We have identified five key actions which will enable the council of the future to save money – as much as 10-20% of revenue costs – and at the same time improve customer service:

In tough times, the frequent recourse of hard-pressed management in local authorities is to top-slice departmental budgets, perhaps with some ring-fencing of sensitive areas. The problem with this is it impacts morale across the organisation, puts customers on the look-out for falls in service quality, and above all focuses staff attention on maintaining services as they are.

In an effort to make “Learning” more focused on the specific needs of our membership, we have reviewed our course offerings and launched a completely new programme for the next 12 months. The new programme offers a wider range of course, at more locations, and with more detail provided on each, to help you judge better who to nominate for the course, and the likely benefits to be achieved from it.

Flexible working is an opportunity to work differently, more effectively and leaner - and to make big savings by adopting a radically different approach. Achieving it across the organisation is a major leadership challenge. In short you need to think in a radically different way about how you work, then do it.

"Strategies for implementing home, smart and mobile working – not just the technology but the policies and procedures as well"