Front-loading the cuts to local government in this way puts immediate pressure on local government budgets, with savings now having to be found sooner in the process than expected. Many local authorities have started to plan for severe reductions in funding, but the front-loading will stretch the capacity of local authorities to deliver the required savings in full in 2011-12.

We already have a checklist of savings so that we can help you to develop a savings programme quickly and effectively. Our consultants have created radical savings programmes which have been adopted by district councils through to large city councils (up to 30% in some cases). Our checklist can help to kickstart your savings process, or add ideas for savings to those you have already identified.

We also have tried-and-tested savings methodologies which ensure:

• your savings programme is developed in a transparent way – this ensures Members and services managers have confidence in the savings programme
• your savings are optimised – we can help you create proposals that maximise savings whilst protecting services as much as possible
• your savings programme is comprehensive and balanced – using our toolkits, we can ensure that all services are considered. This ensures you get savings from every possible source and that savings are equitably shared across all services.

Our consultants have considerable experience in local government: we know what will work in local government and can provide practical knowledge to make our savings methodologies work on the ground. We believe that this direct, practical experience of what works sets us apart from other consultancies.

Because of our past experience, we can deliver at a price that is acceptable in the current financial conditions. We also welcome local authorities working together with their neighbours to share costs and experiences; we would be de- lighted to talk about discounts in these circumstances.

What sort of help can we give you?

• Close the budget Gap—we can provide you with ideas for savings that you could incorporate directly into your budget process, and help you to close any remaining budget gap.
• Review savings—we can review and challenge the savings that you already considering and provide you with a health-check on your 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.

• review your forecasts for formula grant, dedicated schools grant and other specific and special grants. This will give you confidence that your financial plans are based on realistic assumptions. We can also advise about assumptions for inflation and growth pressures
• use our own benchmarking tool to identify quickly where spending might be out-of-line with other similar councils
• compare the savings you have already delivered, and those you are planning to deliver against our savings checklist. It will also give you a scale-checker to determine whether further savings are possible.

This review will verify the gap between resources and savings, and make proposals for closing the gap.

Our approach will encompass frontline and backoffice services.

Our desktop review will draw on independent external evidence and available local information, and it will be corroborated with finance officers.

We recognise that it is important to understand the strategic and political context within your local authority. We can develop criteria for assessing savings and review your savings proposals against those criteria.

What are the benefits and outcomes for your authority?

• a rapid and authoritative review of your financial position
• gap analysis of your financial plans and savings proposals, combined with proposals for filling those gaps
• learn from savings proposals in other local authorities.

Support to develop your savings further

We can take your existing savings – or those we have proposed through our checklist – and develop them further so that you can maximise their potential. With our support, you can also make these savings more robust.

We would usually work with service managers and budget holders, often using workshops to verify the assumptions and challenges existing proposals. We can test whether proposals are realistic and ready to be delivered.

Which tools would we use to achieve these outcomes?

• we can use our Option Appraisal approach to help give you greater clarity about the services you want to de- liver, and the range of potential options
• our Service Analysis Grid helps to deliver a comprehensive approach to savings. It ensures that all services are identified (no hiding for services that other directors don’t want you to see!) and it uses a standardised range of options for each service
• again we can use our Savings Checklist to challenge and add to your current savings.

What are the benefits and outcomes for your authority?

• schedule of savings that has been agreed with service managers
• potential for savings has been maximised
• confidence that there is clarity about when savings can be delivered
• detailed challenge and plans for key services
• maximisation of the potential for savings plus a range of options for Members to consider.

Fees and Charges Review

For many local authorities, income from fees and charges will be an important element of the budget. Optimising the income from these sources means that other services can be preserved and redundancies can be minimised. Often income is not optimised: other local authorities can charge more for the same service, or charge for a wider range of functions.

Our consultants have worked with other local authorities to review their fees and charges. This means we understand the range of services that a local authority can charge for and the potential income that can be made from each source. We have real-life examples of how income from fees and charges can be optimised for your authority.

A key benefit from this review is that it can be considered an invest-to-save programme.

What are the benefits and outcomes for your authority?

• optimise income whilst protecting other local authority services
• learn from real-life examples in other local authorities.

What savings toolkits do we use?

We have developed a range of tools which we can use to help you develop your savings programme.

What are the benefits to councils?

We can combine a comprehensive knowledge of local government services with our proven financial techniques and abilities. We have a deep understanding and awareness of how local government services work which gives us an ap- preciation of which savings are achievable – this makes the outcomes from our work credible with service managers and stakeholders more generally.

And instead of leaving you to re-invent the wheel, we can bring in ideas that have been proven in other councils. We can draw on a range of experience from district councils to large city councils.

Our approach can combine detailed and specific proposals with wide-ranging and radical programmes. We can provide savings proposals that can fit straight into your budget process. And our approach ensures the savings proposals are consistent with your council’s priorities and aspirations.

We can bring an understanding of the major themes that are current within local government, and more importantly their opportunities and limitations from a financial perspective. These include the concepts of easy Council, personal- isation and Total Place, which many in local government are looking to for solutions. This ensures you benefit from the latest thinking across local government.