How WSCC Reduced HAF Programme Costs By £187,000

How WSCC has improved access, saved time & reduced HAF Programme costs 

Are you still having nightmares about the painful process of manually managing your Christmas HAF provision? 

If you are, then fear not!

We're here to share how WSCC has automated over 20,000 bookings & saved hours in admin time with an industry-leading HAF Booking Service. 

In the time this service has been live: 

• Over 1,800 families have registered to use the system
• Over 3,000 children have benefited from free activities 
• 60+ providers have registered to use the system & 
• Over 1,000 bookable activities have been created 

Based on SOCITM's channel shift calculation, we project that by digitising these bookings, WSCC will generate savings of approximately £187,000 across all holiday periods. 

Here's how the council are leveraging the system to generate these efficiency, time & cost savings:

1: To simplify & fairly manage access to activities

WSCC can now manage eligibility workflows, credit allocations & booking limits with:

• A simple, GDS-approved process for checking eligibility & approving users/accounts
• An upload feature that simplifies the migration of data on pre-approved accounts & users
• Booking rules & digitised credit allocations/re-allocations that automate & fairly manage access to activities

2: To improve reporting & streamline admin processes

WSCC has reduced time-consuming admin processes and improved reporting with:

• An automated mandatory reporting schedule
• Real-time KPI dashboards
• Real-time attendee lists & calendar views
• Automated data collection & validation
• Automated two-way comms channels
• AI-powered scheduling & resourcing for multiple locations, activity types & providers
• A solution that integrates to other widely used platforms

3: To enable end-to-end self-service for every type of user

WSCC has saved time, reduced costs & increased first-time resolution rates by enabling families/guardians to:

• Self-serve 24/7
• Book for multiple children at once
• Book multiple activities at once
• Access the service in different languages
• Manage info with My Account functionality
• Be assisted by in-built guidance messaging

4: To make it easy for providers to manage activities

WSCC has also been able to simplify activity management for providers who can log in to dedicated areas to:

1: Create, modify or cancel their activities

2: View bookings & attendance reports (24/7)

Note: unlike council staff, providers only have permission to view their activities — this provides all the benefits of consolidating bookings in a single platform while protecting non-essential data.

Learn more:

This was a super quick intro into how we're helping our community improve the delivery of the HAF Programme with a purpose-built booking solution.

If you'd like to see the product in action, click here.