Client: Local Authority department

Need: The department was under pressure from a new Chief Executive to reduce its budget drastically. The senior management team needed to prepare contingency plans for various scenarios.

Solution: Two consecutive away-days facilitated by a qualified accountant to brainstorm possible ways of reducing the budget without affecting service, to evaluate the relative practicability of those options and prepare action plans for their implementation.

Outcomes:

• Over £270,000 of potential savings identified on the first day

• Senior management fully aware of the financial situation and a wider range of options for dealing with it.

• Detailed action plans to improve service while reducing expenditure