Planning resilience FAQs: Flexible expertise when and wherever you need it

Local authority planning departments are under immense pressure. Growing workloads, resource shortages, and evolving planning reforms demand resilience, adaptability, and strategic action.

At Capita, we don’t just help you adapt - we empower you to shape the future. Our planning resilience service provides specialist support exactly when and wherever you need it, helping to bridge critical skills gaps and manage spikes in workload. Whether you are facing capacity constraints, backlogs or complex planning challenges, we act as an extension to your team, ensuring seamless, high-quality service delivery without the overhead of recruitment or temporary staffing.  

Choosing the right partner is key. Here’s how our planning resilience service can help:

1. Why should I choose Capita?
   We offer an agile alternative to traditional hiring, giving you on-demand access to expert planning professionals. Our team seamlessly integrates with yours to help you tackle your challenges. From planning applications and appeals to planning performance agreements and design codes, we ensure you have the right technical expertise and innovation in place to deliver remarkable results, every single day. Since 2005, we have partnered with over 130 local planning authorities, combining creativity, expertise, and a results-driven approach to deliver high-quality, cost-effective planning solutions on time and within budget.

2. What services do you offer?
   We provide a range of professional services specifically designed to support local authorities with place-shaping projects, including development management, planning policy and design. We can also help with: 
   -    project management
   -    building control and surveying
   -    estates transformation
   -    sustainability and net zero consultancy
   -    and much more.

   Using a combination of digital innovation and expert insight, we streamline complex planning processes, boost productivity, and bridge critical skills gaps.

3. Who benefits from your services?
   We support local authorities needing:
   -    short-term capacity for peak workloads or urgent projects
   -    expertise to bridge skills gaps
   -    a cost-effective alternative to temporary contractors.

   Many councils rely on us as a trusted resilience partner, turning to Capita to provide the expertise and capacity they need, when they need it.

4. What challenges can you help me solve?
   Our team will help you to:
   -    Ensure compliance – Provide expert support to help you meet your statutory requirements and national planning policies. 
   -    Bridge skills gaps – Fill shortages with specialist expertise to maximise productivity and performance.
   -    Manage workload – Deliver additional capacity when demand surges, ensuring continuity in service. 
   -    Navigate complexities and accelerate processes – Streamline planning applications, appeals and policy-making while offering technical insights to strengthen outcomes. 
   -    Enhance sustainable practices - Integrate social, environmental and economic considerations into planning strategies and developments. 
   -    Build public confidence and social value – Deliver high-quality, transparent planning solutions that align with community needs, promote inclusivity and create long-term benefits for residents.

5. How do you deliver value for money?
   Our services are delivered on a fixed-fee basis, giving you:
   -    guaranteed outcomes at a fixed cost 
   -    full budget control from start to finish 
   -    self-funded solutions via Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs).

   In 2024 alone, our highly productive team of experts processed over 4,500 planning applications, with one of our planners handling 331 applications in a year, proving our efficiency and expertise.

6. How do we commission your services?
   Commissioning our services is a straightforward and flexible process. Many of our clients opt for a direct award, which allows them to engage our services quickly and efficiently, provided it aligns with their local procurement policies. For those requiring a more structured approach, we are listed on several public procurement frameworks, having already demonstrated our expertise and value through competitive tendering exercises. This means that local authorities can directly award contracts to us without undergoing a lengthy procurement process, ensuring a fast, compliant, and hassle-free engagement.
7. How do you manage quality and performance?
   Quality and performance are at the core of our service delivery. Each project is overseen by a dedicated planning manager who ensures smooth execution from start to finish. They provide professional guidance, monitor progress against agreed milestones, and use robust project management tools to ensure that objectives are met within budget and on schedule. Our proactive approach allows us to maintain high standards of service and accountability, giving local authorities confidence in the delivery of their planning initiatives.
8. What happens if the planning consultant is absent due to sickness or leaves your company?
   Unlike agency placements, we provide seamless service continuity. If a consultant is unavailable due to illness or departure, another expert from our large, skilled team will step in, ensuring no disruption to your project.
9. Am I locked into a long-term contract?
   No. We offer a fully flexible, on-demand service to support your needs as and when required. There is no minimum contract period and no minimum spend.
10. How do I get in touch?
    Contact us to discuss how we can support your planning needs.