Council and democracy

What it means

The challenge is simply expressed as three year overall efficiencies, of which at least £6.6 million per annum are targeted as cashable savings.

Cashable efficiencies release cash whilst maintaining outputs and allow the resources that are released to be diverted to other services or to hold down council tax increases. Cashable gains accrue when projects achieve one or more of the following:

• Reducing inputs (money, people, assets, etc) for the same outputs
• Reducing prices (procurement, labour costs, etc) for the same outputs

Non-cashable efficiency gains occur when one or more of the following is achieved:

• Getting greater outputs or improved quality (extra service, productivity, etc) for the same inputs
• Getting more outputs or improved quality in return for an increase in resources that is proportionately less than the increase in output or quality

To achieve this, a significant review and reshaping of services will need to be considered.

The scale of efficiency savings needed will require us to work even closer with district councils and other public sector partners to administer / deliver services differently and maximise economies of scale.