Have you considered the potential for savings in your services?
Have you maximised the potential for savings?
Are you confident you can deliver all your planned savings?
The Comprehensive Spending Review has cut local government funding in line with expectations (around 25% over 4 years) but front-loaded the cuts into 2011-12. We estimate that the average cut in Formula Grant in 2011-12 for local government services is going to be 11.3% in cash terms. The front-loading of cuts will stretch the capacity of local authorities to deliver the required savings in full in 2011-12.
We can provide practical help and advice that will give you the confidence that your savings process has been comprehensive and rigorous, and that the proposed savings are deliverable. Our consultants have practical experience at managing the budget-setting process and developing savings programmes in local authorities. We support our consultants with high-quality products so that you don't have to re-invent the wheel and can benefit from the experience of others:
- Savings checklist - we have a comprehensive list of savings that have been identified at other local authorities, from the largest to the smallest authorities.
- Option appraisal - based on the HM Treasury's Green Book, we use option appraisals to challenge your key savings proposals and to ensure they are "fit for purpose".
- Service/ Savings Schedule - we have a model that allows to you to identify all your services and challenge the range of savings that have been put forward.
- Benchmarking - we have a benchmarking model that gives you a strategic overview and context for your savings programme
Going into the final phase of the savings process, we can give you the support and reassurance that you have a viable, balanced savings programme. We can help you in these specific ways:
- Close the Budget Gap - we can provide you with ideas for savings that help you to close any remaining budget gap.
- Review savings - we can review and challenge the savings that you are already considering and provide you with a health-check on your overall budget proposals.
- Review specific parts of your budget - there might be specific areas that you want to scrutinise further, such as fees and charges. We can use our experience and knowledge from other authorities to create savings - or additional income. We can also help you to challenge service managers on specific proposals.
Public Sector Consultants understands your requirements; we provide consultants and interim managers to the public sector with up to date knowledge of the areas they work in. Our people fit easily into your working environment, are ‘tried and tested' with a track record of high quality delivery, and are keen to see your requirements met. Whilst they are evenly divided between employees and associates, none of our consultants work alone; they are part of a team, our Company, and our clients receive a team based response.
We know the sort of outputs you will need from our work, and we will ensure that they are practical and can fit straight into your budget process. This could take the form of a quick review, or a more in-depth supporting role.
If you think that your authority could benefit from professional support in realising savings, please contact one of our representatives on 01246 278385.