Caerphilly County Borough Council's newly published year-end figures show savings of more than £13.5 million in 2025/26 — the clearest evidence yet that a transformation programme built with Perago, the Swansea-based transformation partner, has kept delivering a full year after the two organisations' formal two-year partnership ended.
The figures, presented to Cabinet as part of the council's Organisational Performance Assessment and “Doing the Basics Well” end-of-year review and reported on 25 July, show first-point-of-contact resolution rising from 38.8% to 76.1%, average telephone waiting times held at or below two minutes, and the equivalent of more than 12,000 additional working days recovered through reduced staff sickness absence. The council's transformation programme is targeting a further £9m of savings in 2026/27, with the wider portfolio expected to deliver up to £30.2m by 2028/29.
Contact Management was a key workstream that Perago helped build into Caerphilly's change portfolio during a two-year partnership that ran to £20m of savings within its first two years, against a roadmap for £65m of efficiencies overall. The engagement introduced agile ways of working, a single view of change usable by council leadership, and an open, weekly stand-up that grew from a handful of people around Post-it notes to draw around 150 people in person and 170 more online, including visiting delegations from Welsh Government, Audit Wales and various Welsh local authorities.
Caerphilly's 2025/26 year-end figures: £13.5m saved, first-contact resolution up from 38.8% to 76.1%, and 12,000+ working days recovered — a year after Perago's team left the building.
Victoria Ford, Managing Director of Perago, said:
“These new figures matter because they were delivered a full year after our team left the building. That's always been the real test we set ourselves: not whether change happens while the consultants are in the room, but whether it keeps happening once they've gone.”
Ed Edmunds, Caerphilly CEO, said at the time of the original partnership:
“Perago aren't your typical consultants – they've been right there with us, working as part of our team. They've provided support, challenge, and hands-on delivery, helping us navigate this complex transformation. By combining our strengths, we made real, transparent, and lasting change happen.”
