Tough love?
Here are a few ideas to save stacks of cash and no consultancy fee!
Unitary authorities, do we really need district, county councils, yes they do different things but they could be morphed into a single per county authority.
Centralised Council Tax collection, why replicated in every council?
Planning, office hubs for their planners to do their work and have biscuits and coffee. But the processing of plans etc. could be centralised.
Benefits, centralise it. Why does it need to be in every council? No need to drop in, cant afford a phone to call the call centre, then get a job until you can or use a payphone.
Thats for starters, the public sector needs to work more like a private sector company, you wont find a single private sector company that has a finance dept in every office for example.
Appreciate that it keeps a lot of pin money women and men in a job but lets be honest, having seen it first hand; Before 10am and passed 3pm most people have "disappeared" to pick up/drop off their kids whilst faking their flexi-time sheets. While 35 days a year holiday is pretty staggering, yep it goes up the longer you work there!
So why should I be paying for these perks??