Glasgow City Council: Continuity during COVID-19

Like many organisations, Glasgow City Council had to adapt quickly during COVID-19 and change their ways of working as the country went into lockdown. The professional challenges faced in ensuring business continuity were paramount on both an internal and external level – staff and agencies rely on having access to the information they need to perform their roles, while citizens have service expectations which were in greater demand as a result of a pandemic.

The responsibility for information governance, managing people and processes brought several new challenges and issues. How would the council continue to deliver public services during lockdown when staff were moved to remote work? How could information be shared securely between internal and external parties?

At the same time, the council was also supporting the Scottish Government’s ‘Shielding Programme’ – an initiative listing citizens identified by the Scottish Government and UK Government as requiring additional support during COVID-19 and encouraged to shield at home for a 12-week period. This required a lot of sensitive information to be transferred between the government and the council, as well as other partner agencies who were on the front line.

With Objective Connect, the council was able to protect all data, enable effective internal and external communication and collaboration and ensure the right services were delivered to the right people at the right time. Beyond the Shielding Programme, the council was also able to support education services, domestic abuse victim services, small business support and more.

Thank you to the Objective team and Objective Connect for supporting Glasgow City Council in our response to the pandemic, and shaping the way we were able to deliver services to the people of Glasgow.

Clare Burke

Information Governance Officer - Glasgow City Council