Council has been a joint effort between the public health and corporate policy teams, with strong councillor involvement.

Kirklees Council commissioned a research study to better understand how preferences in the ageing ethnic minority populations affects housing needs across the district. The purpose was to gather evidence the council can use to inform investment decisions about future housing for older people.

The goal of this initiative was to support people to be discharged from hospital quicker and more effectively, whilst also avoiding people going into residential care. This example of a local initiative forms part of our managing transfers of care resource.

Following the disbanding of Connexions as a national service in 2012, Kirklees Council continued to make significant local investments in Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG), NEET prevention activities and post-16 tracking. With the exception of York, Kirklees and Calderdale have the lowest combined NEET and not known rates in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

To help lower-income residents with the rising cost of living and food inflation, Kirklees Council is working with charity ‘The Bread and Butter Thing’, a mobile food pantry that increases access to affordable, healthy, and nutritious food.

Kirklees Council have a green ambition to cut carbon emissions by 30 per cent between 2005 and 2020. As part of that, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing (KNH) has installed photovoltaic (PV) panels on several estates.

A partnership between the council, school immunisation service, local NHS and community pharmacy ensured a smooth and quick rollout of vaccination to children and young people in the West Yorkshire borough of Kirklees.