Transformation roundtable - Investing to Save and Transform (afternoon session)

Georgia Rudin, Adviser, LGA, opened the session by thanking returning participants and welcoming new attendees. She confirmed that slides and a summary would be shared after the event, noting that the afternoon focus would build on the morning session by looking in greater depth at how finance and transformation must align when councils face immediate budget pressures alongside medium-term financial planning.

Garry Cummings, LGA Finance Improvement and Sustainability Associate

• GC stressed the need to distinguish short-term savings often cuts with direct service impacts from long-term transformation, which focuses on service improvement and sustainability but requires more time and alignment with the MTFP.
• GC also highlighted that Transformation must be data and intelligence led, concentrating on high-spend and overspending services such as adults, children and homelessness. Benchmarking with LG Inform and linking financial and performance data help councils identify priorities and challenge unaffordable “gold-plated” services.
• He also addresses the need for councils to pursue efficiencies by standardising corporate functions like procurement, commissioning and customer engagement, and by fully exploiting existing digital systems before committing to costly upgrades.
• GC also emphasised that transformation needs visible political and senior officer sponsorship, early member engagement, and a strong narrative of service improvement and financial sustainability. Robust governance, clear accountability, and disciplined project management are essential to track benefits and align delivery with MTFP targets.
• Councils must recognise and fund additional programme, finance and change resources, while investing in change management for both staff and residents to secure buy-in and embed lasting improvements.

When should councils pursue a savings programme rather than a transformation programme?
Use a savings programme to address immediate gaps where timings in the medium-term financial plan require near term reductions, recognising the political and service impacts. Use transformation to deliver sustainable change over the medium term, focused on service improvement and outcomes. Both can run in parallel, but they must be clearly distinguished and profiled realistically.

How should transformation be aligned to the medium-term financial plan, so savings are credible?
Start early, baseline thoroughly, and sequence milestones so delivery timings match the savings profile in the plan. Maintain a single corporate pipeline, track a benefits record, and reprofile promptly when slippage occurs. Finance business partners should sit alongside transformation to assure assumptions and avoid double counting.

What evidence base should guide priorities and where should councils focus first?
Combine cost and performance data, benchmark with LG Inform, and target high spend and overspending services, especially adults, children, and homelessness. Use demand modelling for prevention and early help, and challenge specifications where quality exceeds what is affordable without proportional benefit.

How should councils approach cross cutting functions and technology investment?
Standardise corporate processes such as customer, administration, commissioning, and procurement to remove inconsistency and duplication. Exploit existing systems and shared dashboards before committing to new platforms, and ensure any time released by automation converts into cashable savings or redeployed capacity that is visible in the plan.

What governance and resourcing are needed to deliver at pace?
Establish visible political and senior sponsorship, a clear programme structure, and consistent methodology with gateway reviews and robust business cases. Fund additional programme, finance, and change capacity transparently, involve accountants from the outset, and use corporate oversight to track delivery against Medium Term Financial Plan targets.

How should councils manage political change during delivery?
Re engage early with new leaders, restate the case for change and the risks of stopping, and invite them to shape scope so ownership is sustained. This protects momentum and keeps savings credible.

How can prevention schemes with longer paybacks be included in financial plans?
Use trend based financial modelling of costs avoided, agree proxy indicators while outcomes mature, and set review points so assumptions are tested and transparently reported.

How should you account for the cost of internal staff time in an invest to save business case?

This really depends on the way that the Finance Director wishes to account for the schemes. Personally, for me, in the development of the business case I would class this as normal work of staff involved. If the invest to save scheme solution requires significant staff involvement, then this should be considered in the costs of the option / solution. This could be seconded staff, apportionment of costs of staff time or staff backfills.

The Roundtable discussion confirmed the importance of aligning savings requirements with transformation timelines, recognising that councils often overestimate the speed at which transformation can deliver. Participants emphasised the value of explicit benefits tracking and honest re-profiling where milestones shift.

Councils reported opportunities in standardising cross-cutting functions and exploiting existing systems before major investment. Several highlighted change fatigue and the challenge of sustaining momentum without over-reliance on consultancy, pointing instead to building internal capability and leadership visibility.

There was agreement that transformation requires corporate ownership and whole council communication to build trust and reduce the perception that “investing to save” equates to cuts. political sponsorship, member engagement, and alignment with the council plan were seen as essential conditions for success.