Demand For Public Services Are higher while the budgets are being cut - a familiar story for almost all local councils. Local Authorities need to find efficiency savings and the author suggests ways through which almost £1Bn could be saved.
The news we were all hoping would not become reality - has. The Office for National Statistics has confirmed that we are still in recession; other economic indicators are pointing to further increases in unemployment which will bring additional misery to communities up and down the country.
As recently as March this year, the Local Government Association noted that 41% of Local Authorities were experiencing an increase in demand for services for the unemployed or those at risk of unemployment and 57% were experiencing an increase in demand for social housing.
There is no doubt now, that greater social need and demands on public services have hit at the same time as proposed cuts in public services are being called for.
The irony cannot be ignored by local government – just when demand on public services is going up - there is going to be less capacity and a reduction in funding for programmes to help.
There is a growing recognition that we just need to manage by ‘doing more for less’. And this needs to be reflected in public sector initiatives such as ‘Total Place’, which are important as a means of assessing the total contribution of the public economy and assessing how more can be done.
Total Place
Total Place is a new initiative that looks at how a ‘whole area’ approach to public services can lead to better services at lower cost. It seeks to identify and avoid overlap and duplication between organisations – delivering a step change in both service improvement and efficiency at the local level, as well as across Whitehall.
There are already 13 pilot areas participating in the scheme, each area ensuring a diverse mix of economic, geographical and demographic profiles. These pilots offer a real opportunity to re-think how public services are planned and delivered.
This combined with the economic downturn is encouraging the public sector to find radical new solutions that not only deliver better value for money, but also improve local services that are better tailored to meet local needs.
As Sir Michael Bichard, Executive Director of the Institute for Government and Chair of the high-level officials’ group states: “Total Place is not just another Whitehall initiative. It is about giving local providers the incentive to work together in new ways for the benefit of their clients and citizens – and the opportunity to tell Government how it could behave differently to make this kind of collaborative action more likely. As we enter a period when resources will inevitably be constrained, Total Place is also a chance for local agencies to ‘get ahead’ by examining how they can deliver better services at less cost. So the hope is that Total Place will provide good experience to share about service improvement, suggestions about cost savings and proposals for changes in Central Government.”
Progressive procurement: hidden savings
But Total Place is only part of the solution. There is a requirement for progressive procurement processes and a greater understanding of where ‘hidden’ savings can be made without putting greater pressure on Council Tax payers.
One such area yet to be explored by the majority of councils across the country is the inefficiencies around their document production processes, where is it estimated there are hidden savings of around £1 billion.
Research, conducted across over 2,000 documents from a sample of 134 councils, has been undertaken to map activities, costs and resources supporting the conception of documents through to their publication. The findings have identified a huge untapped area for cost savings and performance improvements. This includes the process from initial conception through the collaborative authoring and consultation, to final publishing of these key documents.
This study highlights where, when and how real savings can be achieved, given the sheer number of documents – many of which are statutory – that are produced by local authorities each year. All against a backdrop of declining government support grants and increased pressures for substantial operational cost and headcount reduction.
Key findings include:
• £1 billion can be saved from the document production process through improved business processes, design and print
• On average a Tier 1 local authority has 2,566 live and current documents in the public domain; Tier 2 has 1,582
• The average annual production of documents is 988 for a Tier 1 authority, made up of a staggering 13,000 pages of new content (610 documents for Tier 2)
• 65% of documents produced by local authorities are of low design standard, meaning that there is little or no structure, formatting or style
• Half of all documents produced have no branding whatsoever
• This activity currently costs a Tier 1 local authority over £11 million a year and £2.8 million for a Tier 2
• In terms of hidden savings a Tier 1 authority could save up to £2.6 million by improving business processes; a Tier 2 could make £830,000
• A Tier 1 authority could make up to £290,000 savings as a result of improving the way they use graphic design services, while a Tier 2 could save £169,000
• Improvements in print management can also deliver significant savings – £300,000 for a Tier 1 and £60,000 for a Tier 2
These figures present a very strong case for local authorities to consider reviewing their document production processes to provide a lucrative and viable option for delivering ‘hidden’ savings.
Councils have become experts in managing tight budgets over the years, but they are likely to be facing even deeper, long lasting cuts in the very near future. The report identifies some easy wins for local authorities, highlighting that in document production alone just under £1 billion can be saved across UK councils.
Adoption of a Conception to Publishing (C2P) solution from Limehouse Software will enable local authorities to unlock this saving. For the past six years Limehouse, an Objective Corporation Company, has been providing solutions to local government to support the inception, creation and publication of large, complex documents. Limehouse’s solutions have been used to create more than 15,000 of these, supporting customers throughout the entire document lifecycle. This has lead to a comprehensive understanding of how councils can streamline their document production process to deliver significant, quick savings.
Visit www.limehousesoftware.co.uk/c2p for a copy of the research paper.