The Budget is Approaching: Where Councils Can Unlock Rapid, Sustainable Savings
With the UK Budget being published tomorrow, councils are facing intense financial pressure. Rising demand for adult and children’s social care, homelessness services, and temporary accommodation has left little room for manoeuvre. Traditional “easy cuts” have largely been exhausted, and many authorities are already relying on emergency support or facing the possibility of issuing Section 114 notices. In this environment, councils need to act strategically: savings must be achieved quickly, but they also need to be sustainable and aligned with long-term service goals.
The challenge is not just about cutting costs; it’s about spending smarter. By focusing on areas that do not impact frontline services, councils can generate meaningful savings while improving operational efficiency.
Quick Wins: Where Savings Can Be Found Fast
Even under tight conditions, there are opportunities to reduce costs almost immediately. One of the most effective areas is reviewing systems and services. Councils often operate overlapping processes or pay for tools that are no longer used. Identifying and eliminating duplication can generate significant savings with minimal disruption.
Contract management is another area where councils can act quickly. Large agreements for services such as telecoms, cloud platforms, and software often include unused or unnecessary elements. Reviewing these contracts ensures that councils are only paying for what they actually need, saving money without affecting day-to-day operations.
Another source of rapid savings is streamlining routine tasks. Processes in areas such as benefits, housing, HR, and administrative support can often be simplified, allowing staff to focus on higher-value work. Small changes in estates and energy management such as optimising building usage, adjusting heating schedules, or closing underused rooms can also reduce costs quickly and effectively.
Sustainable Savings: Building Efficiency for the Long Term
While quick wins are important, councils also need to focus on longer-term, sustainable savings. Simplifying processes and reducing duplication across teams can cut costs over time and improve staff efficiency.
Procurement is another key area for long-term savings. Strengthening oversight and improving contract management helps avoid duplicated spend and ensures councils get the best value from suppliers. These measures reduce the risk of unexpected costs and free up resources for priority services.
Better use of data and planning is also essential. Understanding service demand, identifying trends, and forecasting future pressures allows councils to plan proactively rather than reacting to crises. This helps to reduce unnecessary expenditure, improve outcomes for residents, and create a stronger financial foundation for the future.
How Cambridge MC can Help Local Councils
If you are currently working in local government and are feeling the impacts of the economic crisis as outlined here, the Public Sector and Education team at Cambridge Management Consulting can work with you and your council to alleviate some of this pressure in both the short- and long-term.
Our skilled procurement and contract management team can help you reduce costs; our programme and project management function offers fractional or interim leadership and full lifecycle support for challenging transformation projects; and our process and change management teams can help with process re-design and automation.
Our Digital and Innovation team can help solve your challenges in new ways, using the latest technology to improve efficiency and outcomes for your residents as well as reducing costs. We can also support your organisation with a range of cyber security issues you may be facing, whether potential or live.
Led by Craig Cheney, previous Deputy Mayor of Bristol City Council, our service combines an in-depth knowledge and awareness of the Public Sector, its operations, and challenges, with a business approach to help you identify and evaluate obstacles and opportunities for movement within your budget.
Learn more about Craig and our Public Sector & Education service, and get in touch with our professionals
here.
About Us
Cambridge Management Consulting (Cambridge MC) is an international consulting firm that helps companies of all sizes have a better impact on the world. Founded in Cambridge, UK, initially to help the start-up community, Cambridge MC has grown to over 200 consultants working on projects in 24 countries. Our capabilities focus on supporting the private and public sector with their people, process and digital technology challenges.
What makes Cambridge Management Consulting unique is that it doesn’t employ consultants – only senior executives with real industry or government experience and the skills to advise their clients from a place of true credibility. Our team strives to have a highly positive impact on all the organisations they serve. We are confident there is no business or enterprise that we cannot help transform for the better.
Cambridge Management Consulting has offices or legal entities in Cambridge, London, New York, Paris, Dubai, Singapore and Helsinki, with further expansion planned in future.
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