How one council’s £20m saving is a wake-up call for public services

Caerphilly Council has cut more than £20m in its first year of working with business consultants, Perago, with a road map to save a further £45m by 2027.

Perago, a Swansea-based consultancy who work with  public sector organizations such as local authorities, the Home Office, NHS Wales and Welsh Government, to ensure that the right people, processes, structure and technology are in place to become more efficient and budget better.

Like many authorities across the UK, Caerphilly Council was grappling with the increased demand on services alongside significant funding gaps. They needed to save money and adapt to meet changing community needs and expectations in the post-Covid world. To make sure that they continued to meet the needs of their communities while reducing spend by over £65 million, they needed to change.

The initial project started with a two-day workshop between the consultants and Caerphilly Council, but after realizing the extent of what needed to be done, the council invested £1.8m in Perago with a £20m return in the first year.Over the two years, Perago helped Caerphilly Council save £20m by developing processes, improving services, combining roles and responsibilities, better utilizing existing software and leveraging existing contracts to save tax-payers’ money.

Victoria Ford, Managing Director at Perago, discusses how other authorities can learn from Caerphilly Council’s investment and work:

“What we’ve done for Caerphilly Council can be replicated across different authorities and bodies to make vast improvements and use tax-payers’ money in much more efficient ways.

"Organizations often need support in taking a fresh look at how they are structured in terms of the products or services they need to deliver, how they make best use of digital and types and number of roles needed. It’s often the same challenges found across many organizations.

"We take a whole organization approach to transformation which includes making sure the right people with the right skills are in place to support service delivery.  This often means a smaller organization with people leaving the business, but this is done in line with user needs, rather than as an end in itself.”

Perago has created a roadmap for the council to further implement changes, and if these changes are made by the council team, then this would save the council a further £45m by 2027.

They helped change the council’s waterfall-based, technology led approach to change and an absence of a central PMO which led to delays and poor alignment. They also observed that clear accountability and regular interaction were not always in place which led to delays in decision making and delivery.

A user-centred service design approach was introduced to focus on the needs of users and improve services and efficiency. Customer journeys were mapped to identify service improvements and the team ran weekly stand-ups, which included council members and politicians, to maintain momentum and promote transparency.

A strategy to implement a centralized expenses approval process was also set-up, which helped ensure spending controls were in place. A New Initiative Process (NIP) was implemented to ensure spending decisions were backed by financial models and a cost-benefit analysis.

Many local bodies rely on a wide range of suppliers and products, but some of these weren’t being used to the best of their ability. Perago identified unused features and worked to maximize existing tools before considering new spend.

Victoria also states:

“Most authorities have multiple different areas where they can save money, and our job is to help them spot these so that money can be put towards the services residents and communities need.

"I’m really pleased that our work with a local council should save £65m, with £20m of that already in the bank. This money can go a long way for things that actually matter in local areas, and we’re excited to see the impact that our work has had.”

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