Harry Barrington-Mountford

– Transformation Director capability: assessing a Council as a whole, deciding what needs to change, then designing and leading the significant, multi-year programme that delivers it
– Financial sustainability: MTFS savings strategy, budget challenge and benefits delivery, working directly with Section 151 Officers
– Culture change and organisational development: embedding self-service, resilience, performance and accountability across the organisation
– Service assessment and review, including contract, commissioning and operating model review
– Local Government Reorganisation: readiness, transition planning and integrating reorganisation with transformation and savings
– Early intervention and prevention as the organising principle for service design
– Rescuing failing programmes and bringing governance and delivery discipline to the corporate centre
– Housing and homelessness service improvement
– Trusted adviser to Chief Executives, Executive teams and elected members
– Data-led diagnosis and options appraisal
– Digital, AI and automation business cases

– PRINCE2 Registered Practitioner (BCS, 2015)
– Certificate in Business Analysis Practice (BCS, 2016)
– Lean Six Sigma
– Negotiation skills
– Influencing skills

Case study: Thurrock Council. Tasked by the Commissioners and the Assistant Chief Executive to design and deliver the Council’s transformation programme and savings strategy, Harry developed and oversaw £38.4m of business cases across years 1 and 2 and the approach to a further £40.1m. Early in the programme he identified significant issues in Housing Solutions and stood up a programme of change, delivering circa £3.5m of savings in six months and a reduction of 140 households in temporary accommodation against budget.

Case study: Birmingham City Council. Using a successful funding bid, Harry set up the Cross-Council Early Intervention and Prevention Transformation Team from a standing start. He recruited the team, designed the programme and governance, and transitioned it to business as usual. A new navigation hub, working with the voluntary and community sector, reduced front door volumes into Adult Social Care by 50% for contacts not eligible under the Care Act, and early intervention and prevention was embedded in the Corporate Plan.

Testimonials: available from referees on request.

– Directed Thurrock’s transformation and savings programme for the Executive and Commissioners: £38.4m of business cases across years 1 and 2, and the strategy for a further £40.1m over years 3 to 5
– Led a review of all contracting arrangements, identifying a circa 10% reduction opportunity in overall contract spend
– Housing Solutions turnaround: circa £3.5m of savings in six months
– Birmingham: designed and led the Cross-Council Early Intervention and Prevention programme, reducing Adult Social Care front door volumes by 50% for non-Care Act contacts and embedding prevention in the Corporate Plan
– AI and automation: found a £1.5m funding gap that would have caused a failed procurement, then delivered a new approach with a further £5.1m of savings over three years
– South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse: advised on the budget challenge process, reducing future budgeted spend by circa £20m, and established an external funding function delivering over £10m in its first year
– Islington: managed the Rebuilding a Fairer Islington programme and developed £29.8m of new savings options
– Barking and Dagenham: turned around a £34m housing programme (£2.3m saving and a return in excess of £600k a year) and reviewed a £500m development pipeline
– London Covid-19 response: designed and delivered an emergency care workforce system across 32 boroughs in four weeks, securing over £2.5m of resource

– Local government at executive and strategic leadership level: district, unitary, London borough and city councils
– Councils under commissioner oversight and improvement and recovery plans
– Local Government Reorganisation
– Adult social care front door, early intervention and prevention
– Housing, homelessness and temporary accommodation
– Planning policy, including five year housing land supply and joint local plans
– Medium Term Financial Strategy and budget challenge
– Healthcare regulation and professional standards
– Digital inclusion, AI and automation in the public sector

– Change and resilience programmes for leadership teams
– Leadership training and coaching
– Programme governance and assurance workshops for senior managers
– Business case and benefits realisation workshops

Harry is currently advising Thurrock Council on Local Government Reorganisation at executive level. Working with senior leaders, he assessed readiness, gaps and opportunities for the transitional phase up to vesting day, and designed the approach that merged the Council’s transformation roadmap with its Local Government Reorganisation plan. This keeps savings and transformation ambitions on track while the organisation becomes reorganisation ready, targeting ‘Safe and Legal Plus’ as standard.

Available for interim Transformation Director and equivalent senior roles, and for strategic advisory work, long or short term, subject to current commitments.

Website: https://harrybm.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-barrington-mountford-37b01079/