Transformation Strategy 2022 - 2027

Efficiencies and Value for Money

1.    Overall aim

To continue to deliver financial savings through efficiencies, cost reductions and smarter ways of working.

 

2.    What do we need to transform and why?

One of the key priorities of the TIC Programme since the outset has been to support in the identification and/or delivery of financial savings, through efficiencies or cost reductions to allow the Council to try and protect, or invest in, front line service budgets. Although the Council’s financial settlements have generally been more favourable in recent years compared to those experienced during the preceding decade, the outlook beyond the current year remains very uncertain, with an expectation that the need to deal with legacy of Covid related debt at a national level could place a further squeeze on public finances. The need to deliver financial savings to some degree is likely to remain the norm for many years to come.

The current workstream has prioritised the review of areas of ‘routine/repetitive’ Council expenditure, such as travel, mail, and printing etc, as costs reductions in these areas of spend could limit the need to make any budget reductions in front line service areas as part of the Councils on-going budget setting process. A 5% reduction in repetitive related expenditure could deliver an annual saving of over £1m million.  

The Council has achieved ongoing reductions in travel and print related expenditure for a number of years, and over £2m of staff travel related savings (cumulative) have been achieved since 2012. The Covid pandemic and the move to more use of remote working, now presents opportunities for further savings in these areas, and the workstream identified that a further £300k should be saved from travel and print during the next 3 years, which will also deliver associated environmental benefits.

This workstream has also prioritised a review of the Council’s staffing related expenditure with a view to developing more sustainable staffing models moving forward. The Council currently spends over £5m per year on the use of agency staff and overtime payments and there may be opportunities to review core staffing levels within certain services which could deliver net financial savings and provide wider benefits in terms of ensuring enhanced service resilience. An action plan is already in place to start investigating these opportunities and this will probably remain a priority as part of the next phase of transformation. 

An independent divisional budget analysis exercise was undertaken in the Autumn of 2021 to support services in identifying future budget savings. The Efficiency and Value for Money Workstream will aim to identify any corporate themes to emerge from the reports which could then be further explored as potential savings opportunities, whilst also seeking to work with individual service areas to offer support and assistance in further exploring and progress opportunities at a service level.  

The Workstream will also want to continue its current role in strategically overseeing the Council’s procurement activity, and this will include evaluating the potential to make further use of the category management approach to deliver financial savings and seeking to strengthen the Council’s contract management procedures. 

The implementation of Category Management has been monitored and the changing economic landscape, particularly post Covid, as well as changes in national policy and Council priorities regarding investing in our local economy has inevitably led to changes in how this is approached strategically. A key focus was to develop a new suite of KPIs to reflect these changes and to ensure that our procurement solutions are creative, are based on identified need that has been challenged, mitigate against increases in costs and supports our ‘Spend Local’ plans whilst remaining within legislative requirements. 

A high-level review of the Council’s Contract Management procedures has been undertaken as this is recognised as a key element of the procurement cycle, with both pockets of strength and weakness in evidence across the Authority. It is essential to ensuring compliance with our financial and procurement regulations as well as optimising contractual performance and securing value for money. 

 

3.   What will be our key objectives?

• Continue to monitor and investigate areas of routine/repetitive spend with a view to making further reductions in expenditure in these areas, where appropriate.
• Support the identification and delivery of PBB efficiency savings at both a corporate and service level. 
• Identify other opportunities for efficiency savings through cost reductions and / or smarter ways of working.
• Ensure that the Council can make best use of internal and external ‘Invest to Save’ opportunities to generate financial and/or productivity savings.
• Ensure the Authority has robust processes in place for commissioning and contract management that are clear for staff at all levels of the organisation and adhered to across all our diverse services.
• Encourage staff to think more innovatively in relation to commissioning and procurement activities and challenge existing ways of working through category management.

 

4.    What will be our priorities for the coming year and beyond?

• Review the independent Divisional Budget Analysis reports to identify the potential for further financial savings at both a corporate and service level – by June 2023.
• Review progress in delivering existing planned efficiency savings at a service level and provide support and assistance, where appropriate – Nov and then quarterly from thereon.
• Identify non statutory services which could be ceased or statutory and non-statutory functions which could be subject to reductions in delivery standards in order to allow the Council to continue to deliver priority services and achieve a balanced budget by October 2023.
• Oversee the delivery of the Staffing Costs Delivery Plan including:
  • Working with priority services to look at options to reduce agency costs/overtime through the implementation of more sustainable staffing structures by April 2023.
  • Undertaking a further review of standby arrangements by September 2023.
• Further develop the Routine Spend Dashboard and associated reports to help monitor and control areas of high spend/identify opportunities for potential savings at a cost level – to be reviewed on a quarterly basis.
• Review the Authority’s approach to ‘Invest to Save initiatives’ including the identification of the potential external sources of funding and the awareness/accessibility of the authority’s internal Development Fund initiative by June 2023.
• Review the outcomes from the authority’s Procurement programme which will include the development and use of key PI’ by April 2023.
• Review progress in implementing the current action plan designed to strengthen the Authority’s current contract management practices and identify areas where further improvement may be required by April 2023.

 

5.    How will we measure the impact of this work?

• Delivery of cashable efficiency savings
• Productivity savings
• Costs avoided

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