Local authorities are taking a renewed interest in paying external partners on a risk-reward basis with remuneration dependent on the successful delivery of a programme not the time spent on it. Steve Phillips offers advice on what risk-reward means.

A recent report by the National Audit Office found that one in every eight councils is at risk of being unable to balance its books. Whitehall's spending watchdog has warned that only half the savings required by all the local authorities in England by March 2015 have been delivered.