Chris Wilson, 4ps’ Executive Director, is today warning local authorities that delivering local services efficiently is likely to become far more difficult in a financial downturn. New research shows that only 17% of local authorities surveyed believe their ability to deliver local services will be unaffected by the current financial climate.
The research, carried out for 4ps’ annual conference, with representatives from 184 local authorities in England, highlights concerns about inflationary pressures as well. 50% are concerned about rising costs for providing waste management services, nearly one in five organisations are concerned about rising costs for corporate services and 10% highlight concerns about increasing public transport costs. More than half of local authorities would cut staff recruitment and new buildings and facilities if savings need to be made because of the financial downturn. 50% of authorities would cut sport and leisure services; 49% would reduce community grants.
Speaking today at the 4ps’ annual conference Chris Wilson will say that the current economic climate will lead to tougher challenges for local authorities and will emphasise that they must now - more than ever before - consider ways to save costs.
He will urge local authorities to consider greater partnership working between public, private and third sectors in order to generate efficiency gains. 55% of local authorities believe that sharing services with other public sector bodies is essential to achieving efficiency savings, with 48% saying the same for partnership working. Yet, just 13% of authorities consider sharing services with the private sector to be one of the key ways to achieving efficiency gains.
Chris Wilson said: “There is a risk that the current economic climate will put extra pressure on local authorities and their ability to deliver first class services. It is important that authorities recognise this risk and consider ways in which to minimise it. Partnership working has the potential to deliver real benefits to authorities in terms of cost savings and effective service delivery and I am encouraging authorities to seriously consider this approach.”
Almost a quarter of local authorities recognise that increasing staff skills is essential to improve efficiency and keep costs down. The research highlights that local authorities believe the absence of staff with the right skills to deal with the private sector has increased project costs by up to £24million. At today’s conference 4ps will launch the first formal training course specifically designed for project directors developed by 4ps in partnership with UCL and Constructing Excellence.
The 4ps’ annual conference on 24 April will examine the role of partnerships in reshaping public service markets and explore new forms of partnership working to help improve the delivery of major infrastructure and service programmes.