How automating mailing operations can stop councils being buried under a growing mountain of post

Councils send hundreds of thousands of letters every year, ranging from transactional letters that follow simple templates like council tax bills, to ad hoc free-form mail such as responses to complaints. While the mountain of mail continues to grow, many councils are held back by inefficient manual mailing processes, relying on staff to take time away from their day-to-day work to do repetitive, tedious tasks like folding letters, writing addresses, and stuffing envelopes. Not only is this absorbing staff time away from more strategic work, but it’s also wasting money directly from the public purse.

Local governments have faced slashed budgets in recent years, with a £15 billion cut to their finances between 2010 and 2020. And despite these budget cuts, councils are also under more pressure to communicate critical information to the public quickly and securely, with fewer staff and resources. It’s critical that they seek ways to automate and streamline their mailing processes to free up staff time, reduce inefficiencies, and save public money. So how can councils stop themselves from being buried under a mountain of mail?

Post is piling up

The number of letters local authorities have to send is constantly growing. For instance, after London’s ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) was rolled out in 2019, other cities soon followed suit with clean air zones already in place in Birmingham, Bristol, Bradford, and beyond. These clean air zones also create a heavy administrative burden for local councils as they will have to send more letters on Penalty Charge Notices, changing clean air standards, and more. Falling behind on this pile of post means councils risk being late collecting revenue from charges, as well as delaying the postage of other key mail, such as polling cards.

But the outdated, manual mailing processes that many councils still rely on not only weigh staff down, they also expose local governments to risks associated with human error – including serious compliance issues. For instance, if sensitive letters are sent to the wrong address, there’s a risk of being fined by the ICO for a data breach.

Streamlining mail operations

To free up time and save costs across the organisation, local authorities should look to automate their mailing operations to prevent the gridlock that can come from manual document processing. By offloading the production of mail to an outsourced mail facility, councils can reduce the prep time of thousands of documents to just a few clicks. A hybrid mail solution enables employees to prepare, print, sort, stuff, and deliver the mail to the post office or send through digital channels without leaving their desks – allowing staff to spend less time administrating and more time innovating.

Automating mail management also helps to minimise the risk of human error that can occur when manually sorting, grouping, and collating documents. With an automated platform, councils can manage pre-defined business rules, eliminating the need for manual intervention and ensuring the right letter always goes to the right person. It also equips councils to transition documents to paperless delivery. The public can choose their preferred digital channel, such as email, print mail, or a secure portal for communications. Digital documents are automatically stored, while also offering better visibility to ensure that sensitive and important documents quickly reach their intended recipient.

How Nottingham City Council transformed its mail management

Nottingham County Council has proactively taken steps to speed up its outbound mail management to reduce costs and prevent it from being a time drain for staff. The Council issues around 750,000 letters every year, so streamlining mail management was a key priority to save valuable resources and provide the best possible value for the taxpayer. It implemented an outbound document management platform to automate communications workflows and offer the flexibility of sending documents through both print and digital channels. This also consolidates print queues across the Council and prepares envelope contents – helping to mitigate the risk of human error.

The Council has reaped the rewards of streamlining its mail management, seeing £200,000+ of postage cost savings in the first 18 months. It also saw huge labour savings for staff, cutting the time spent on every mail item by 1 minute and 50 seconds. This adds up to tens of thousands of hours for staff to spend on higher-value, more service-specific duties. Staff are also no longer restricted by location or technology when sending mail, and can send physical and digital mail securely from their workstation.

Delivering value to local communities

With budget cuts, staff spread across different sites, and increasing pressure to keep the public informed, it’s clear that local authorities are fighting against managing the rising tide of mail. Councils that follow in the footsteps of Nottingham County Council can enjoy huge benefits from automating their document management – saving thousands of staff hours and improving efficiencies, while also supporting a mobile and agile workforce. Removing this administrative burden from employees’ shoulders means they can spend more time serving communities and focusing on what matters to the public.