They are already lean, is it time for councils to get mean?

The announced cuts to local government spending are forcing councils to rethink budgets on an unprecedented scale, prompting fears that local authorities are in danger of undermining real improvements in performance and efficiency made in the last few years. But while some have accused the government of making authorities "carry the can" for the public sector, with estimates that councils will shoulder around 20% of cuts in the sector – £1.165bn of the allocated £6.2bn outlined in George Osborne's emergency budget in June – councils that have embraced efficiencies may be best placed to tackle further cuts. "We see this as a logical continuation. The pace will have to increase and be more innovative but one of the things in our favour is having the right culture," says Carlton Brand, corporate director for resources at Wiltshire council. "We'll be looking at every single department and service and redesigning with lean principles. Local government has made huge efficiencies over the last three years but I don't think we're at the end point." Brand said that while some argued that cuts would fall disproportionately on authorities that were already lean, he believed that richer councils could struggle more. "Those organisations that don't have that [efficient] way of thinking will struggle. Efficiencies are about how you think not just what you cut." And local government has been increasingly successful at thinking that way, says the Association for Public Service Excellence (Apse), but warns that despite the pressure authorities must continue to plan and not fall for quick-fix solutions. Mo Baines, principal adviser for the north of England, said that local authorities had spent years nurturing a holistic approach, which had delivered over £3bn in efficiency savings in three years. "Such improvements should be built upon in order to achieve even greater efficiency, rather than obliterated," Baines says. Services such as parks, leisure, local environment, school meals and recycling and community safety are all "vital pieces of one big public service jigsaw," she says. Paul O'Brien, Apse's chief executive, says that local authorities had "exceeded their targets" following Gershon and were now "the most efficient sector within public services" but authorities need to think carefully about cutting services that "the public care most about, like getting their bins emptied, or feeling safe because street lighting is being properly maintained- areas that decision-makers seem to fall back on." In difficulty lies opportunity Although no-one doubts tough times ahead for local authorities – the 25% that councils need to cut over the next four years could prove higher and may be weighted in the first years – some public sector leaders argue that in difficulty lies opportunity. "You need to think in the medium-term. Can you keep making year on year cuts and sustain that? It's taking one step now rather than four small steps," says Andrew Smith, chief executive of Hampshire county council. "Councils are at different stages of development and approach to this issue. The councils who'll get through it will be those that take the opportunity to transform themselves." At Birmingham city council, the largest UK local authority, finding deep cuts means tough challenges ahead. But the council hopes that a clear planning approach will help it find further savings to the £69m it's finding this year. "We've been putting our business transformation plans in place- driving up quality and making services more efficient," says Stephen Hughes, the council's chief executive. "We've got to find something like £230m over the next four years, of which business transformation will contribute another £50m. The approach we need to take is being very clear about what our priorities are, protecting vulnerable people, improving employability and keeping people safe, and start with what we're trying to achieve." "If you don't [plan] but just wait to see what the government says about what you will no longer get," he says, "there's a real danger of cutting things that are an investment in the future. "We understand the challenges - protecting outcomes using service design and engaging with communities ... We don't have a blueprint but we recognise that's what we need to do, not fall into the trap of slash and burn."