Driving value for money
Delivering value for money
One of the ways in which
we seek to improve efficiency and deliver VfM is growth through
merger. Two significant mergers have generated major savings in
operating costs which are probably unprecedented in the sector.
About £5.7 million merger savings per annum have been generated
over that period.
In parallel we have adopted cost
reduction plans which have seen consistent year-on-year decreases
in operating costs, and we recently completed a major restructuring
programme of frontline services (“Transition”) which is yielding
further material savings.
Other value for
money achievements in 2010/11 include:
- annual savings of £5.5 million from
tendering exercises across a range of our activities;
- bringing our financial services
function back in house after 10 years under an outsourcing
contract. As well as enabling us to improve the service delivery we
are on target to achieve annual savings;
- against unprecedented conditions in
2010 we have materially increased investment in major works,
regeneration and community activity, at a time when many
associations are reducing expenditure in such areas;
- involved residents in service task
teams which look at a range of housing service functions across the
Group, in the specification of new grounds maintenance
contracts;
- we have re-subscribed to HouseMark, the sector’s main
benchmarking company, helping us to set clearer targets
- we've recently started a project working with residents to
review our grounds maintenance contracts
in our North West region and have been successful in generating
savings of around 20%.
- signed a new insurance deal with
Igloo Insurance PCC Ltd forecast to deliver average savings of
about £250,000 annually.