What is Policy and Strategy?

Strategy:  communicates the vision and direction of travel on a particular issue or service. It may identify the current position, highlighting challenges and opportunities. It will set out what the council wants to achieve (vision) and the how we are going to achieve that vision over a fixed period of time. A strategy may include high level objectives. A strategy should be supported by an action plan that sets out the detailed actions to implement the strategy.   

Policy: a formal statement of how the council intends to undertake activity on a particular issue or to deliver services within the remit of the policy. A policy sets out the rules, values or priorities that influence decisions and actions. Policies will reference the legislation or national guidance that influence a specific area of work.  

Operational Policy: sets out operational detail of activities on a specific area of work; it may set out rules, guidelines, standards and responsibilities. Operational policies may be key decisions, but are more likely to have delegated authority for officer sign-off.  

Procedure: an established method or set of instructions for progressing an action or completing a task.  

High level: this guide occasionally refers to a high level strategy, policy or objective. This refers to more generalised documents or articulations that focus on organisational or system-wide needs and aspirations. High level strategies, policies or objectives are not focussed on procedure or operations, where they set out goals, these will often be soft goals that set out direction, rather than measurable action.  

The new Council has developed an initial document that sets out what the Council will be doing. This is called the ‘Council Plan’ and it contains the vision, aims and approach of the council for the years 2023 – 2027. It has a companion document that helps track and implement the Council Plan, called the Council Plan Delivery Plan. This is much more focused on the next 12 – 24 months and is designed to be updated every year to reflect progress as well as enabling external policy drivers from government to be incorporated.

All policies and strategies should take the Council Plan into account.