Third quarterly update of icare's Improvement Program released

icare has continued to make good progress on its Improvement Program according to independent assurer Promontory Australia.

The Improvement Program was set up following recommendations that came out of the McDougall Review and the PwC Governance, Accountability and Culture (GAC) review in early 2021. 

Collectively, the reviews made a set of recommendations to strengthen icare's culture, governance and accountability framework, upgrade icare's risk awareness, risk management and risk capability, and bring about a greater focus on customer outcomes.

icare is addressing the recommendations through its Improvement Program, which consists of 65 initiatives. The recommendations represent an ambitious and far-reaching program of change.  

Promontory Australia has been engaged to provide independent assurance services over the Improvement Program as it relates to those recommendations. icare CEO Richard Harding said it is pleasing to receive another positive progress update, but there remains much work to do.

"The Improvement Program represents a significant, long-term program of organisational change and requires ongoing commitment and a focus on effective execution."

Mr Harding said he agreed with Promontory on the need to continue to identify simplification opportunities within the Program.

"This aligns perfectly with our corporate vision, which is to make the complex simple so we can deliver better outcomes for people and communities."

In its third update, Promontory recognised icare has made good progress in addressing the risks associated with the challenges noted in the Second Update, in particular around resource constraints and the management of dependencies.

The update noted key roles have been filled and icare has increased the level of specialist resources assigned to dependency management. 

Key points in the Promontory update include (as at 31 July 2022): 

• icare had commenced or completed work on the Design Phase for all initiatives 
• icare had commenced or completed work on the Implement Phase for two-thirds of Initiatives
• for 45 percent of Initiatives, icare had commenced or completed work on activities within the Embed Phase.

These positive developments are important as remediation programs require a solid foundation, robust leadership, and commitment to address challenges as and when they arise.

Additionally, Promontory observed that since the last update, governance forums continue to provide a sound foundation for oversight of the Improvement Program and are effective forums for the discussion of program progress and risks.

Once an activity is finalised, evidence of completion is provided to Promontory in the form of a Closure Pack.

Promontory noted the considerable progress in providing Closure Packs for assessment, with a total of 26 Closure Packs submitted for assessment as at 31 July 2022. Of these, Promontory has assessed a total of two as complete and effective; the balance remained under assessment as at 31 July 2022.

The update follows the Final Establishment Report (December 2021), the First Quarterly Update (March 2022) and Second Quarterly Update (June 2022).

Promontory will continue to provide quarterly updates on icare's progress in executing the Improvement Program. These updates are published on the Improvement at icare page.