This report is authored by the research team at the Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia – Professor Ilan Katz (Chief Investigator), Professor Alison Ritter, Professor Evelyne de Leeuw, Dr Kerryn Drysdale, Dr Ciara Smyth and Dr Shona Bates (Project Manager) – for ANZSOG.

Report name

How Do Placebased Services Evolve in a World of Virtual, Physical and Hybrid Service Delivery?

Who wrote this report?

This study was commissioned and funded by ANZSOG and co-sponsored by the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet (NSW DPC). It’s purpose was to identify the emerging considerations for government in designing and delivering hybrid (i.e. virtual and face-to-face) services and hybrid place-based initiatives (PBIs) – specifically those relating to social services, in the light of the changes to service delivery caused by the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Best quote

The findings showed that virtual components can be complementary to face-to-face services and programmes, and hybrid services can not only substitute face-to-face services, but can improve service delivery and accessibility.

Key takeaways:

  • While governments supported and enabled service providers to innovate and shift towards hybrid service delivery in the early response to the pandemic, the response has largely been ad hoc. Innovation should continue to be encouraged, in a more deliberate way, supported by a robust evidence base.
  • There is some value in hybrid PBIs over face-to-face or online only; component parts of hybrid PBIs can be complementary rather than operationally co-dependent. Clients must always be able to access support from a human being, be it virtually or face-to-face
  • Hybrid PBIs deliver benefits for service users including: increasing access, flexibility, connection to other users and consumer choice. Virtual services can facilitate access to people previously excluded from services and provide new ways of engaging service users.

What’s in this report?

The report examines the evidence around the use of both hybrid (virtual and face-to-face) services as well as place-based services in NSW, with the objective of assessing traditional and emerging models of place-based service delivery and identifying the policy settings and resources that will support the ongoing transformation of place-based service delivery.

The research methodology consisted of a Delphi exercise and deliberative panels with stakeholders chosen by the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. It also contains a separate rapid evidence review, that summarises the existing evidence around hybrid and place-based services, which as prepared to inform deliberations.

The research identifies common principles for designing hybrid services and hybrid PBIs, and recommendations for governments as to how to improve the delivery of services, and how to evaluate current and emerging forms of hybrid place-based initiatives.

It looks at how hybrid services can complement place-based ones and the potential benefits for both customers and service providers of intelligently combining the two modes of delivery.

It concludes that a key challenge for government, is to find ways of maintaining innovation while at the same time learning from Covid-19-driven developments around the essential aspects of successful implementation, governance and sustainability of hybrid services and initiatives, and using this knowledge to develop new services and PBIs.

Why should you read this report?

Covid-19 upended the delivery of government services. As agencies move back to normal they face the challenge of how to integrate pandemic-driven innovation in virtual service delivery with the benefits of a place-based approach. This research helps identify features of place-based service delivery that promote community capability and wellbeing; economic development; collaborative governance; and help-seeking. They show the policy settings and resources that will support the ongoing transformation of place-based service delivery and allow governments to reap the benefits of both approaches.

Who is this report for?

Public managers in government or the not-for-profit sector who want to understand the emerging considerations for government in designing and delivering hybrid and hybrid place-based initiatives (PBIs) – specifically those relating to social services, or and understand the effects of different methods of service delivery on their stakeholders and customers. For agencies who are working on delivering new services or expanding existing ones, in partnership with NFPs or community groups, this research offers principles for building services which can effectively reach vulnerable communities.

👋 You can write an article like this one! Share your thoughts with a community of public servants. Learn more

(Image Credit: Unsplash)

Make sure to share your own thoughts with the author by leaving a comment below