Spending Challenge: ideas page 4

These examples show some of the main themes and ideas that have been put forward via the public sector Spending Challenge website.

They are not ideas that have been shortlisted for further work or implementation but they will all be considered individually alongside the other 60,000 ideas that have been put forward.

19. I work in the school office of an infant and nursery school. The 3-monthly check on validity of all helpers in school is one of the more onerous tasks which bear little true benefit.

20. My idea is to give local authorities more power to prosecute members of the community who commit fraud. So many debts are written off which could be a valuable income if sufficient resources were given to put it into practise.

21. Switching office lights off. Most offices have lights on all day when it is light enough without them. Also switch off all lights at night. Black bin collections fortnightly instead of weekly. More items to be recycled. Many items say they are recyclable yet the council does not recycle them. Charge a small fee ie £1 for tickets to things like party in the park and opera in the park. People are still getting a bargain and may be more likely to turn up rather than getting free tickets and then not going.

22. Tighten up on long term sickness. Most people within the council feel that people can get away with too much without any consequences. Getting rid of internal charges. For example we have to pay for IT equipment and maintenance (whose prices could be beaten by PC world), design and printing (which is often sourced externally as it is cheaper), support from finance, contact centre (who take our calls for a criminal £6+ per call, they have no specific knowledge of the work so calls are either logged wrong or just passed on to us anyway)

23. Having the freedom to source products (eg train tickets) from the cheapest place. We are always told we have to go through certain companies we have a contract with when they are cheaper online. Every other street light could be switched off after a certain time. Cutting down on the amount of buildings we occupy and selling them. Finding cheaper buildings, we pay high letting fees for many offices. Move to a paperless office. Many people are very old fashioned and like paper copies when everything can be stored electronically. This also cuts down on the amount of space needed for filing cabinets. Better budget management systems and different ways of allocating funds. I have seen departments spending money at the end of the financial year on things that aren’t necessary and are over priced simply because they are scared that they will get less money next year if they are seen not have spent everything in their budget. Get rid of enhanced pay. Many people who work evenings or weekends get an enhanced pay for working at this time. These people are aware what the working hours were when they apply and in most cases are working on a Saturday or Sunday because it suits them better. Why should they get paid more?

24. Reduce the number of senior managers/directors/assistant directors ... The system is so top heavy that there is no-one left on the ground to do the work. Removing one member of the SCS could free up funds for 3 AOs (roughly) and still make a saving - allowing us to provide a better, more efficient service to our customers as well as reducing the debt.

Return to Spending Challenge index