Workshops focussed on 3 key questions:
- How accessible are our communications?
- What do we do well in terms of communications?
- What improvements could we make?
Desk-based research
We looked at:
- Local Government Association's head of communications surveys
- residents’ satisfaction surveys
- OFCOM surveys:
- news consumption in the UK 2023
- communications sector
- children’s media use and attitudes
- sector experts:
- Comms 2.0
- Dan Slee
- Comms Creative (blogs and insights in news consumption, analytics and trends)
- other public sector communications plans, including:
- other councils
- NHS trusts
- fire services
- the Government Communication Service - UK Government Communication Plan 2023 to 2024
Local surveys
We reviewed:
- Bracknell Forest Council residents’ surveys
- internal communications survey
- Town & Country and Town & Country Extra readership surveys
- social media and local news survey
Workshops
Workshops included:
- 5 staff workshops (approximately 55 attendees)
- councillor workshop (approximately 20 attendees)
- cabinet member for economic development and regeneration (lead councillor for communications and marketing)
- leader of the council and chief executive
The results from the workshops can be summarised as follows:
How accessible are our communications?
We’ve made progress but not all communications are accessible.
There are inconsistencies, specifically with staff-led or business as usual communications. Some people with disabilities or who are neurodivergent may struggle to understand some of our communications.
We rely too much on digital communications. There is a smaller demographic (possibly older people or frontline staff) who are not online or do not wish to go online to get our communications.
More use of community assets like noticeboards, GP surgeries and poster sites should be considered.
What do we do well?
We are very agile and responsive in approach.
We have a consistent tone of voice for external marketing communications.
The use of more video recently has been valued and welcomed.
Branding by the graphic design service is always strong.
Newsletters are well written and presented - segmenting external newsletters into topics is useful.
We have improved our use of plain English and using more visual communications.
Town & Country is well received by older residents.
Internal roadshows are valued and make information easy to understand.
Organisational goals and priorities are well represented.
What do we do less well and where could we make improvements?
Not enough non-textual communication - explore things like podcasts, webinars, live streams, infographics, easy read.
Accessibility needs to be more consistent across the whole council as a first thought rather than an add-on.
Evaluation could be stronger in terms of highlighting our communications successes/metrics and learning.
Streamlining staff communications (content and channels) would help people focus on what’s important.
Communications team could host drop-in sessions for staff wanting more information, help or support.
Too many recognition and awareness days publicised - make these more human and use case studies to make more relevant.
A more consistent approach to misinformation and questions on social media is needed.
Staff communications are too Time Square centric.
Use more Bracknell Forest photos and images of local people - less reliance on national and stock images.
More information about what services we cover and what our staff do.
Using real case studies in campaigns - help to break down corporate tone and be more friendly.
A staff guide to what channels work best for certain demographics, frequency and so on would be helpful.
General comments
To consider how the website fits with communications - these have 2 distinct strategies.
There are a host of online tools available or tools within Microsoft that help with accessibility but not everyone knows they are there/ how to use them.
Consider using QR codes more regularly.
We have accessibility and better writing guides available but staff aren’t always aware of them or know where to find them.
We need a definition of what is accessibility and how to communicate effectively with each group.
Distribution of Town & Country - does it go to all flats?
Non-corporate communications are not always laid out as well as they should be and sometimes have typos.
Highways updates are well received - especially with a map (although, maps are not always accessible).
Consider all formats - is the user going to get information through their phone, tablet or laptop? What works best?
More consideration needs to be given when conducting consultations - do we need all the data we collect and is this a barrier to people giving opinions?
There was a split between some people saying we advertise events too much and too far in advance against we don’t publicise things far enough in advance or widely enough.