Local authorities must change the way they deliver efficiency and transformation programmes. The recent MJ/BT round table sought answers and raised questions about what local government can do in its present state. Laura Sharman reports.

Although last week's Budget may have spared councils from immediate spending reductions, the reprieve will only be a temporary one with the Spending Review likely to set out further funding cuts.

This financial year alone councils have had to find £2.5bn in savings, following a 40% reduction in budgets since 2010.

Whatever cuts are confirmed in the autumn, there is no doubt that local government faces a challenging time ahead.

The MJ, in partnership with BT, recently held a round table event to explore how the new Government's fiscal plans will impact on local public services.

Delegates gathered to discuss if more efficiencies and transformation can fill the budget gap, in what areas there is scope for further savings, and how technology can help deliver transformation.

Overall, delegates agreed that most local authorities have ‘reached the limits' of straightforward efficiency savings and most are now looking at more radical transformation programmes.

‘Local government is getting to the end of in-house transformation programmes and the amount that can be taken from services review has reached its limits,' said one delegate.

They added that even shared service arrangements are now more about maintaining expertise and capacity rather than actually achieving financial savings.

Another delegate agreed, saying: ‘There are not many efficiencies left to be made in local government so rather than doing things differently, we need to do different things.'

This sentiment was echoed across the discussion, with many saying councils must make a fundamental shift to outcomes rather than service reductions.

A shared cause for concern was the small number of high-cost people that councils work with and many warned they can become a drain on resources without much to show for it.

‘The real issue is that we spend most of our money on a very small number of people.

'Therefore, if we are to make a radical difference we have to reduce the number of very expensive people in our areas,' said one delegate.

The delegate added that the councils must focus more on the outcome when helping these people, as it would make ‘financial sense' to invest money in helping people get back into work.

Another delegate agreed, saying in their local authority they can often spend £200,000 on a high-needs person in a few years, but their life is no better for at in the end.

The delegate added: ‘When looking at outcomes, it's not just about ticking the boxes to secure extra funding, it is about achieving genuine outcomes that really help people.'

Another delegate said: ‘Local government has been good at becoming an efficient organisation but it needs to take a shift towards outcomes.

'Councils should ask themselves, do you understand who your most expensive citizens are and why?'

To achieve the desired outcomes, many of the delegates felt local authorities needed to change the way they deliver efficiency and transformation programmes.

As one delegate put it: ‘On one level saving money is easy – many councils have been tempted to just cut staff – but the real challenge is how you do it in a way that still delivers services.'

However, despite the appetite to embrace new ways of working, many people felt local government lacked the ability and capacity to successfully deliver transformational programmes at the moment.

‘Demand reduction, integration and devolving responsibility from the state to the citizen must be pursued in the future,' said one delegate.

‘But to what extent local government has the expertise to pursue these is the question we need to ask, as it's not something we have historically done.'

The same person also voiced concerns that local government was failing to adopt a strategy for ensuring it has the ‘ability, capacity and expertise' to deliver real change.

One delegate said the integration of health and social care agenda was a good example of this.

They said many councils often see health and social care as a separate entity even though it would be regarded ‘in the wider context of ‘achieving better outcomes for people'.

This could be getting people back into work and tackling some of the identified high-cost people.

To achieve the desired outcomes, the importance of working across organisations and professional disciplines was discussed.

One delegate said that as a result of budget cuts, it was no longer a question of whether councils should be working more closely together.

The delegate said: ‘As a result of the combined authority agenda it has made working across borders more straightforward and it's now not even a question of if we should do it.

'However, we must be realistic as we do not have enough embedded capacity.'

With the recent MJ and BT survey revealing that culture remains a barrier for change, one delegate said this finding was a ‘disaster'.

‘There should have been a cultural change in local government already as we've been looking at efficiencies and transformation since 2010,' they said.

‘Councils should have already invested in addressing this issue.'

Someone else also raised the issue of workforce productivity saying, ‘at the moment we have quite old fashioned models in local government'.

They went on to warn it was ‘inevitable' that some councils would take the option of just ‘squeezing' the cost of their workforce and instead urged councils to ask themselves ‘how do you make the individual local government worker more productive'?

However, another delegate warned: ‘Anyone who applies a structural solution to a cultural problem is doomed to failure.'

The MJ/BT round table attendees

Nathan Elvery, chief executive officer Croydon LBC

John Henderson, chief executive Staffordshire CC

Sean Harriss, chief executive Lambeth LBC

Cllr Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council

Sarah Pickup, deputy chief executive Hertfordshire CC

Martin Reeves, chief executive Coventry City Council

Thomas Baker, business development director – Future Cities

Michael White, partnership director, BT

Michael Burton, editorial director The MJ and chair

Laura Sharman, editor LGN and rapporteur