Monday, 18th May 2015

Almost £500 million of taxpayers' money has been saved by councils sharing services, according to new research. Since the shared services map was first compiled in 2012, councils have made £462 million of savings by sharing services with each other, the Local Government Association (LGA) has found. This is an increase of £105 million on the total of £357 million from last year.

The latest shared services map, which is available on the LGA website, shows there has been a huge increase in savings made from councils sharing back office functions, such as legal, audit and HR, which resulted in £145 million in savings.

There were also big increases in the sharing of adult services, procurement services, and capital assets. Councils sharing services and management with other public sector organisations has resulted in savings of more than £15 million. For example, Hampshire County Council, Hampshire Police and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Services aim to save up to £4 million each year by sharing a number of services, including finance, HR, procurement and printing. Equally governed by the three public bodies, the pioneering new partnership is called H3 and is said to be the first example of its type between three such authorities in England.

Shared service arrangements are growing fastest in the North East of England with an increase of 38 arrangements in the past 12 months. For example, Durham County Council are working with North Durham Clinical Commissioning Group, Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commissioning Group and County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust to work together to provide better care for residents. Councils can use the shared services map to learn about existing arrangements in their area and for reference before embarking on new shared services projects.

Cllr Peter Fleming, Chair of the LGA's Improvement and Innovation Board, said: "In a climate where councils have less money, it is pleasing to see how much taxpayers' money has been saved by councils sharing services, and how many councils have adopted this approach. Since 2014, the amount saved through shared services has increased by £105 million, to £462 million, which shows how much the benefits of sharing services have been embraced by councils. "Our updated interactive shared services map shows both the breadth and depth of councils sharing services with both local authorities and other public sector organisations. But even at almost half a billion pounds, the savings from shared services simply do not match the scale of the 40 per cent funding reduction councils saw during the lifetime of the last Parliament.