So we now have a fair idea of how dire things could eventually get following publication of the Government's Spending Review.  But we all know that we won't reach such hardship.  Why? - because councils won't allow it. 

Yes, many in local government have shouted about how funding for much relied upon but non-statutory services will dry up and how local authoritieswill simply exist to provide services such as caring for our most vulnerable and emptying our bins, but it's fallen on deaf ears. Time doesn't stand still, and thankfully, neither do councils.

As I travel the length and breadth of Britain, working with council staff to find new innovative and sometimes radical ways of keeping the country moving, I'm reminded of my time in South Africa.  It was just after the South African general election of 1994, held to mark the end of apartheid and the scale of the country's problems was phenomenal. 

Durban City had a huge amount of "informal settlement", which prior to the election didn't legally exist. Overnight the population of Durban more than doubled and the task instantly arose of creating reasonable living accommodation, providing light and power. At the time we didn't even know who had possession of what land and what conditions existed.  So just assessing who lived where and giving rights to the land they occupied was challenging enough.

But I will never forget the motivation that drove the staff of that council.
Even then, they looked at the outcome required and never got weighed down by the challenge in front of them. In fact, the bigger the problem, the better!

The same can be said for my experience in Bangalore.  As part of the Kent Leadership Programme, I was privileged to visit the informal settlements around the city.  In this case, charities and local people were the main source of help.We visited a charity-funded school that didn't just supply the children's education but food and medical treatment too. 

Settlements out there were extremely poor and I remember one home that I visited in particular. It homed around thirty orphaned children who went to the school that we visited.  The kids there were looked after by dedicated mums of the community, and I would always be in awe of them as they packed every child off to school in pristine uniform. They didn't have much but they certainly took pride in what they did have.  

India's governance is unsurprisingly very close to England, even down to the terminology of Wards.  However, they had recently changed the constitution to allow for communal tenure.  The electoral register defined the community and groups of registered voters were able to take legal title to property. In this area the mothers took over a nearby building to provide a base for all children of the settlement to do their homework.Not only this, residents of different wards met to determine who most needed the available allocation of council funding, in this case they didn't have mains water and received the funding – my very first experience of big society!

We may not have as big challenges, although we do have significant variations in wealth and health.  And it's exactly the same kind of get up and go attitude and the willingness to change and do things differently that I see running through the DNA of UK local government.

All councils are vigorously looking at what more can be done to ensure communities' needsare met on even less funding. Staff are looking for innovative solutions with great energy and are embracing the chance to work differently. Thisonce in a lifetime opportunity willchange the way that local government runs to the benefit of residents and build the framework for future generations.

Investigating the possibility of a mutual model is just one example where iESE is working with a number of councils to bring in extra income, become self-sufficient and flourish economically. Working towards a new world where reinvention of services becomes the norm; where we all focus on the outcomes wanted; and bring services closer to the customer and allow them more control.   

Taking the mutual approach provides council leaders with the chance to deliver new standards of complex servicethat delight residents. We are seeing partnerships forming, some big, some small, but all changing service delivery and informing commissioning and procurement services to ensure councils remain sustainable.

Ensuring best value and generating reinvestment is what a mutual stands for and if councils want to make the most of this opportunity to develop, it's certainly a solution worth researching.

Our innovation exchange also allows other councils to learn and share experiences and celebrate some truly groundbreaking achievements that are making a real difference to people's lives.

At iESE, we're not just thinking about how services will be more efficient tomorrow, we are rolling up our sleeves helping councils run their services as a business.  Ensuring that new delivery models, including shared services, are fit for the future.   Of course when I say "at iESE" I mean the staff and members of the councils that are our owners, because iESE is not an external agency but a network of councils and the people that run them.  If you want to be a part of that network, please get in touch.

Dr Andrew Larner is Chief Executive of iESE